How famous is Sheffield?

[Temuchin]

15 minutes ago, bluecanary said:

Sheffield is known in some parts of the world, not necessarily for the things you might expect. I remember asking one Chinese student how he was aware of Sheffield as his response was "The Snooker"! We are also quite well known as the location of the Full Monty, and of course, less positive reasons such as the terrible event at Hillsborough in 30 years ago.

Back in 1998, I was on a bus from Beijing to the Great Wall and got talking to a Chinese lad who asked where I was from. "Sheffield," I said, expecting a blank look. "Ah! Sheffield Wednesday! A great football team!" was the reply. Full marks for awareness of Sheffield, but zero for judgement 😎

[alchresearch]

11 hours ago, sparky_ said:

Hello. New poster alert! 😮

I was discussing with someone the other day Sheffield's standing in relation to other European cities.  Where do we rank?  On the World stage we are not as well known as major European capitals eg. Rome, Paris, Madrid etc.  Or realistically even the second cities such as Milan, Marseille, Barcelona.  So which cities are our cultural equal?  

Considering Sheffield isn't the UK's first or second city I don't see how you can compare it with the ones you mention.

 

I don't even know the name of Germany's or France's or Italy or Spain's fifth city, nor what they're famous for. 

 

I probably wouldn't have known the second cities (except for Barcelona) until you posted them.

 

However, Sheffield does OK on the world stage with plenty of other things making it famous.

[JamesR123]

Sheffield isn't well know on the world stage at all.  People may have heard of Sheffield Wednesday, but only because the team has a stupid name, not for any other reason.

 

100 years ago this would have been different, as Sheffield Steel was exported across the world.

 

I would be surprised if Sheffield made it into the top 100 European cities (by virtue of continent wide acknowledgement).

[RollingJ]

Merely as a point of interest - why do so many on here put Sheffield down?

[FIRETHORN1]

Way back in the past, I think Sheffield was best known for it's top class cutlery, knives and steel, but I believe the demise of these industries and the fact that we've got 2 unsuccessful football teams makes us less well known in the rest of the world.

In terms of "fame"  don't think we can be fairly compared to world capital cities like Paris and Rome, or even our own capital, London,  but we are either the 4th or 5th biggest city in England, so it would be nice to be as famous as other big English Cities of a similar size - like Leeds and Liverpool

[Jonmatt]

1 hour ago, RollingJ said:

Merely as a point of interest - why do so many on here put Sheffield down?

I think it is disappointment more than anything.

The city has lost its way in my view across a range of areas. In many ways, its nearly but not quite there

Music.. tremendous legacy but no iconography or point to focus on.

Shopping - way behind other cities with opportunities missed -Sevenstone

Sport- finally got a team in the highest division but what a long wait it has been

Industry - fractured and with no clear direction. Again missed out or having been left behind.

 

It is easy to criticise the Council who will blame, with good reason, financial disparities but there doesn't appear to have been any long term strategy for development for a long time.

 

 

[abbeyedges]

As an identity the 'best' bit of publicity Sheffield had in recent times was over the tree protests.

 

Newspapers, TV and radio often described us as 'the greenest city in Europe'.

 

Under the circumstances I suppose the council were keen to play down the story

[Longcol]

Many people have heard of Sheffield in this part of France - mainly because of steel / tools - in fact the garden centre in our local village probably carries a bigger range of Spear & Jackson tools than B&Q in Sheffield.

 

It still has a reputation for quality - people over here generally want to buy something that will last.

[ECCOnoob]

An interesting point is how are we measuring fame and notoriety.

 

Simply comparing Sheffield with other large European cities is the completely wrong approach.  Its obvious that we are not a capital city nor are we even the second city of the UK.  Trying to compare with those is completly incorrect.

 

Nor do I agree that fame is determined by simply what makes the newspapers and television.  99% of the time it will be bad news as that's what gets ratings and attracts a story.

 

I am more interested in the fame and awareness of Sheffield through arts, trade organisations and comparison in the commercial world.  

 

Sheffield universities are certainly attractive and there must be some fame as they are widely populated by international students.

 

Sheffield has had significant amounts of foreign investment linked to such students as can be seen in the new developments.

 

The investment from McLaren and Boeing in the AMR parks has been widely publicised certainly in the trade press as has the recent redevelopment of kelham Island and the digital quarter.

 

The Guardian has undertaken features on Sheffield and there is significant amounts of film and television production still done here with several filmmakers and producers based in the cultural industries area.   

 

The Arctic monkeys put Sheffield on the map recently and our legacy music scene is still brought up several times over in features and articles.

 

Our theatre complex is still the largest outside London and makes many productions in house which is a rarity in the regions.

 

We may not have the yuppie "prestige" of Leeds and Manchester but we are still matching them for investment from big companies and central government who have large offices based here.

 

Going back to what I said earlier, whilst  we may not hit the headlines as much as other cities that does not mean that we are not known.  Certainly from my travelling around to other locations and even abroad people are aware of Sheffield and what it can offer.

 

The recent flypast had not only gave national news coverage reporting and presenting from here but international too.  It was quite strange seeing CNN and NBC live from a Sheffield park.  Tramlines always attracts some good publicity as does the annual snooker which clearly dominates the BBC schedules each year.

 

Let's be completely honest, with the exception of London, does any major city get a disproportionate amount of positive reporting on the news or is it always just when somebody is killed or there is a disaster?

Edited June 24, 2019 by ECCOnoob

[abbeyedges]

4 hours ago, ECCOnoob said:

An interesting point is how are we measuring fame and notoriety.

 

Simply comparing Sheffield with other large European cities is the completely wrong approach.  Its obvious that we are not a capital city nor are we even the second city of the UK.  Trying to compare with those is completly incorrect.

 

Nor do I agree that fame is determined by simply what makes the newspapers and television.  99% of the time it will be bad news as that's what gets ratings and attracts a story.

 

I am more interested in the fame and awareness of Sheffield through arts, trade organisations and comparison in the commercial world.  

 

Sheffield universities are certainly attractive and there must be some fame as they are widely populated by international students.

 

Sheffield has had significant amounts of foreign investment linked to such students as can be seen in the new developments.

 

The investment from McLaren and Boeing in the AMR parks has been widely publicised certainly in the trade press as has the recent redevelopment of kelham Island and the digital quarter.

 

The Guardian has undertaken features on Sheffield and there is significant amounts of film and television production still done here with several filmmakers and producers based in the cultural industries area.   

 

The Arctic monkeys put Sheffield on the map recently and our legacy music scene is still brought up several times over in features and articles.

 

Our theatre complex is still the largest outside London and makes many productions in house which is a rarity in the regions.

 

We may not have the yuppie "prestige" of Leeds and Manchester but we are still matching them for investment from big companies and central government who have large offices based here.

 

Going back to what I said earlier, whilst  we may not hit the headlines as much as other cities that does not mean that we are not known.  Certainly from my travelling around to other locations and even abroad people are aware of Sheffield and what it can offer.

 

The recent flypast had not only gave national news coverage reporting and presenting from here but international too.  It was quite strange seeing CNN and NBC live from a Sheffield park.  Tramlines always attracts some good publicity as does the annual snooker which clearly dominates the BBC schedules each year.

 

Let's be completely honest, with the exception of London, does any major city get a disproportionate amount of positive reporting on the news or is it always just when somebody is killed or there is a disaster?

Manchester gets far too much (undeserved) coverage.

 

It's the darling of the media