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What is so good about Sheffield City Centre?


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And Leeds which has been predominantly labour led for nigh on 40 years.

 

This is why no one ever backs up the statement that we are behind other northern cities (or often referred to as “more forward thinking cities” etc) because we have a labour council.

 

I wasn't blaming the fact Sheffield has a labour council per se. You're right. Labour councils (and Tory councils) in other cities have taken their cities hurtling past Sheffield in terms of development. If anything, I was blaming Sheffield's electorate. They vote automatically for Labour, the Council knows it is safe and continues to do nothing and - here is the rub - the Sheffield electorate lets them get away with it.

 

That wouldn't happen in Leeds or Manchester. It seems to me they are held to account much more by the electorate there than here.

 

That was my whole point: we get the city we deserve.

 

I keep coming back to my example of the birthplace of football. I was in Manchester yesterday and walked past the Football Museum there. It rankles me that Sheffield people just don't seem to care; there is a mute resignation that their city will never be anything, so why worry about it?

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I get the old joke about the donkey with the red rosette in Sheffield but just for consideration since 2000 we've had 10 years of Labour-run councils, 5 years of Lib Dem run councils and 3 years of no overall control. So that's just over half the time we've had a labour-led council.

 

There's currently 53 labour councillors and 31 councillors from other parties.

 

It's hardly the rock solid, centuries old Labour domination some people make out is it? I bet there's plenty places with bigger majorities on the council either red or blue.

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Guest makapaka
I wasn't blaming the fact Sheffield has a labour council per se. You're right. Labour councils (and Tory councils) in other cities have taken their cities hurtling past Sheffield in terms of development. If anything, I was blaming Sheffield's electorate. They vote automatically for Labour, the Council knows it is safe and continues to do nothing and - here is the rub - the Sheffield electorate lets them get away with it.

 

That wouldn't happen in Leeds or Manchester. It seems to me they are held to account much more by the electorate there than here.

 

That was my whole point: we get the city we deserve.

 

I keep coming back to my example of the birthplace of football. I was in Manchester yesterday and walked past the Football Museum there. It rankles me that Sheffield people just don't seem to care; there is a mute resignation that their city will never be anything, so why worry about it?

 

That's not really borne out by the facts though is it. We've had a labour led council for 10 of the last 20 years. That's not people voting automatically for labour.....it's fake news.

 

"Lets pretend that the only reason the labour party gets in is because the electorate are too stupid to vote otherwise"

 

So is the "there is a mute resignation that their city will never be anything" - how does that manifest itself then? Have you any examples of that?

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So is the "there is a mute resignation that their city will never be anything" - how does that manifest itself then? Have you any examples of that?

 

 

You're asking for examples of mute resignation that the city will never be anything? Do you really need them? Look around you.

 

I've already highlighted two - the failure to capitalise on the birthplace of football, and the rather revealing realisation that Gap considers its store in our retail quarter a dumping ground for its surplus stock.

 

What could we add to that? Well, a totally dead city centre (the whole point of this thread), a persistent failure to attract significant businesses or jobs compared to MCR and Leeds, and the inability to turn thousands of students who come to the city into permanent residents.

 

I love the place, but I'm approaching retirement. Young people dont really want to be here. And that's a real shame.

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...and the inability to turn thousands of students who come to the city into permanent residents.

 

hang on.

 

Sheffield has one of the highest 'retention' rates in the country.

 

Young people dont really want to be here. And that's a real shame.

 

see above.

Edited by ads36
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You're asking for examples of mute resignation that the city will never be anything? Do you really need them? Look around you.

 

I've already highlighted two - the failure to capitalise on the birthplace of football, and the rather revealing realisation that Gap considers its store in our retail quarter a dumping ground for its surplus stock.

 

I looked a bit more closely at your claim about Gap though didn't I.

Did you not bother to read it?

 

---------- Post added 26-07-2018 at 14:52 ----------

 

Sticking with the theme about Gap though and how "Just let that sink in for a moment - Sheffield shoppers are fit only for the crap that Gap can't sell elsewhere in the north."

 

Looking at the Gap store locator, all the stores around here, near Leeds, near Manchester, towards Derby and at Doncaster are ALL Gap outlets.

You have to go as far as Birmingham (2nd largest city in the country) to find a full fledged Gap. So I don't particularly feel like we've been snubbed by Gap, nor do I really care.

 

... This ...

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I looked a bit more closely at your claim about Gap though didn't I.

Did you not bother to read it?

 

---------- Post added 26-07-2018 at 14:52 ----------

 

 

... This ...

 

You did, and I replied to say you were mistaken. Did you not bother to read it? ;-)

 

Irrespective of what it might say on that website, the two main Gap stores in Manchester are both proper stores, not outlet. They are in St Ann Square (i was there last week) and there is a huge one in Trafford. They are NOT outlet stores. There is a large outlet store in Salford, part of an outlet mall.

 

The main store in Leeds too (on Park Row) is not an outlet store. I believe both Manchester and Leeds are closer than Birmingham, and it against those two cities that Sheffield should be measured, not Doncaster or Derby.

Edited by bendix
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The store locator is really rubbish actually, it won't even list one in Leeds, but google clearly shows it being there.

Oh well, snubbed by Gap, how will we get over it?

 

You will get over it of course, but in the process you're proving my central point about an apathetic Sheffield population who sigh in weary acceptance about the city being rather shabby, and then adopt a 'I dont really care' mentality about its northern rivals being forward looking.

 

People get the cities and environments they deserve. Accept bland mediocrity, and so it shall be delivered.

 

Caveat: the Gap example is a silly example to make a bigger point. It is not the central point of the debate.

 

---------- Post added 26-07-2018 at 15:45 ----------

 

hang on.

 

Sheffield has one of the highest 'retention' rates in the country.

 

 

 

see above.

 

I'd be interested in seeing the source for that, because it surprises me and goes against conventional wisdom. A large proportion of Sheffield students are overseas students - do they stay? Similarly, Sheffield doesn't appear in even the top 8 student cities in this survey, in which employment opportunities post graduation, is a key factor.

 

https://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings-articles/qs-best-student-cities/eight-best-student-cities-uk

 

I'd happily be proven wrong though.

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I don't think you're really correct, you've chosen a mid range store that I never shopped at when it was in Sheffield, that's why I don't care about it.

It's also clearly not under the control of the people of Sheffield or even indeed the council what shops open or don't open.

 

Sheffield has long had a reputation for retaining a high proportion of it's graduates and I can attest to the fact that the majority of Sheffield Uni students if they can, hang around. Of course many can't because the job market isn't large enough.

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