Historic Rare and Racy shops in Sheffield to stand empty 'for another seven years' in development row

The Georgian buildings on Devonshire Street, are ‘bottom of the pile’ of projects at Primesite and will sit there for another ‘five, six or seven years’, a spokesman said.

The news will dismay heritage lovers who wanted to see them preserved and brought back to life.

Some 20,000 people opposed demolition in 2015, with Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker calling second hand bookshop Rare & Racy a ‘global treasure’.

Primesite was granted permission for shops and flats but it expired. The firm tried again a year ago but councillors refused plans, this time for an office block.

The Primesite spokesman said they no plans to try again and no plans to sell.

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Their efforts had already cost tens of thousands of pounds and they didn’t want to waste any more money, he added.

He said: “We are busy developing sites. We don’t get emotional about it. We were committed to the development but told we couldn’t so we move on.”

The buildings are in City Ward, represented by Coun Douglas Johnson.

He said he objected to demolition plans due to the loss of heritage and impact on the climate and he called on Primesite to be ‘creative’.

“As a Green councillor, I argued against the demolition of these city centre heritage shops.

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“Sadly in 2015, the then Labour-controlled council approved their demolition leading to the loss of the independent businesses there.

“In 2021, we were successful in having planning permission refused for a substandard office block.

“As well as losing heritage, the carbon cost of unnecessarily demolishing buildings, to then re-construct from afresh, is huge and needs to be addressed if the city is serious about the climate emergency.

“Overlooking Devonshire Green, there is hope for this fine setting if only its Sheffield heritage can be respected. It could be a superb backdrop to those summer afternoons on the grass; it could be the reassuring brickwork to huddle against on wet autumn evenings. There was no good reason for demolition of this core piece of Sheffield’s heritage, a decent, solid, not-very-flashy building that epitomises so much of the Sheffield that residents, young and old, find attractive.

“The current owner will have to make their own decision what to do with these buildings. The answer is not to demolish them but to look for new and creative uses that will benefit from their unique appeal and setting.”

Rare and Racy opened in 1969 and eventually closed in July 2017. Its neighbours found new homes.

The Natural Bed Company took up another showroom on nearby Fitzwilliam Street, the Rag Parade clothes shop relocated to become JoJo’s General Store on Ecclesall Road, and fashion boutique Syd and Mallory’s Emporium shifted further along on Devonshire Street where it remains today.

“It’s really important to keep the shops on Devonshire Street independent,” said Kirsteen Hardie of Syd and Mallory’s in 2016. “That’s why people come here. We want to try and keep it as it is meant to be.”

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