I arrived in Sheffield three years ago on the A61 from Chesterfield, by way of Ecclesall Woods. I thought the trees were beautiful, the roads were rough, and the traffic was hopefully a one-off.
Three years later, two of those three things remain true.
If a city doesn’t make an impression then it’s not worth your time. But, after 34 months in the Steel City, I find I only have more and more to say about it.
I’ve come to decide Sheffield is the city for me. I’m in love with the trees, how much I enjoy walking its streets, and the chatter you can strike up anywhere you go. I love surprising my friends with hikes and walks I know of, I enjoy the slight satisfaction at how the hills don’t bother me anymore, and, God help me, but I love a Béres.
It has its blemishes. Districts of supremely beautiful houses can be just a few streets over from some of the most deprived areas in England. And, sadly, often when I compliment Sheffield, residents will instead tell you how much better “it used to be”.
But I have my own observations I want to make - just some things that I, as a man who knows he will never ascend to the rank of Northerner, have come to understand when I think back on my three years in the Steel City.
Here are nine things I’ve noticed since making the move.
5. Béres will cure all
Before moving to Sheffield in late 2021 I first visited six months before hand for a Eurovision party and got very drunk. The next day, in terrible shape, stumbling around the Peace Garden, a friend took me to get my first Béres jumbo pork sandwich. Is it too much to call have your first Béres a religious experience? Probably, but it cured my hangover and having another for lunch was a priority on the very first day I moved to the Steel City. A gorgeous treat exclusive to this neck of the woods.
6. People are still not over John Lewis
One thing I was looking forward to when I moved to Sheffield was spending the £70 of John Lewis vouchers I picked up at Christmas, only to find the store on Barker's Pool had closed just months before. No one in the Steel City I've met seems to be over it yet and it is mourned to this day as a loss the high street is yet to recover from. I can picture it too - a massive central department store full of pricier nice things to browse on a trip to town or on a lunch break. I too regret that I never got to while some hours away there. May the planned Coles Brothers revival be the heart transplant that gets Sheffielders' enthusiasm for the city centre going again. Photo: Sheffield City Council
7. The houses are affordable... but maybe not for much longer
When I told people in 2021 I would be moving to Sheffield, many cheerfully encouraged me with "ah, houses will be cheap then." The Steel City has been known as a mecca for affordable houses. It still is - but I don't know how much longer for. The nationwide rise in house prices seems to be pinching hard in Sheffield. First-time buyers in Sheffield spent an average of £187,100 on their property in November 2023, £44,500 than in late 2018. I haven't bought yet and I'm not looking forward to it - but we're still cheaper than a lot of other places, right? | Google Photo: Google
8. Do not take the trees for granted
Have you ever been to Stoke-on-Trent? Nothing but concrete. Simply barren for greenery, as leafy as a Borg Cube. Then there's Sheffield, where you are never more than 10 minutes walk away from a park or a tree to hug (if you're so inclined). It takes a trip to another town to come back and realise how abundant and generous they are. | Harry Harrison