Sheffield Hotels: Reaction to another multi-million pound hotel coming to city centre

Located on Pinstone Street, the arrival of Radisson Blu is hoped to help attract new business opportunities to the city, while raising Sheffield’s profile as a major destination for business and travel.

The hotel forms part of the Block 'A' redevelopment in Heart of the City II which includes a revamp of the former Embrace nightclub on Barker's Pool - the Gaumont cinema - into a leisure space.

The front end of the hotel, including ground-level retail and restaurant units, will be housed behind the attractive Victorian façades of Palatine Chambers and City Mews on Pinstone Street.

While Barker’s Pool House to the rear is to be demolished and replaced with a new adjoining, complementary building, which will feature the majority of the hotel’s 154 bedrooms - set to be complete in summer 2023.

An upmarket rooftop bar and terrace is also planned for the hotel, with striking views over the Peace Gardens.

Sheffield ‘used to be a great city’

Some residents in Sheffield, however, argue that the city already has 'too many hotels' and that the council should instead focus on bringing in more stores and local businesses to encourage people back into the city.

Jenny Staniland wrote on Facebook: “Why would you want to visit Sheffield now? No department stores anymore and very few individual shops. Parking £4-5 for two hours! Hardly encouraging people back into the city.

“Lots of high rise prisons block office space though. It used to be a great city, but the planners have got it totally wrong I’m afraid.”

Bradley Turton agreed: “Maybe make Sheffield centre a place people want to visit and stay at before building yet more hotels.”

Russ White said while it's positive the facade will be retained, surely there's already 'more than enough rooms' in the city centre.

He said: “I think the city centre is far too spread out and consequently there are so many empty retail outlets and dilapidated buildings.

“I think half of the city centre should be bulldozed to make way for a large park/outdoor area - think of Sheffield’s version of Central Park; we’d then be left with a much more compact retail/office area.”

NEWS: Sheffield tech firm WANdisco moves to four-day weeks to boost 'productivity and wellbeing'

‘A great investment for the area’

But Albert Broderick said the development is a 'great investment' for the area.

He said: “I know people may be against the plan for another hotel but it's better than the building being empty and neglected, having a negative impact on the area.”

Another agreed, saying that this is a ‘great project’ with a potential of bringing jobs and investment to the area.

Bill Brown said: “This is a great project. A massive multi-national company is building a huge hotel in the city centre, bringing jobs and investment. They’re not just doing that for a laugh, they’ve obviously done some serious business planning.

“At the same time, an old building is being modernised, so hopefully it will last another 100 years, with the one bit of the original that most people saw, the facade, being preserved in the new building.”