How did the Forum get permission to extend towards Devonshire Green and get the adjacent road closed off?? :? The situation the traffic has to contend now in that area is now if you drive along Division St, there is no turning down to Washington Road, as the turning opposite the new West One development, is also closed. Where was the planning involved in this decision?

This was truly amazing! :o

When I first saw the diggers and workmen I assumed they were re-surfacing the road. Then as the weeks went past I realised they were building an extension on top of the road!!

I'm hoping that in the future, Sheffield Forum will become a place where we can organise ourselves and make sure we protest about such kinds of developments.

We just need a few more people :wink: (hint-hint)

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Edit (Nov 25): Well membership is now over 2,300... lol ... was about 100 when I originally wrote this!

Would that be on as in by the side of or on as in literally on? Just wondering if this extension is being planned to go the other way too :wink:

I agree the planning decision on this one is a bit bizarre, but am in favour of the Forum expanding if it's successful (despite the fact I don't use the place). Wonder what alternatives there were.

It's great that the forum is able to expand, it's built up a good reputation since it was started as being the place to go for, well the right lables and stuff,(is the Doc Martins shop still there ?) and also the bar is always packed at the weekend and I think is one of only a handfull of places to actually get a late licence.
When I read the description in the paper though I was abit confused as to where the extension was goin to be, when they said it would overspill on to the green in the summer i was thinking maybe the cars would get in the way of the summer drink sippers, it seems not.
It'll be interesting to see how it all works out, bigger traffic snarl up's I imagine, no matter how much lane reducing they do people are allways going to want to drive into and park in town.
If we do ever all have a face to face discussion/winge of the good and bad of living here the forum would be a good place, I think alchol could get some good discusions going!

The Forum bar:

The first bar in the devonshire green area to be granted a special hours certificate, at a time when the policy on special hours certificates in the area was "no way!" and the "late bar" was something the police frowned upon. (most of you know special hours certificate as late opening or a night club license).
How did this happen? Anyone know?

More recently, the forum has expanded, onto a piece of the PUBLIC HIGHWAY! WTF? Anyone in the pub trade or development industry will tell you "You cannot buy public highway!"
What happened here? The closure of this piece of road ONLY benefited forum and not any of the other land owners down that street.

The extension of which forum is the only building on the street looks like a swimming pool interior. The business of the nearby convienience store on the now "no through street" is said to be affected.

Something smells fishy. And it isn't the salmon being served in the "trendy" swimming pool interior of the extention.

Pete, I merged your post in to this older thread about the same issue. It certainly is an interesting issue that deserves re-visiting.

Originally posted by Pete1024
The closure of this piece of road ONLY benefited forum and not any of the other land owners down that street. [...] The business of the nearby convienience store on the now "no through street" is said to be affected.
I agree. I went to that Spar shop a few weeks ago and the area behind the new extension is pretty dark, dirty and intimidating now - it's a perfect area for people who want to avoid the gaze of passing police etc.

As I said earlier in this post, it's a shame that people only complain after these things have been built. If enough people appealed to the planning board then it might never have happened.

Having said all that, The Forum isn't all that bad if you can ignore the David Beckham (hair) clones...

The Forum is not a bad place to go for a drink but the food there is awful! Been there loads of times for something to eat and it gets worse and worse.

Last time I went was Friday lunchtime and that is the last time!

BTW I think the extension is great just a shame you can't take your drinks onto Devonshire Green in the summer!

Originally posted by Chalky
The Forum is not a bad place to go for a drink but the food there is awful! Been there loads of times for something to eat and it gets worse and worse.

Last time I went was Friday lunchtime and that is the last time!

BTW I think the extension is great just a shame you can't take your drinks onto Devonshire Green in the summer!
Just curious if you've eaten there loads of times and it gets worse and worse... why do you continue to eat there?

Originally posted by Chalky
BTW I think the extension is great just a shame you can't take your drinks onto Devonshire Green in the summer!
Drinking in public places is illegal, so you would have to take that one up with the government. What's the name of that really 'old' looking pub right in the centre of Manchester, opposite Selfridges? Well anyway, I was there this summer and they had security guards to ensure you didn't leave their beer 'garden' - they certainly had their work cut out for them.

Originally posted by DaBouncer
Just curious if you've eaten there loads of times and it gets worse and worse... why do you continue to eat there?

It used to be nice so I was always hoping it would get better!

Originally posted by Geoff
Drinking in public places is illegal, so you would have to take that one up with the government. What's the name of that really 'old' looking pub right in the centre of Manchester, opposite Selfridges? Well anyway, I was there this summer and they had security guards to ensure you didn't leave their beer 'garden' - they certainly had their work cut out for them.
Is it? You sure about that?

It's certainly illegal in Manchester city centre (has been for 3 years now!) and a lot of cities have also passed similar by-laws - perhaps Sheffield hasn't?

Edit: Seems that they were given the power to impose bans under section 13 of the Criminal Justice and Police Act.

Let me know if you need any further info :)

Edit 2: Still nothing regarding Sheffield, but they are banning it in Leeds so I guess it might be here soon.

Originally posted by Pete1024
More recently, the forum has expanded, onto a piece of the PUBLIC HIGHWAY! WTF? Anyone in the pub trade or development industry will tell you "You cannot buy public highway!"
What happened here? The closure of this piece of road ONLY benefited forum and not any of the other land owners down that street.
The Council actually own the Forum and lease it to the operator. Maybe they are just looking after thier own interests - now THAT would be just like Sheffield Council.

I suspect the extension and changes to the road were bundled into the package of generally tarting up Division Street, when they redid the pavements.

The problem is we do not hear about such plans unless the local press report them.

However something you may not know is that every Monday the council publish a weekly bulletin with all the planning permission applications on their website, which they have to be applauded for. The weekly bulletin can be found at http://www.sheffield.gov.uk/in-your-area/planning-applications-and-weekly-list

For the benefit of this discussion, I made an enquiry with the planning department at Sheffield Council. I have since received a reply and I am currently waiting for permission to reproduce their answer on the forum.

I lost the front end of my van in 1984 to mad speeding taxi driver on that junction, I'm glad it's shut - serves it right, I loved that van :)

A spokesperson from Development Services at the council has replied with the following statement:

In 1997, The Forum applied for planning permission to build an outdoor terrace on highway land at the top of Eldon Street. This was found to be acceptable on its planning merits, and planning permission was granted (Application No 97/1269, Decision Notice dated 16 September 1998 ). They later applied to enclose most of the terrace in a glass extension of modern design. This was revised a number of times, but again was found acceptable on its planning merits and permission was granted (Application No 9A/0476P, Decision Notice dated 29 May 2001).

Neither permission could be implemented without a road closure order under the Highways Acts. This procedure was carried through as I understand it, with various requirements including the provision of a turning head on Eldon Street, reconstruction of footways, and provision of a cycle route connecting Eldon Street and Devonshire Street.

The idea was much talked about long before the first permission was applied for, as part of the effort to improve the facilities and attractions of Devonshire Green.

Just to bring this thread up to date - the Spar on Eldon Street has now gone out of business. Blocking the road clearly affected its trade though I would imagine the new Tesco's and Budgens to have had some impact.

g

In the plan to "tart up" the area, do you think the council will be getting rid of the skate park? It attracts the local 'dregs' (quiote insulting i know, but I know a lot of them and they're mostly addicts and dropouts!). Just a thought.

The Skatepark has only just been built and where do you suggest the skaters go?

Skatie

Probably back to the front of the city hall and tudor square, where they used to skate.
The skatepark is good, shame it seems to attract the skef who like to shoot up in the playground adjacent.

The forum is a nuisance! There is a fight outside of that place nearly every night (including weekdays), and more often than not the police have to come to sort it out. I think this is a huge waste of resources - I once saw 10 police vehicles outside there! The bouncers there don't seem to help much either, they either hide, run away, or offer someone out around the corner.

The pity is that Division St wasn't closed completely to traffic when the refurbishment took place, due to cowardly Lib Dem politicians. This would have made it a pleasant place to shop and attracted more trade. The so-called "traffic" mainly consists of drug-dealer assholes screeching up and down with their boom-boxes at ear-splitting levels. Sensible people, if they have to drive, leave their cars in the car park and walk.

Ummm, how do you work our that the road wasn't closed becasue of "cowardly lib dem politicians" ???

Originally posted by wildnorthlands
cowardly Lib Dem

Isn't this tautology?

Not sure what he means, but a guess I think he's saying that they were too worried about the reaction from local businesses if the council had closed the road. However, having walked down there on a busy Saturday, I think closing off the forum end of the street would probably be quite a good idea. You could close and pave over the road between West One down to that green pub place, the Frog & Parrot or whatever it's called (I always forget!).

Originally posted by Geoff
What's the name of that really 'old' looking pub right in the centre of Manchester, opposite Selfridges?

Its Sinclairs Oyster Bar, there is another 'old' pub next to it and they share the same beer garden.

Originally posted by Geoff
Drinking in public places is illegal

It was never illegal in Sheffield.

I believe that outdoor drinking is a local issue which local authorities have their own disgression over. Many towns have always had Bye Laws preventing people from walking about with alcohol, but sheffield never did.
Just recently however Our local council has introduced, or will be introducing, some new no drinking zones, so that winos can be moved on. One is down by the markets. I wouldn't have thought that they would prevent people from drinking on the green itself because of the tents, bands and stalls they have there in the summer.

Probably just cynical old me but I do find it very odd that a private business gets permission to close an entire road just so it can expand. Whether the premises are owned and leased by the council or not, closing a public highway just so a bar can take more money is certainly not something I've ever come across before.

Did someone mention salmon?

I can think of one or two roads in the city centre that have been closed to allow businesses to expand, admittedly these were obviously done a great many years ago. However as the city centre is slowly becoming a no go area for private vehicles I'm not rreally surprised that yet another road has gone.
On a side note I would think that they are going to have to do a lot more work near the green to tempt me there, it doesn't have a very pleasent atmosphere for some reason.