Sheffield city centre: The 17 things up-and-coming city centre needs to thrive
Millions are being spent on Sheffield city centre to improve its appearance and its fortunes - but not everyone is happy.
The council has rebuilt a huge area from Cambridge Street to Wellington Street to Barker’s Pool under the £470m Heart of the City scheme.
It is also revamping once premium shopping street Fargate which is shifting from retail to leisure and food and drink. Orchard Square has benefited from a taxpayer funded facelift and The Moor and The Moor Market are still looking smart.
Meanwhile, Sheffield City Council is moving ahead with a £21m project to improve cycling and walking on Pinstone and Surrey streets.
But there is much work to do, according to our readers.
We asked what the city centre needs to thrive - and hundreds commented on our Facebook page.
Julie Taylor said parking was difficult and expensive and public transport was not an option for everyone, especially if you were laden with shopping.
She also said it was time for the city council to stop “favouring” Meadowhall. The megamall famously has 12,000 free parking spaces and is outside the Clean Air Zone.
Dave Salem was brief. “Shut Meadowhall down. It sucked the life out of Sheffield, Rotherham and surrounding areas.”
Christina Whalley said she felt unsafe in the city centre.
“The last couple of times that I came into the city centre (many months ago), I felt very unsafe because of the number of people coming up to me and aggressively harassing me for money. So that definitely needs sorting out, maybe more community police officers about?”
Angela Bruce suggested a handful of measures.
“Get landlords to lower rents, get lower rates for shops too. Clean up the centre and make parking cheaper and public transport more reliable.”
Christine Lockwood called for bus gates and the Clean Air Zone to be scrapped to make it easier to drive in. She also wants to see the return of department stores.
She added: “Open air market once or twice a week, decent shops, lower rents and rates for sellers, less take away pop up shops, bring back Debenhams! Coles!”
The Moor still hosts an open air market most days and Atkinsons, the last department store in the city, is still going strong.
Mark Davenport called for restrictions on certain types of shops.
“Put a limit on the number of vape and phone accessory shops, there are enough fast food outlets and Greggs. It would be good to have pubs with more live bands on during the day.
“Retail shops, I'm not sure, since Covid people have changed their shopping habits. It's sad but it's easier and more convenient to shop online.”
Patrick Abel said people needed to shop online less.
He said: “I find it quite funny people calling for free parking in the city centre and then comparing it to Leeds and Manchester, they all charge top dollar for parking.
“We do need more retail to complement the new foodie offerings but we need the whingers to go into the city centre and stop shopping on Amazon then moaning. Once you’ve killed retail by shopping online you can’t complain.
“Once it’s gone, Mr Bezos will be rubbing his hands as we will be over a barrel. Stop funding US billionaires and shop locally.”
Adam H Wiles was in agreement.
“Sheffield needs all these moaning people to actually go and spend money in the shops - instead of complaining about paying a few quid to park.
“If you're not happy paying to park - you definitely aren't going to spend enough to keep the shops open.”
Joanne Roebuck said it was time to go upmarket.
“Follow the example of Leeds city centre. Get in high end shops like Harvey Nichols, John Lewis etc with cheaper parking and better restaurants.”
Many others called for big changes at the Town Hall, blaming the council for Sheffield’s problems.