We visited the Sheffield estate where England star Kyle Walker grew up to see what life is like there today

The England and Manchester City star grew up on the Lansdowne estate, in Sharrow, not far from Bramall Lane, and honed his skills playing on a patch of grass there.

He has spoken of some harrowing experiences there during his childhood, which included a fatal arson attack at a neighbour’s home when he was aged 12 or 13, and seeing someone hanging on the stairs on another occasion.

But he told how growing up on an estate where ‘you had to survive’ had given him ‘that motivation to actually go and prove people wrong’.

There were happy times there, of course, with a strong sense of community and plenty of friends on hand for a kickabout.

Tim Matthews, a 42-year-old petrol station worker, grew up on the Lansdowne estate before leaving in 1999 and returning three years ago.

He recalled how Kyle was a ‘nice lad’, who would ‘never say no to a game of football’ and was rarely seen without a ball in his hands or at his feet.

He said the community was ‘so proud’ of what Kyle had gone on to achieve with Manchester City and England.

Tim was there when The Star visited on a drizzly Thursday afternoon with fellow volunteers from the newly launched Project Lansdowne Community Group, who were busy tidying up the grounds.

“We looked at the state of the area and decided we wanted to do something to help,” he said.

“Things needed doing and the council always has its hands full so we got together to volunteer and do a bit of general maintenance, gardening and litter picking.”

The group is also organising coffee mornings to help bring people together, and is campaigning to get an outdoor gym installed on the estate.

Tim told how the community on the estate was not what it had been in the ‘90s, when ‘everybody knew everybody’ and there was a ‘brilliant’ sense of togetherness, but he said things were improving.

“People started leaving the estate and you had new people coming in who kept themselves to themselves,” he added.

‘We’re getting people to come together’

“Most of the people I used to know growing up here have left but the community is improving. We’re getting people to come together and talk to each other.”

As for crime and anti-social behaviour, Tim said the estate had its problems back in the ‘90s and still does but that it’s ‘got a lot quieter’.

In the ‘90s, he said, most of the trouble was caused by people from other parts of the city coming onto the estate, but he adds ‘we had our own riff-raff’.

“Crime and anti-social behaviour isn’t as bad now as it was,” he told The Star. “We’re working with police and the council to improve things.”

Asked what was needed on the estate, he said more CCTV cameras and better cleaning and maintenance would help, as he and his fellow volunteers ‘can only do so much’.

Mohammed Rafiq recalled a young Kyle Walker buying sweets from the convenience store on Lansdowne estate where he has worked for nearly 40 years and which is today run by his sons Asif and Abid.

“He must have been four or five, and he would come in here for penny sweets,” said Mohammed. “He was very quiet and very polite.

“I’m very proud of what he’s achieved and of the whole England team.”

Mohammed said everyone on the estate was ‘very friendly’ but that while it used to be a quiet area there was a bit more trouble these days.

Walking round the estate, where we’re told Kyle Walker lived in the yellow Mount Street block, there was some litter but the grass was freshly mown and there is a surprising amount of green space for an estate just outside the city centre.

It was clear many residents take great pride in their homes, with flowers growing on several of the balconies and on the land outside some ground floor flats.

We didn’t see anyone playing football - perhaps because most people were still at school or work - and there were a number of signs declaring ‘no ball games’. But as well as the green spaces, there is a multi-use games area (MUGA) and a small caged football pitch.

Delshom Mehari, who has lived on the estate for three years, said: “I like it here. People are very friendly.”

For Asad Khan, aged 19, one of the best things about living there is the plethora of great takeaways on nearby London Road.

For more about the Project Lansdowne Community Group, email: [email protected].