Deserted, dirty and depressing

Saturday, 31 July 2010 18:29

My personal feeling about Sheffield, from a disappointed visitor

I am very surprised to feel this way as I had imagined the city to be more like other industrial cities in the North and to "shout" its heritage to visitors. Victoria Quays, once known as Sheffield Basin, has been "regenerated" and the Straddle Warehouse, Terminal Warehouse and Corn Warehouse are still impressive sights.

The city centre has retained some of the older buildings, for example the Town Hall and the flour mill by the River Don. But I was surprised that it was not very busy and the roads around the city were also very quiet.

The Peace Gardens seemed popular and nearby are the Winter Gardens with the Millennium Galleries attached. We did not have time to do this justice as it was quite late in the afternoon that we arrived.

It was also raining so we took a photo in the rain of one of the most famous buildings in Sheffield and then took shelter inside the tropical Winter Gardens!

Sheffield felt depressing in the rain and over a cup of tea in the planned new market area, I realised that possibly the lack of the university students contributed to the lack of bustle and optimism. I am also aware that there is an huge problem hanging over the whole of the county due to the withdrawal of Government money for many planned projects. Sheffield is not left out of these cuts, despite a son of Shefffield being the Deputy PM!

The Cathedral was another disappointment. It has some very old parts and some new bits too. Sheffield only became a diocese in 1914 and the Parish Church was expanded in seemingly un-coordinated ways, making it a bit of an hodge podge. The oldest bit is the east wall and the newest the Lantern Tower.

I am sure that taken in its parts it is lovely, but as a whole I am not so sure.

Today we walked along the Upper Don Walk.

This is an attempt to regenerate the Riverside and teach the history of the city along the River. It is still under development but an easy walk from Lady's Bridge (the oldest bridge in Sheffield, above) to Kelham Island. It was some of the streets around here that gave me the impression of a dirty city, with rubbish gathering in piles, drifting in the breeze.

Kelham Island houses one of Sheffield's museums. This weekend they are celebrating the 1940's "Wakes Week": the holiday when everything shut down and everyone weny on holiday en masse to the coast - Cleethorpes mainly. Many of the staff and volunteers at the museum were dressed in 1940s clothes and there was live entertainment too.

The River Don Engine is the most powerful working steam engine in Europe and we just caught the end of its steaming - what a machine.

The reminders of the bygone steel industry are on display including the Bessemer Converter (which enabled mass production of steel) and a molten steel bucket which was transported on rails around the steel works.

There was much more to see and more photos of this museum and our experience of Sheffield are here - clickety click

So to sum things up, the city of Sheffield is interesting, but it took a fair bit of research to tease out what was available and historic detail. Like most northern industrial towns it has suffered its ups and downs, sadly it is struggling now, I think.

Maybe once the recession leaves us things will look brighter again. I do hope so.