With just three years to go until Sheffield hosted the World Student Games, preparations were well underway, and the construction of Ponds Forge leisure complex led to an unexpected discovery.
In the year Steve Davis clinched his fifth World Snooker Championship title at the Crucible, Sheffield’s Ski Village also opened and proved a big hit.
The Ski Village is sadly no more but Meadowhall, which became the UK’s second largest shopping centre when it opened two years later in September 1990, is still going strong, as is Crystal Peaks.
This retro photo gallery captures life as it was back in 1988, including a much-missed nightclub, a meeting of two Sheffield legends at Bramall Lane, and the creation of a world record-breaking Yorkshire pudding.
These nostalgic images are taken from The Star’s archives and from Picture Sheffield.
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17. Crystal Peaks opening
Rebecca Morley cuts the tape to open Crystal Peaks shopping centre, in Mosborough, Sheffield, on March 1, 1988 | Sheffield Newspapers
18. Meadowhall construction
The construction of Meadowhall shopping centre underway on November 22, 1988. It would open in September 1990 | Sheffield Newspapers
19. Ponds Forge leisure centre taking shape
Work underway on the Ponds Forge swimming complex in Sheffield city centre in December 1988 | Sheffield Newspapers
20. World record attempt
The Lord Mayor of sheffield cuts a slice of the world's biggest Yorkshire Pudding, created to raise money for Children in Need, on November 18, 1988 | Sheffield Newspapers