Editor: Maybe we shouldn’t always trust our first impression

The idea of shipping crates being used for shops and cafes in what was once the city’s most affluent shopping street didn’t go down well.

What would it look like? How would it work? Do we really want metal boxes in the middle of town?

I shared my views with a colleague, who told me: “That’s finally a plan for Sheffield that might actually work,” and he shared how he had been to a similar hub in Newcastle which, in his words “wasn't bad” and “quite busy”.

It made me reconsider and wonder if I’d been too hasty in condemning the plans.

It’s certainly a scheme that should get off the ground fairly quickly, and not cost an extortionate amount of money. And maybe the containers will look far more stylish than the battered industrial ones I first imagined.

It’s a bit like the idea of uncovering the cobblestones on some of our city’s streets, featured on pages 8&9.

The idea seems a good one – to add character and return some of the ‘Victorian charm’. But there are always two views and it has certainly divided opinion.

Fears have been raised that they will be slippery and dangerous in snow and ice both for motorists and pedestrians, and a hazard to cyclists who may get their wheels stuck.

My son is currently using a wheelchair following an operation at the children’s hospital and pushing him through town the other week really showed me how different attractive paving, cobbles, steps and street furniture can be to those with disabilities.

And even tactile paving for those with limited vision can be a problem when you have to push a wheelchair over it while trying to cause as little discomfort as possible.

There’s always more than one viewpoint for every story.

Sometimes our initial impressions are absolutely right. Other times they are far off the mark.

I hope with this plan for Fargate my colleague will be proved right and I’ll be wrong, and it will be a huge boost for our city centre – a new idea bringing fresh opportunities.