'Famous Sheffield cobbles join long list of failed experiments - Egg Box Town Hall Extension, Fargate and Moorhead Subways, Goodwin Fountain'

A whole team of expert workmen were flown in from Italy to do the job professionally and presumably not cheaply. Did we ever get to know the full cost?

The city’s pride was short-lived however and pretty soon the complaints started coming in.

I have every sympathy with wheelchair users and the disabled whose concerns are very understandable and very valid.

With a bit of forethought the problem could have been resolved rather than digging the lot up.

The complaints from Joe and Josephine Bloggs that the cobbles “hurt their feet” (oh diddums) are a different matter and are really quite pathetic.

Most piazzas and town squares in Europe are cobbled so perhaps European feet are different and hardier than ours.

There is no doubt that the cobbles enhanced Fargate (bar the tacky black Tarmac patching-up) and were relatively maintenance free.

The replacement flag stones will inevitably suffer the usual cracking, breaking up and lifting, leading to the public complaints starting again.

The famous Sheffield cobbles thus join the long list of failed experiments. The Hole in the Road, The Egg Box Town Hall Extension, The Fargate and Moorhead Subways, The Goodwin Fountain, the recent Container Park fiasco and last but not least and probably the biggest – Sheffield City Airport.

The latter was purposely strangled at birth and Sheffield would be a different place today, had it been allowed to survive. It would have been a massive asset and given us untold business advantages over our rivals.

The purpose of this letter is to ask Sheffield Council about the fate of the cobbles.

Has an attempt been made to salvage them, re-locate them or put them on the open market? Their value is considerable and I wouldn’t dare to suggest that they might go straight into landfill.

Let’s hope that we get to learn of their final destination, but I won’t hold my breath.

*Letter submitted by H Greaves, Sheffield, S7