Sheffield retro: 21 fascinating photos from 1936 when it was called 'ugliest town in the Old World'

It was the year George Orwell visited Sheffield and famously went on to say it 'could justly claim to be called the ugliest town in the Old World'.

This retro photo gallery transports us back to 1936. While some images, like a row of derelict shops in Neepsend, perhaps justify the author's bold claim, others suggest he should have taken a better look around.

They include a bustling Langsett Road, where a pair of elegant trams are pulling alongside one another; a bucolic scene in Oughtibridge, looking towards the river and the rolling countryside beyond, and an ivy-clad house on leafy Fulwood Road in Broomhill.

Dore, meanwhile, appears picture box pretty in the snow, Ranmoor is looking particularly desirable and Castle Street is lined with fine buildings and equally stylish shop fronts.

Esewhere, the old Theatre Royal is shown in the year it was pulled down following a fire, while Norfolk Street, Lodge Moor Hospital and Attercliffe Common all feature.

Sheffield has certainly come a long way since then, even if some or the more modern architectural additions continue to divide opinion.

It's time to make your mind up about whether Orwell's judgement of the Steel City back in the 1930s was fair or he was just having a bad day.