Ecclesall Road: From Sheffield's elite shopping destination to row of bars and eating places

But Ecclesall Road is perhaps better known these days as a place to wear your best outfits than to buy them: a bustling strip of bars and restaurants where a good night out is guaranteed.

Lots of independent shops do still remain of course, in between the eateries, coffee shops and cocktail bars, and you can still find fine fashions and unique gifts among the bottomless brunches and rows of restaurants.

But what do Sheffielders make of the graduallly changing face of one of the city's most famous streets?

And do people prefer 'Eccy Road' now, or hanker for their memories of the way it used to be?

Habibi Habibi was firmly in the second camp when we asked our readers on Facebook.

"I prefer it how it used to be. I have grown up on Ecclesall Road and watched it change dramatically over the years. It's changed so much - it's definitely the road that never sleeps.”

Nicky Jade said: "I grew up in Hunters Bar, and Eccy Road was a go-to place. It had everything to be excited by as a kid: Pizza Hut, Blockbuster, a Tesco, a Safeway, the Ora material shop, and lots of charity shops to rummage through.”

Karen Budd said she has lived and worked on 'Eccy Road' since she was 14 - and is now 67. She said the street is now saturated with licensed premises, and the shops that do remain are 'very boring' - “coffee shop, beauty salon, coffee shop, take away, hairdresser...”

Matt Lister said he remembered Ecclesall Road as being 'much better in the 90s'.

“I worked on there for six years and it was great,” he said. “A lot of nicer bars and food places and businesses. Most of them have gone now. It'll be nail salons, more hairdressers, and estate agents soon enough.”

Mark Murfin remembered good times on Ecclesall Road in the 1990s, but said after going back for a night out on the street last year he 'wouldn't go again'.

“It was best in the early 90s when the Slug and Fiddle had live bands on and didn't rip you off,” he said. “Prices went daft eventually and it became too grim when the town crowd flooded it. I had some good nights in the Pomona, Porterbrook and round Hunters Bar.”

Geoffrey Mallinson said the fashionable reputation of Ecclesall Road had always sat uneasily with him. “It was too snobbish for a Pitsmoor boy back in the day,” he said. “And now it's full of people trying to make a statement, 'Oh, we drink and dine on Eccy Road'. Try the working men's club - that's still got genuine people left,” he said.

Mark Stevenson agreed when he said: “It's full of ten bob millionaires who think they're better than anybody else.”

Lots of readers said heavy traffic and trouble parking put them off Ecclesall Road as it is today.

Kerry Marston said she thinks Ecclesall Road is 'looking tatty these days' and Rachel Blanchard said it is 'shocking'. “Why on earth would you want to sit out at tables outside with fumes from buses and taxis?” she asked.

“No way.”

Tracy Shaw agreed. "It's like everywhere - they start charging to park and it becomes unattractive,” she said, while Martyn Wiley said the traffic levels meant it has “always been a pain”. “If I'm going out that way I use Cemetery Road,” he said.

But Richard Henderson was sanguine about the evolving nature of one of Sheffield's most well-known destination roads.

“Yet again people looking over their shoulders to the past,” he said. “Eccy Road isn't perfect, but it's got some great places to shop, eat and drink.”