After spending a few days on the Western Islands just by chance I met an old friend who used to live in Woodhouse and later Hilsbrough, he was telling me that the Sheffield he knew had changed. I must admit as a Sheffielder born and bread my last visit was 2003 and I found a change.

I asked him the question would he go back, his answer was yes, but not to live. He felt that the life he had, had been spoiled by the influx of different cultures

Has anyone any comments

I dont know about different cultures, that is the same worldwide.
But on my infrequent visits home, I have only seen improvement.
I dont know about socially, as I am never there long enough.
But I expect it like every other community, been smashed up in the 80's in the great social experiment.
But transport wise it is much better.
One end of the city to the other in twenty minutes!
It used to be a full day excursion, with native guides to direct you on the warrens of streets. :D

well artisan i dont know which mode of transport you used, but ive lived in sheffield all my life and never yet have i been able to cross sheffield in that time, the last time and only time i used the supertram it took 35 minutes from mosborough to the midland station, the transport system is a shambles, overpriced and poor bus services, chaos on the roads, sheffield is the largest builing site in the world, cannot see where the improvements are comming from

I shouldn't imagine any place is the same once you return from being away for any length of time, some things seem better some worse.

well artisan i dont know which mode of transport you used, but ive lived in sheffield all my life and never yet have i been able to cross sheffield in that time, the last time and only time i used the supertram it took 35 minutes from mosborough to the midland station, the transport system is a shambles, overpriced and poor bus services, chaos on the roads, sheffield is the largest builing site in the world, cannot see where the improvements are comming from

From the northern end, firth park , I think, to Woodseats, it was pretty clear all the way through, may have been longer over the entire route, but it missed out the Moor, Pinstone St and Fargate etc entirely.

The route now goes along roads that used to be little dimly lit backwacks.

I shouldn't imagine any place is the same once you return from being away for any length of time, some things seem better some worse.

It looks worse even when you been on holiday for a week down South.Especially when youve got to drive back through Hillsborough Corner,which goes from bad to worse.:gag:

well artisan i dont know which mode of transport you used, but ive lived in sheffield all my life and never yet have i been able to cross sheffield in that time, the last time and only time i used the supertram it took 35 minutes from mosborough to the midland station, the transport system is a shambles, overpriced and poor bus services, chaos on the roads, sheffield is the largest builing site in the world, cannot see where the improvements are comming from

If you want somewhere that has been a shambles for at least30 years, look at Bradford.
Sheffield cannot possibly be as bad.
Continual roadworks and impossible traffic routing, probably excellent on paper, but a nightmare to use.
I think the major qualification for town planners is an inability to drive or read maps.

I've lived in Sheffield all my life nearly 56 years, and yes, have seen the changes, some good some bad and some a complete waste of money.
I think that Sheffield Council are hell bent to get people out of their cars and onto public transport, which is good, if we had the system we had thirty years ago.
Every new road scheme that is created is created to cause problems, not to get traffic flowing eg, Firth Park, 3 buses at the bottom of Bellhouse Rd,traffic stand still.
Greenland Rd through to Prince of Wales Rd, good dual carriageway, road reduced due to bottle neck railway bridge.
Penistone Rd, dual carriage way, 30mph.
I could go on but now I'm getting boring.

No you're not getting boring. But I think councils are the same the world over. I recently had to got through Sydney to get to the airport, not been for years, they are building these wonderful tunnels and flyovers AND then have bottle necks leading into them- crazy. They are also closing off roads so that some residents have to go 20 mins more to get home.Thank the Lord I live bush.

Hi geotom, your concept is correct, during the late 80's early 90's we came from West Yorksire every 2 weeks to do a shop in the town centre. It would be the Meat and Fish Market (The best fresh products anywhere) especialy Wraggs fish and the fresh crab stall. The cockels and Welks also were second to none. Then there was the Stamp Shop on the ground floor not sure if it was called Harringtons or there abouts.There was also the swift pint at the Bell on the High Street, but when the charge for parking became stupid in the Town Center we changed our visits to Doncaster, then in 2002 the addopted the same policy that Sheffield had addopted and the same result. Town centers empty, no effective Public Transport so what happend the out of town Retail outlets began to be popular, free parking and better access so the Town Centers have become Ghost Towns.

From Sheffield,Doncaster and even Leeds out of town shopping complexes are benifiting from the stupid planning departments across the region.
2years ago I decided to move to Inverness and I am 56 to give myself and my family some quality of life and I have never looked back. I can Drive into the centre of Inverness, park and shop, parking costs £1.00 per day.

Dont get me wrong I am and always be proud of Sheffield the City I was born in,but the local council need to be able to Read a Road Map, get the buses back under their control and allow people to park once again in the Town Centre. This next coment is not made with any malice, But if Sheffield only provide adiquate parking for registerd Disabled Drivers and do not want the majority of other drivers the availibility to park in the centre then the old Sheffield will Die.

Sorry for the rant
Regards