Hole in the Road Sheffield: Why they filled in the city's 60s landmark

Build in the late 1960s in an area that had seen major damage as a result of Nazi bombing during World War Two, the Hole in the Road was a sort of subterranean shopping space in the city centre.

Youngsters were even taught about the landmark in the city’s schools in the 1970s, and it was given a legendary status when it was among the landmarks featured in a 1970s Sheffield promotional film that was featured in the film The Full Monty.

Located at the junction of High Street, Arundel Gate and Angel Street, with the old C&A shop towering over it, the Hole in the Road had escalators taking pedestrians down under the roads and into what was effectively an underground space, with an open air section in the middle – the ‘hole’.

Shops including GT News lined the edges, and a fish tank was built into the wall – although by the 80s the glass was no longer see-through.

At road level, the hole formed the centre of a roundabout used by the traffic getting around the city centre. However, despite its iconic status in the city, it was decided in the 1990s to get rid of the landmark.

Officials in the city believed the structure had deteriorated over the years, and that it became a magnet for muggers and vandals, particularly at night.

The end finally came for the structure in the 1990s, when plans were drawn up for the South Yorkshire Supertram. The route designed for the project through Sheffield city centre was to take trams over the bridge at Park Square, up Angel Street, and along High Street – across what was previously the Hole in the Road.

So the decision was made to fill the hole in, and replace it with what is now Castle Square, home to one of the tram stops. It was finally filled in the summer of 1995.

It still remains a memory for many Sheffielders, and the local band, the Everly Pregnant Brothers even wrote a song about it, Oyl Int Ruwad (Hole in the Road), which also attracted an animated video depicting the landmark using lego figures.