Following a discussion in another thread, Geoff, your friendly roaming/aspiring reporter went out to discover more about last night's attack on the forum. Basically, the news so far is that a car was purposely rammed in to the forum and then 'torched' with the aid of a petrol can. This happened around 5am on Friday morning. The car has now been removed and the cleaning up process has begun.

I took several photos which will be posted shortly.

Feel free to borrow any of the details mentioned above to post on other forums, sites, etc. - but please acknowledge the source as Sheffield Forum - I didn't get soaked for nothing!

PS. Thanks to user 'the fonz' for breaking this story at 9am :)

As others have said, at least it was when the place was closed/empty :(

Who breeds these nutters :loopy:

Photos of damage now online:
http://photos.sheffieldforum.co.uk/news/forum-dec17/index.html

Feel free to email inbox-at-sheffieldforum.co.uk if you have any to add. Remember to change -at- to @ before sending!

Ok, here is what Sheffield police have told me about the incident. Feel free to distribute this, but please acknowledge SheffieldForum.co.uk as the source.

By the way, glad to see that we 'beat' The Star and also BBC South Yorkshire with the story/photos - perhaps they will stop ignoring this web site now...

A car was driven in to a retail complex in central Sheffield and subsequently burst in to flames. Police were called when CCTV operators noticed flames coming from the 'Forum' bar/shopping complex on Devonshire Green at around 5am this morning. Nothing was stolen from the complex. A red Vauxhall Nova was seen to drive in and then out of the plate glass window of the Forum and detectives are investigating the possibility the fire was started deliberately. A man was then seen to run away from the scene across Devonshire green. He was white with either very dark hair or a dark hat. Police are appealing for witnesses who should call CID on 296 4164.

Remember where you heard/saw it first :)

Someone's got it in for them! Either than or the driver ran the stop sign directly opposite those windows. :(

i bet this was done by someone who was refused entry to the place.....

I was wondering the same thing, however it's a little extreme/serious for that. Consider the fact that the forum closes at 1am - the guy must have been very, very annoyed to stay up 4 more hours (at the minimum) and then crash his car (on CCTV) in to the place.

[Conspiracy theory]
Maybe a rival who wants to hurt their business? The Forum does completely dominate the nightlife in central Sheffield...
[/Conspiracy theory]

Originally posted by Geoff
... and then crash his car (on CCTV) in to the place.

"His car" ?! - would be a bit of a giveaway wouldn't it? Or maybe he was REALLY stupid.

Nomme

Damn, there I was thinking everyone was gawping at the photos and not noticing my slip-ups...

...but then again, maybe I accidentally guessed correctly, which could explain his decision to 'torch it' - i.e. under the delusion it would make it untraceable...

Originally posted by E-Man Groovin
[Conspiracy theory]
Maybe a rival who wants to hurt their business? The Forum does completely dominate the nightlife in central Sheffield...
[/Conspiracy theory]

Possibly, this is a very busy time of year what with Christmas parties and special Christmas/New Year nights...

...anyone know someone that works there - get some inside gossip perhaps...?

Hope these comments are allowed …

From the outside looking in; to me, it definitely seams to be an act of ‘Malice.’

It sounds like someone who's extremely jealous.
-To want to so badly 'Damage' something; is usually a reaction (in my experience anyhow) that the true intention, is of either Revenge or Jealousy.

I don’t think it’s feasible to suggest that this was done just by ‘An angry customer!’

To go to these ‘Lengths’ -I honestly think the culprit is a very jealous individual & someone known quite well to the ‘Damaged party’ concerned.


"Revenge seams to be their only 'Tonic!"



Hope I dont get into trouble for giving 'Voice' to my opinion.
Angel x

the guy must have been very, very annoyed to stay up 4 more hours

or some other reason....

Probably a bus driver....

Originally posted by x_angel
Hope these comments are allowed …

From the outside looking in; to me, it definitely seams to be an act of ‘Malice.’

It sounds like someone who's extremely jealous.
-To want to so badly 'Damage' something; is usually a reaction (in my experience anyhow) that the true intention, is of either Revenge or Jealousy.

I don’t think it’s feasible to suggest that this was done just by ‘An angry customer!’

To go to these ‘Lengths’ -I honestly think the culprit is a very jealous individual & someone known quite well to the ‘Damaged party’ concerned.


"Revenge seams to be their only 'Tonic!"



Hope I dont get into trouble for giving 'Voice' to my opinion.
Angel x

But there again people should think about revenge...

The Forum will no doubt be insured against damages etc... Whereas the person who drove 'his' or a car into the front window should have thought about theirs...

Originally posted by bigrods
Probably a bus driver....
LOL ! Probably trying to drive on the pavement to avoid traffic ;)

I think we are drifting slightly off-topic if we start discussing whether the person had insurance or not... :)

Any further news on the grapevine?

Sounds like town is going to be fun in town this Christmas if its anything connected with doormen/drugs/turf war.

Good news is it looks like it will open up again real soon (maybe even tonight!)

Hope they catch the buggers who did it.

Originally posted by E-Man Groovin
[Conspiracy theory]
Maybe a rival who wants to hurt their business? The Forum does completely dominate the nightlife in central Sheffield...
[/Conspiracy theory]

The Forum is busy, but it hardly dominates the nightlife in Sheffield, it might have done a few years ago, but not now.

As mentioned (off the forum) earlier - lets not make this an "is it" or "isn't it" thread - everyone has their own tastes and perceptions of the best places - let's leave it at that for this thread... :)

If they can get the place open again, will probably be busier than ever with people going to have a gawp, so if it was done to damage business, it might not work!

Walked past this morning, and knew I could rely on the Sheffield Forum to find out what had been going on!

The Forum are going to try and reopen this evening. They have been busy clearing up and reglazing all day.

For information go to www.forumsheffield.co.uk.

They will be issuing an email later on.

I will keep people informed as i find anything out.

Great news, thats brilliant management - if it is an attack of jealousy then nothing has come of it, except for a lot of publicity!

i think the forum security have had their hands full trying to keep out various gangs/unfriendlies out on a weekend... i think this has become more of a problem recently due to increased pressure from the police on door security.

maybe it's something to do with that?

Maybe it was someone who doesn't like the toilet attendants.

The Forum is just waiting for an inspection from the authorities and is hoping to open at 8pm.

Hats off to them for turning it round in such a short space of time!

Fair play to them for getting it sorted this quickly- i shall drop in tonight if its open and give them some of my hard earned cash as a well done present :D

The Forum is still awaiting final nods prior to opening. It is refreshing to see so many positive posts.

Hopefully we'll see you all later.

All at the Forum

The guy isn't a Very good business man anyhow ... Is he?

Originally posted by bigrods
Probably a bus driver....

This has to be the funniest reason quoted yet :thumbsup:

Originally posted by Skatiechik
This has to be the funniest reason quoted yet :thumbsup:

If not the most predictable.

Keep on topic please

Managed to make page 13 (err not major news? :suspect: ) of this evening's The Star. They do indeed hope to be open again tonight. The bar's manager Alex Liddle said that it was lucky a fire station was so close and managed to put it out quickly, otherwise he dreads to think what might have happened. He says they have no idea why this happened - there appears to be no motive.

Originally posted by x_angel
The guy isn't a Very good business man anyhow ... Is he?

tu sais qui...?

god, i walked past on friday evening & it was as normal, i didn't know anything had happened until i saw this thread!

Forum + No Burberry Policy.....

What could be more chavvy than a Nova?

Its obviously a Ring Wearer/Chain Bearer who was refused entry.

Just stumbled across this. (http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?s=&threadid=235)

Could this have been the reason?

'I'm sorry officer! It was a road last time I looked!'

Think that joke was done earlier... ;) (It would work apart from the 'cover the car in petrol and torch it' part :P )

Guess no further news on this?

I heard that the window was rammed THREE times before the glass eventually shattered and the nova was torched

I know it is a little off topic, it does raise questions about the validity of CCTV.

I am sure all of us would agree that this sort of thing should not go unpunished!...It should not happen at all!....Road closed or not.

Might be interesting if the bouncers had anything to add, suspicions etc.. and if this will lead to something else?

I expect it will come out in the wash. Am at least pleased that people were not targeted though!

Walked past the Forum this morning, and noticed they are putting in some huge posts outside the full height windows. Shame they have to do it, but better that than a repeat of what happened I suppose.

They had parked a blue Metro on the pavement outside, which looked like a cheap alternative to real bollards, although that got smashed up last week!

Yeah that blue Metro has been parked outside for a while, it apparently belongs to one of the security guards and is fairly blatantly dumped there (on a double yellow line!) in order to provide an extra 'crash barrier' if these people decide to have second go.

I noticed the plastic bags over the car's windows - so I guess that is what you are referring to when you say it was smashed up last week 'sniperwookie'?

Yes, the side windows were all smashed in and have been taped up.

Poor Metro :( Mindless violence :(

the blue metro was parked there on NYE and has been there ever since, i suppose it means that someone took the threat of another attack pretty seriously.

Also surely it should be towed away as it seems to be just abandoned.

I work at the Forum,

It was absolutly black everywhere after the fire. Such a mess!
The cctv footage doesn't show much but the driver waits a long whilke before he makes the attempt to crash into the windows.