The best and most unusual jobs you've had in Sheffield, from Redgates and Bonaparte's to historic snuff mill

Working nine to five can become a bit of a grind but some people are lucky enough to have jobs they love, or at least jobs which provide them with some stories to tell.

We asked The Star's readers to tell us the most unusual places they have worked over the years, and they didn't disappoint.

Here are some of the best responses we had.

Redgates toy store

Sarah Luddington told how she worked as a teenager at the much-missed Redgates toy store at the top of The Moor, which was affectionately known as the 'Yorkshire Disneyland'.

She wrote: "One Christmas I worked in Redgates on the top floor. We sold matching bedding for kids rooms which was a bit of a new idea for England in that they were around the same theme.

"Santa was on our floor too and I had to be a clown when all the elves were off sick. I was too tall to be a convincing elf. I was worrying that my friends might come in and see me. I was 17 and mortified by the costume."

Katie Toft recalled working at the historic snuff mills in Sharrow, behind the Berkely Precinct on Ecclesall Road back in the 1980s, while Olivia Smith looked back upnon her days working at the Playbus, which she said had 'cartoon characters painted all over it'.

Old Bonaparte's Casino

Simon Staniland described his time at the old Bonaparte's Casino (now Tank nightclub) on Arundel Gate between 1986 and 1990 as 'some of the happiest days of my working life'. One job that Don Savage will always remember was working 'inside the viaduct shot blasting the old leaded paint off so it could be strengthened'.

Dawn Goodwin described working for Fletchers bakery in the 80s. "(I) used to watch old man Mr Fletcher come around daily and taste the raw sausage meat, before it went into the sausage rolls," she wrote.

Jeffrey Flanagan recalled working at the Silver Slipper on Cemetery Road during the late 60s and 70s. It appears this was officially called the Sunderland Social Club and there is some confusion over how it came to be known as the Silver Slipper, though one person described it as having a 'varied clientele'.

'Wonderfully crazy' memories of The Vine pub

Amelia Sweet described how she was the licensee/manager of The Vine pub on Cemetery Road, adding 'it was weird and wonderfully crazy!'.

Alan Evans told how he worked at Victoria Quays in 2019, at the Merchant's Crescent, which he said used to be offices for coal merchants. "(It was) freezing cold because the windows were single glazed," he recalled. "It's that curved terrace in the canal basin. Built after the canal was built in 1819."

And Pansy Cheung's most memorable times have been at Sheffield's Greentop Community Circus, where she said: "I've been a student, performer, tutor and trustee."