Carver Street Sheffield: Police and council consider new measures to curb crime on party street

Carver Street is renowned for its clubs and pubs and is always busy at night, particularly at weekends. But it has also developed a reputation for crime, with a number of serious incidents having been reported there, including two murders.

The murders date back a number of years ago there have been more recent incidents including stabbings and serious sex attacks. This week alone, South Yorkshire Police issued an appeal for information after a man was left with a fractured jaw and damage to his teeth after an unprovoked attack in the early hours of October 22.

And in September a man in his 20s was stabbed in his neck when violence flared in the street.

The Chief Inspector for Neighbourhoods in Sheffield, Gareth Thomas, said: “We acknowledge that when violent crimes happen it is extremely concerning for our local communities, and we have sadly seen a number of serious incidents occur on Carver Street in recent years.

“We are as appalled as anyone when these violent crimes occur in our city, and like many of our policing colleagues across the country, tackling violent criminality continues to be a priority. We have robust plans in place to tackle the ongoing issues we experience in our night time economy, and a great deal of work is currently taking place, proactively and at pace, to tackle violent crime as a whole.

“In recent months, we have recruited additional Sergeants, PCs and PCSOs into our City Centre Neighbourhood Policing Team and bespoke shift patterns have been designed to provide additional coverage into the night time economy. They are deployed to busy, key locations within the city centre, such as Carver Street. Through Operation Steel, our monthly days of action in Sheffield city centre, we also regularly deploy significant resources from across the force into the city centre and night time economy, to tackle issues in specific localities. We also regularly deliver Operation Sentinel in the area, which is our dedicated operation to identify predatory behaviour in the night time economy and safeguard vulnerable people.

“In addition, through funding from the Home Office’s ‘Grip’ Programme, since the start of the summer we have been delivering a new ‘hotspot policing’ initiative across South Yorkshire, which involves officers operating regular foot patrols in micro-locations. A number of locations within Sheffield city centre are included within these patrol plans, in the areas where data analysis shows there is a risk of serious violence.

“Through the Grip programme, we are also looking at delivering further additional measures around Carver Street to tackle issues in the area, alongside partners at Sheffield City Council. I want to reassure everyone that helping people feel reassured and safe in Sheffield continues to be a huge area of focus. Our core purpose as a force is to protect the public and we are driving forward a partnership approach to tackling issues around violent crime in our city and continuously work to improve safety across our night time economy.

“We are stronger together, and we need to work collaboratively to bring an end to violent crime. I would encourage anyone who has concerns about safety in our city to get in touch and report information about crimes to us, however minor it may seem. Gathering information from local people is crucial in enabling us to identify patterns of offending, and if you feel uncomfortable speaking to the police directly, you can report information anonymously to Crimestoppers, either online or over the phone.”

Carver Street incidents of note:

- In February a man was hospitalised after being stabbed in an attack on Carver Street.

- In October last year, a woman was sexually assaulted by a man who ushered her into his car on Carver Street before stealing her phone and purse.

- Last June a 23-year-old woman reported being raped close to the Walkabout bar on the corner of Carver Street and West Street.

- Last November, a report of an injection spiking at Popworld was investigated.

- Last August, South Yorkshire Police said officers were deployed to Carver Street in the early hours following an altercation in or around Crystal Bar. A man in his 20s was stabbed during the violence which flared.

- That same month two arrests were made after a mass brawl outside Popworld. Footage of the fight showed a large group of men starting to fight outside the nightclub, kicking and punching one another.Officers attended and four men were taken to hospital.

- Back in 2018, a number of men were stabbed in a gang-related brawl at Crystal on Carver Street on New Year's Day. Two men were rushed to hospital with life-threatening injuries, and a further four were left with superficial stab or slash wounds following the violent incident at the bar on Carver Street.

All six men were from the Birmingham area and South Yorkshire Police said at the time that the incident was believed to have been 'gang-related'. Nobody has ever been charged over the knife attack.

- In May 2014, University of Bradford student Anowar Tagabo, 25, from Sudan, died after suffering a head injury after being attacked outside Viper Rooms, while out with friends.

- In 2008, 23-year-old Brett Blake, from Longley, was stabbed to death in Uniq nightclub on Carver Street. He was killed by his life-long friends Danny Hockenhull, of Grimesthorpe, and Curtis Goring, of Firth Park, in a gang-related feud. Police said the death was the result of in-fighting between the men, who were all members of the city's S3 postcode gang at the time and had been friends since they were children.