The Decline Of Sheffield City Centre

[Cyclone]

Liverpool and Manchester, most stores stay open until 8pm weekdays.

 

Last time I was in Sheffield, shops were hoovering and closing up around 4.30.

 

The bigger ones close at 1800. Debenhams, John Lewis, etc... Starbucks is open until 1900. The smaller shops are often closed by 1700.

[Flexo]

How can it be a ghost town if it's full of students?

 

Student's aren't ghosts, they are zombies.

[foxy lady]

one thing the city gets right is the various food festivals markets, events etc. I was down town over the bank holiday weekend and it was rammed during the day. On the other hand I had friends who went down just before 5pm to see what all the fuss was about (and spend some money) but everything was shutting up apart from the beer tents.

 

Well they hardly got it right then if folk going to it found it closed down.

 

Contrast with Dronfield just south down the A61. Population 21,000. They had a beer/music/food festival over the weekend with live music and all manner of food. Pizza ovens, hog roast, venison burgers, ostrich, steaks, sausages, exotic food, barbecues, and every type of music, beer and drink you could think of.

Around 25000 folk attended and it was rocking all day and late into the night.

Edited June 10, 2016 by foxy lady

[smiggs]

It's a completely different event the Sheffield Food Festival sees itself more as a food connoisseur's market than a party. The Dronfield event sounds more like Pedlar Market which has been held various locations in the city centre but is now held on Kelham Island.

Edited June 10, 2016 by smiggs

[foxy lady]

It's a completely different event the Sheffield Food Festival sees itself more as a food connoisseur's market than a party. The Dronfield event sounds more like Pedlar Market which has been held various locations in the city centre but is now held on Kelham Island.

 

I don't think so.

 

https://www.facebook.com/events/607554946066715/

 

Edited June 10, 2016 by foxy lady

[smiggs]

The Sheffield Food festival has been going for six years, it's successful, people come. I don't understand why they don't run to say 7pm but historically they have always started winding down from 4pm each day. It's a serious food festival with demos from Chefs, food tasting etc. It's not as if the City Centre can't hold events that run after 5 plenty do, this one doesn't. The organisers should make it clear on their website when people will start & stop trading but that can hardly be said to reflect on the city centre.

[AndrewC]

Now you have totally lost me. Council, guns, what the hell are you on about?

 

The demand is not there.

St. Paul’s was only completed because the Council stepped in to financially guarantee the building to the developers, if they could not get tenants in. Worryingly there is only one tenant secured, although I have faith that this will be full in due course.

The Square on the old Sheaf market site was started in 2006 and is still only half built.

HSBC are indeed moving out of West Bar to shinny new offices, but lets face reality here, they are downsizing.

 

This is my issue with you gerry (I am assuming you are the same gerryuk as on Skyscrapercity). You complain endlessly about how offices are converted in to student accomodation, and always seem to blame the council in saying 'how do they expect to attract major retailers if the professional base isn't there' - but you willingly overlook the fact that these offices are the ones which are empty, old, not good enough spec, or simply don't have the demand to fill them.

 

You also talk about how West Bar is a ghost town, but say nothing about the effect that occupants at St Pauls for example have on the Pinstone Street area. Imagine what effect a large, pre-let HSBC office is going to have on the fortunes of the NRQ. It's about consolidation of good quality office space for the limited demand which is there, whilst the unwanted, poor-quality office space is converted a use that is in demand.

 

Let the student population in to the city centre, build up a demand for retail/leisure, then use those developments to further the case when reaching out to white collar employers.

 

---------- Post added 10-06-2016 at 13:22 ----------

 

What does "raise the profile" even mean? It's not like Sheffield needs to be more widely talked about in Birmingham, or Manchester or Leeds. It won't cause people to travel to shop.

So the people who might shop already know about the city because they live with 10 or 15 miles.

IMO it's unlikely that two vacuous department stores would suddenly cause people to return to the city centre to shop.

 

You or I may not have shopping high on the list of hobbies, but a hell of a lot of people do and that absolutely would tempt many of them to go to Sheffield CC. A high quality department store is a destination in itself.

[foxy lady]

T

 

Let the student population in to the city centre, build up a demand for retail/leisure, then use those developments to further the case when reaching out to white collar employers.

 

---------- Post added 10-06-2016 at 13:22 ----------

 

 

You or I may not have shopping high on the list of hobbies, but a hell of a lot of people do and that absolutely would tempt many of them to go to Sheffield CC. A high quality department store is a destination in itself.

 

But aren't those 2 things polar opposites. Students aren't here to buy high end furniture. They are here to study, and are more likely to attract pound shops than Harrods. So if we continue down the road of giving over the city centre to pound shops and students what is there to attract big business to the area within the inner ring road?

If HS2 does actually stop at Sheffield it will be at Meadowhall. It is Meadowhall that is expanding. Meadowhall where retailers want to be. Meadowhall will attract business for its proximity to the motorway, the rail network, and most importantly somewhere where they and their customers can park. It might even expand to become a new town on it's own.

Edited June 10, 2016 by foxy lady

[Cyclone]

Students will use leisure and retail facilities though. They have leisure time, they buy clothes and food. Sure, they won't be buying furniture, but it's not something you can take home in your boot anyway, so why should you buy it in the city centre (where space costs far more for a showroom than out of town).

[smiggs]

Students and universities are the cultural heartbeat of the city. If Sheffield tries to restrict the nationwide trend of building city centre student accommodation then the students will go elsewhere and the city will be poorer for it.