The Worst Things in Sheffield, South Yorkshire*

The entirely missable and worth mentioning because of it

You can tell us more about Sheffield.

• Sebastian Coe used to run (training)past our house. He lived in Tapton.
• A kebab shop downhill from Division Street. Asked for a cheeseburger and got something that can only be described as 'liquid cheese'. It didn't even freeze in the cold night air and in the morning, I woke up half human, half cheese. It took two showers to get it out of my system...
• The few loud spoilt students all over West St of an evening who give the rest a bad name; town centre dying on its arse due to ongoing indecisions (Sevenstone etc); no night buses which is strange considering the huge nightlife scene
• Sheffield. Claiming to be the best place for shopping (even though that is clearly Leeds' trophy)
• can't stand this knife crime thats going on! are these people off their heads?lets have peace in this world again please!
• more luxury flats. Inner city development in this money grabbing way abolishes the community. We will end up like Leeds.
• aprt frm the northen bit from parsons cross up
• The amount of Asylum seekers on Devonshire green acting the big un.
• The traffic lights and one way systems
• Flamin' Big Issue sellers are EVERYWHERE!
• bloody homeless people who steal my cigarettes!
• Difficult integration of foreigners into the local network (I don't mean students!)
• pigeons
• Def Lepoard
• The worst thing about Sheffield is the number of people who think having lived in the place for a few years makes them a Sheffielder. If you and your great great grandparents werent born here you aren't a Sheffielder and never will be.
• its hard to get home to
• the chavs & townies (people who go round terrorising old people, causing destruction, vandalising, beating up people who are 'different')
• Gangs of sporty type men in Champs, the begger outside the Spar on Ecclesall Rd
• It’s a depressing place, both in terms of buildings, atmosphere and people, especially places like Prince of Wales Road, the Manor estate and over to Richmond area.
• DO THEY SPEAK ENGLAISH IN DEE-DAH LAND?
• RUN DOWN COUNCIL ESTATES
• the bbc - tossers
• Sheffield
• The tramps and samarlians who harras every1 on devi green. the one dude who has a new sob story everyday and seems to forget he had been talking to me only a couple of days ago (dont fall for it)
• Lots of pubs, lots of businesses going out of business, a lot of housing areas are full of inbred, rascist, xenophobic, mindless deviants who would be better off dead.
• only bramall lane.
• Park Hill flats. All the those cheap and nasty tower blocks at Norfolk Park.
• Coppers. But then again they're everywhr. erm, townies will be hangin permanently round the peace gardens but avoid dat place and u'll b okay. the moor is townie central
• dog shit all over the footpaths & in the parks...the litter...the rates...the roads...successive appalling councils...11 o clock supping up time...grubby town centre which has never altered for years...the 50 watt bulb which passes for christmas lights...pissed up bell ringers in the cathedral,never heard of synchronisation boys...
• Sheffield Wednesday football club. Playing in Division Two 2003-04!
• NEANDERTHOL BOUNCERS AND CHEESY DECOR.
• Coming back.
• the people, the place in general
• Bramall lane (full of shit)
• ARK
• traffic, traffic, traffic lights, oh yeah and traffic.
• ignorant dick heads (as everywhere). Intollerance (not as bad as most places). Poverty. the council.
• the raaaaaain
• Townies. The tracksuit wearing, under-age girlfriend type who think saying "Come on then" makes them hard. But you're gonna get them everywhere you go.
• The belief that shopping is the future of sheffield.
• NEVER trust First Mainline bus service. They are extremely un-reliable, so if I were you, I'd hire a car or take a taxi.
• Soooooooooooooooo many damn townies but woth ur help we can change that we should go and break all there legs!
• Bus drivers are unbelievably rude. Too many coffee shops on Ecclesall road. The bit of land behind the station.
• the BBC throwing there wieght around as well as glasses
• Some parts look like shanty towns, despite a few nice modern buildings the city centre is pretty ugly.
• Ive never seen so many stollen vehicles down park hill in the last two years of living here. something like a car every three minutes goes missing here every day! Park hill estate stay out. Heelys getting quite rough now.
• the overkill of trendie clubs and distinct lack of alt-punk clubs!
• The prostitutes that roam the streets at 4.30 just off West Street.
• The Sheffield Star, in particular its useless editor Peter Charlton. Lives like a Lord in Whirlow Lane yet supports Communists - especially Joe Ashton. Ashton is an enemy of England, supported the old USSR, said its miners had hot meals down't pit - load of cobblers. Wrecked exports when he was main union troublemaker at Davy United in Darnall. Assisted Harold Wanker Wilson in destruction of British industry in 1970's. Pissed all over the residents of Bassetlaw for more than 30 years. Caught playing hide the sausage with under-age Siamese girls in a Northampton brothel, - whilst wearing a Wednesday shirt! Parasite has used taxpayers' money to escape from hovel in Richmond Road to mansion in Ranmoor, from where he pees on the public. In the Star he blames Duke of Devonshire and The Queen for the mess Blair's Communist gang have caused. Order your Star every night its just like "The Moscow Daily Liar"
• Its too big Gangs that think they own the place! To alike to Manchester Park hill
• Too many Assylum Entrepreners and take-the-piss wevegotmorecashthanyou ''beggars''.City Centre is swarming with 'em.
• the smelly buses
• The homeless that are on the streets, and those monks that kept coming up and asking you to say Guranga, or something like that......
• Park hill estate and the mannor estate have become a big problem in sheffield and now even manchester residents belive it is even "harder" than moss side.
• The terrible weather, the grimness of the city, being attacked br drunks with police not caring near the City Hall, The poverty, the lack of tourism. The awful architecture, the huge amounts of beggars/market researchers on Fargate and the High street. West Street. Sheffield University.
• park hill estate stay away ! Mannor estate if u dare !
• The Egg Box. Yuk.
• 'blech' has stopped and warp have buggered off.
• Parochial publications run for the benefit of local grocers, like "Westside" and the (ooh, we'd better not say anything negative abut our crop of bent and / or incompetant local politicians,'cos we know which side our bread is buttered)"Sheffield Star / Morning Telegraph. The latter should be prosecuted under the trades desciptions act, on the basis that the dictionary definition of news contains implicit recognition of the idea that news must be factual, and that the relevant facts of the day should be apportioned appropriate weighting according to the relevamce to the individual, rather than political or commercial interests.
• All Bar one on a Friday lunch time
• The Pomona (Ecclesall Road in general really)...full of the worst kind of overexcitable, embarrassing "student" students.
• Meadowhell...never has one word so accurately described somewhere.
• Chubby's cheese.
• The worst thing about Sheffield is Meadowhall! A foul, sickening American style mall, full of sad, dazed people who have travelled from Leeds and further. The good thing about this mall is that it is built on a bog. It's propped up with a load of sand and my vision is of the whole lot sinking into oblivion. I am not the only Sheffield person to hate the place, but unlike some I avoid it at all costs.
• Road system. Rabidly anti-car City Council has totally screwed up the city centre in the name of the Environment and/or Supertram.
• They knocked the Limit down.
• Roxys - If you're looking for a fight, it's a good bet. Otherwise - forget it.
• Ignorant locals who try to cause trouble in the city. You have to watch yourself in the town centre - students especially who do not know the area. That is why places such as Roxy's and Berlins clubs are best left to locals. Also keep away from the Music Factory - unless you are an extreme poser and don't mind mixing with a bunch of self-centred clubbers all night. Republic is a better alternative, playing similar music but without the snobby attitude (it's just round the corner from Berlins though).
• It's crap about students getting kicked in at Roxy's and Berlins: not particularly refined but definitely an EXPERIENCE (if only to go and laugh at, plus it's piss easy to pull!!)
• EVERYONE gets beaten up Roxy's, not just students. However it is worth going at least once, especially if you are 19, usually wear a baseball cap, have a stupid goatee beard, and like walking round with a technics jacket. This way you will fit 50% of the under 20 stereotype of Sheffielders immediately.
• The worst thing about Sheffield? Too many bleeding students of course! (even if they do pay my wages).
• Whoever said Manchester is dangerous is wrong! I came to no harm living there for three years... Obviously if you walk round Moss Side you will be in trouble, but there are dodgy areas in Sheffield just the same!
• The worst thing about Sheffield is the lack of a magazine such as City Life so that it was easier to find out what is on where across the board from club nights to opera or football. I always have to scrabble around to find things out.
• Teteeeeetetetetetetetet Chris Waddle, Matthew Deakin and Pascal Programming.
• The worst thing is the new pub - Foundry & Firkin , West Steet: Trying to be a family, fun pub, trendy, studenty, locally everything, and unfortunately is failing on all counts, it is like a barn in there there are too few tables. Good points: the beer is not too bad, they have lots of games behind the bar. The best pub is the Tap & Spile, Waingate, Sheffield.
• The saddest place in town is that awful bastard son-of-a-fast food chain, McDonald's. Oh yes, Meadowhall & Crystal Peaks, and last but not least, the supertram. What's that all about? If you want speed build an airport! When I was a lass we loved to stand in the rain waiting for a number 25 while freezing to death, gave you character!
• The worst thing about Sheffield - certainly as far as lesbians and gay men are concerned - is the scene, the non-existence of said scene. The only pubs (circa the HNG 80s) are all in the darkest recesses of Attercliffe and appeal almost exclusively to men who still insist on tucking their shirts into their jeans. There's no club, except a women-only one, size of a postage stamp, that no-one goes to. In summary then, Sheffield IS the twilight world of the homosexual.
• Meadowhall... Did you know if it didn't take off as a shopping centre they were going to turn it into a prison. It would make a good one, I'd hate to be in there for any length of time. Also Supertram... it goes from where no body lives to where nobody wants to go and it costs a fortune.
• Worst of the worstesT - Geography, Planning & Landscape building (On Winter Street), Meadowhall (Of Course), Ford Fiestas, locals who don't like students, and students who dont like locals.
• Other Stuff:
• Fancy the movies, but bored of the old Hollywood cliched formulaic shit? The Showroom, on Brown street, has an impressive line up of independent films in a good atmosphere! You need never visit the Odeon again!
• The Kelham Island Industrial Museum, with the Fat Cat next door, possibly the best pub in the UK.
• The Peak District (easily accessible from the centre of town).
• The nearby towns of Bakewell, Loxley, Hathersage...
  • [But...] Sorry to disagree, BUT: Loxley is not a rural town near Sheffield! NO!
    It's a poxy little suburbanised village, now actually connected to Sheffield as one of it's last thorny tentacles encroaching on rurality.
  • Bradfield is a small village a few miles past Loxleyvile, and, incidentally, is the birth place of Maid Marion, lover and eventual wife of ROBIN (Loric) HOOD, son of the squire of the now suburbanised Loxley.
    Bradfield is a quaint place in two halves, as Maid Marion's birth might surgest. They have Cricket on a Sunday and Sunshine and a Church in the upper half of the hamlet poor hamlet.
  • I was born and raised like bread, in Loxley and I know the woods well.
• If you're in Sheffield, and you need a haircut, make sure you visit this city's maddest hairdresser (and probably all-time nicest bloke) ELTON. Find him at "Hair By Christmas" (Barber Road, Commonside) or "319 Hair co." (Glossop Road, Broomhall). Don't forget to purchase one of his charity joke-books, I GUARANTEE you won't have heard ANY of them before!!
• Antiques Emporium at the Nichols Building: 25 stalls covering all sorts of things, but in particular if anyone out there is interested in the decade known as the 'Fabulous 50's' then this is the place to come and explore. The 50's FunHouse is on the top floor of the Nichols building and specialises in anything and everything to do with the 50's, clothes (original garments) plus quality gabardine shirts and jackets, all hand made from original 40/50's paper patterns; china, pottery, 50's collector cards, in sets or in attractive frames, and some furniture. Also there is a great cafe on the top floor called Lisa's Kitchen, everything from a simple cup of coffee to a complete meal, and plenty of options for veggies. You can find the Nichols Building, on Shalesmoor, turn left at West Bar after you've passed the West Bar Police, and about 700 yds down on your left hand side is a large warehouse - and that's it.
• Guitars Amps etc. may be found on London Road just outside of the city centre. Alternatively try Carlsbro on City Road - if you go there do haggle on price: it's easy and it will save you a bob or two. On the subject of London Road continue out of town along here and you will come to Abbeydale Road. On the way you will pass numerous "Antique" shops - great for secondhand furniture and eventually find Bardwells electronics shop. For Electronics projects on the cheap this is where to buy your bargain bags of components.
• Abbeydale sports centre deserves a mention as it regularly hosts Yorkshire cricket but also has a whole host of other facilities.
• Hey what's wrong with you guy's. You forgot to mention the fact that Sheffield is the Climbing Mecca of the world! What's more can you name any other city where you can set off from the centre of town on foot and by lunchtime be in the middle of a National Park!. Try walking out to Hunters Bar and then cut through the park and keep going. - Good luck up Jacobs Ladder though.
  Sadly I have had to leave the city due to the Council's total lack of encouragement for technology based industry. Hope to return on a regular basis though. Those hills are unbeatable. Bradway Moor ba tat !!!!!!!
• Some Sheffield free media worth knowing about:
  • SAM (Sheffield Alternative Magazine) - Rock music + general, available at Forum and Warp Records.
  • WORD!/CORE - Music, clubs + general, available at Forum and Warp Records.
  • SHEFFIN - environmental, Anti CJA and Smokescreen news, at Sheffin shop, Crookes Valley Road.
  • SHEFFIELD PINK - all Sheffield gay scene info. Available at Queens Hotel, Trash at Kikis and most scene events.
  • SALT - arts and culture magazine, by students at Psalter Lane. Available at Hallam Uni Psalter Lane Site.
• Some Sheffield non-free media worth knowing about
  • Rubicon is Sheffield Uni's art and literary mag. Only been going for two years, but well worth a look, and maybe even a read. Find the names of people before they are famous. Only thing is, this last edition is £2, 'cos we couldn't get much advertising. This years will be cheaper, honest. Find it in Blackwells and the Uni Union's Shop.
• One aspect of Sheffield life which is not mentioned in the guide is the location of the red light areas, and places notorious for street drugs.
  • The former are mainly represented by the Broomhall area, where street prostitutes can be seen at most times off Collegiate Crescent. (I cannot vouch for whether they offer good value.)
  • The latter can also be experienced in Broomhall, but more often than not you will either get nothing for your money, or you will get something other than what you expected. The Pitsmoor area is reputed to have a number of pubs where hash can be bought, but again I cannot confirm or deny this.
• The Travel Thing:
  1. [Original comment:] "Ride on the SuperTram!"
  2. [Followed by:] "The public transport system is diabolical. The latest advertising slogan of The Transport Executive is: 'It's not a lottery with Traveline -- Just ring 01709 515151' The thing is, the buses round here are awful: they never keep to any form of timetable, and it is completely at random as to when you can catch one."
  3. [But here's another view, which arrived with a request for the person who thinks the system is "diabolical" to get in touch (which you can do via us, if you wish):] "While not as good as the system pre-deregularisation, the bus system still covers the majority of the city. It is quick, frequent and cheaper than the Supertram. On the downside, timetables can be difficult to get hold of - try the Travel Information Centre or the Interchange - and return tickets on anything but Mainline are almost useless."
  4. By the way they're still digging everything up as usual (It wouldn't be the same otherwise). Ps. Talk to the bus drivers, they're cool as **** from an adopted Sheffielder...
• General Comments:
  Sheffield is tops. Great pubs and choice of clubs and the restaurant selection is getting better. I loved the carnival atmosphere that the council generated in last Summer's heat wave. Do it again...
  Sheffield is close to the countryside and this is a real bonus. It is possible to live out in the sticks and yet still be in touch with the attractions of a major city.
  Love the tram, wish it had more routes. Driving in Sheffield was always hellish, but the tram has now doubled the risk of death. I wouldn't buy an expensive sports car if I lived there now. A four-wheel drive Jeep is more suitable to Sheffield's road system...
  Town centre is a bit dreary unless the sun is shining, when I think it's quite attractive and nice to hang out in.
  Sheffield United - excellent team.
  Music scene is great, especially compared to Ipswich.
  In short Sheffield is the tops. It's got many of Manchester's attractions without the danger!!!!
  • Meadowhall. Yes! Lets go and spend four hours in a shopping mall down Sheffield's less photogenic end, being trampled down by various tourists, southerners who think this is what the North's all about and people from Rotherham on day trips...No thanks. I have dreams about demolishing that place. After comprehensively robbing it, of course.
  • Having lived in Winchester for the past five years of my life, I can do nothing but worship Sheffield for the amount of things to do. My dilemma nowadays is having too much choice, rather than too little. I tried the Republic the other night (on a funky tip): mixing wasn't up to much, but the atmosphere was cool and there was a really tasty bloke with black hair and a goatee. No probs there, at all. Lets just hope that Megadog don't cancel this time.
  • Sheffield's OK. There's not much to do, but there's a lot of cool people.
  • From "A Townie" [making a good point about the attitude problems here] - The worst thing about Sheffield is the students. As has already been said the good old days of 'anywhere in Sheffield for 15p' (circa 1986) are gone, but the buses are pretty good (you should try living in Loughborough). I'm glad to see you're the first guide to quote Meadowhell as anything but an attraction; what you didn't mention was the millions the council spent on the student games (AND they knocked down Sheaf Valley Baths! - haunt of my youth). And there's no mention of top flight football (and United don't get mentioned either).
  • You are quite right with one of your comments "not only students have access to the Web" - what do you mean townies? Do you mean people who have lived and worked in Sheffield all their life? Oh dear are we making YOUR pubs and clubs not to your liking. What is the difference between your pubs and our pubs? A. TOWNIE (actually I live in one of those little villages you keep mentioning).
  • Townies/students/Roxy's: There would be no problem with students in Roxy's if they didn't carry on about townies like they do on this site. Students; put your brain into gear before your mouth and you will be safe in any club in Sheffield.
  • Most people call Sheffield the smallest village. Be sure and ask for Hedgerow postcards [I think the person who submitted this produces them] - they are the best and depict the beauty of the city in all its glory.
  • I am from Sheffield, I now live in Melbourne, Australia, and have been here since 1988. I came back in 1991 for a holiday and hope it won't be too long before I can come back again. I miss all of my friends, and the pubs, and just the way of life. I have been happily married for six years and have a baby boy. We hope to be able to come back to Sheffield for a holiday in the not too distant future. If there is anyone in Sheffield who would like an 'internet friend' (as opposed to a penfriend), I would like to here from you. Marie Attlee mariea@mpx.com.au. I support Sheffield Wednesday.
  • I'd just like to say that our rugby team is currently top of the second division. The reason why there is only one club is because the other was closed down because of under-age drinking and drugs.
  • Sheffield is a top place! We live in Broomhall! - From Ben and Oliver at Elektra
  • There certainly isn't enough about Sheffield United. There again, there's not much to write about these days! As one of the many exiled London Blades, it's a sad sight to behold from afar. Still, excellent write up of the city of my youth. Can anyone tell me when Mr Kites turned into Casablancas? And why?
  • Fantastic town! I love the pubs, surrounding countryside and industrial history. The Fat Cat is an ACE pub, likewise the Frog 'n' Parrot is super. Actually, I stole (gasp) a drink list from the Fat Cat and it's on my fridge at home. Shame!
    The only problem with going out in Sheffield is the lack of taxis after the pubs close. But the taxi queue (if I remember correctly, somewhere near the town hall?) is a great place to meet locals and hangers-on.
    As for Safeway, I shopped there and I never got picked up. What's wrong with me! And Meadowvale shopping plaza is like any other around the world: large, well light and clinical. My favourite shopping experience was at a local garage sale where I bought two old "Made in Sheffield" knives. I think I paid 20p each and I also bought Bob Geldof's autobiography... bizarre hey?
    The Industrial Museum is absolutely fabulous. I wish I had one of those massive steam engines at home - I just don't know what I would do with it!
  • Born and lived in Sheffield, until 1983. Now living in Queensland Australia, and, like my Fellow Ex-Pat Down Under, sure, I miss the pubs and the Down to Earth Sheffield way. However, during my last visit "home", I couldn't help but notice that the City had somehow lost its way and, in what appeared to be a desperate means at surviving the Tory holocaust, has succumbed to daggy Americanisation. I hope you are proud of yourself Maggie!
  • The comments about Berlins are uncalled for. It's quite "relaxed" for a townie pub, and the girls may not be Mastermind contestants but they are definitely better looking than your average hairy-legged, worn-tights, moustachioed student lass. Also Meadowhall is brill for men's clothes. Meadowhall can always guarantee either a closing down sale or opening up sale with massive bargains. I got a top suit for half-price. Finally, I still love the Leadmill...
  • I lived in Sheffield for 15 years and never once met a student. As far as Berlins goes, it is usually full of 14 year old girls and geeks with goatees and baseball caps. Best avoided. And being near Meadowhall is not the best thing about Meadowhall it is by far the worst.
  • My husband is from Sheffield (yes - he did work in the steelworks) and I am from Sydney Australia, where we now live. Before I visited the "motherland" I was repeatedly told about the newest, best and biggest mall in all of Europe. Well, what a disappointment that was! What I want to know is who gave it that title?
    We will be back there at Christmas to catch up with friends and family, and have a drink at Henrys, le Metro, Barkers and Berlins. Maybe it's changed, but it used to be pretty good 7 or 8 years back. I noticed some people gave it a serving. Kerry and David
  • I left Sheffield in 1983 and have since lived in Australia in Sydney, Melbourne and now Sydney again. Love to go back to visit whenever possible. Appreciate it all the more since I left, especially nearby Derbyshire. Kelham Island Industrial Museum is fantastic and under marketed. Make sure you visit. Last time I was there it was short of funds and in danger of being closed, so it needs support.
    Meadowhall isn't as bad as some say on this page. Sure, it's just another huge shopping complex, but it does have everything under one roof, and a bigger selection than the same shop fronts in the city -- a plus for travellers short on time. Downside - it killed the city.
    Big reunion of the Silverdale School class of '76 coming up this May. Anyone leave Silverdale in 1976 and now living in Oz? If so, mail Lindsay Hayman at lhayman@acp.com.au. It'd be good to hear from you. Fingers crossed the Blades drag themselves out of relegation by the end of the season.
  • Sorry, I disagree with regards to Meadowhall. I remember trying to shop in Sheffield before it was built, and having to walk for miles, from the Castle Markets to the bottom of the Moor when it was teaming down with rain, or when the snow had turned to slush, the wind froze your face so you couldn't open your mouth to breath, and the only escape was to jump on the free city clipper, which was usually full of pensioners riding round all day to avoid putting the heating on. I hear that the city centre trade has died now, but so many proposals were put forward, then quashed. Meadowhall isn't brilliant, but it does provide a place that is a bit more comfortable than the city centre in winter, you have a slight chance of getting a park, and with charts, diagrams and an iq of 306, you can make it round and get what you want without feeling like you just walked from Edale to Hathersage. I heard that people would rather scoot up the M1 from London to Meadowhall than try to find a park down there. Eventually these people will discover that Sheffield is a much more des res, and you can tell them to bugger off from wenst they came.
    By the way, does any one remember Beaver Hill School, when it was called such? Did someone really burn down the rest of Brockwood Park sShool at Woodhouse, and why are all the ex-pats in Australia (including myself)?
• The provincialism and narrow attitude of SOME people who don't expect enough from their fab city
• Leaving Sheffield is the truly worst thing... Though I really must say that I miss the hole in the road.

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Last updated: 2011-11-27