It is inevitable that if you live in a place all your life your perception of it will be different from that of an 'outsider'.

I am interested to discover what Southeners (especially Londoners) think of Sheffield or thought of it before they came here. What were their preconceptions or perhaps misconceptions.

For example how major a city would a Londoner consider Sheffield to be? It is unlikely that they would see it on a par with London, but would they see it on a par with, say, Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester. Personally I doubt it but who knows.

Moved here after visiting a couple of friends at uni here.
People are much friendlier and beer was a lot cheaper at the time (Less so now).
For a large city it seems to have a much greater sense of community and general cheeriness than other places.
Wouldn't move back down south now!

My Dad is from London, he finds Sheffield a much more pleasant place to live and would never move back.

I also had a friend from South Africa who lives and works in London, he has been up to Sheffield for the weekend a couple of times and he liked Sheffield, and said if he was to move to England on a permanant basis he would prefer to be in Sheffield, and in a way it reminds him of home more, in 2 senses - countryside around and the ease of driving around the city.

My Husband is from London and lives in Eastbounre and he cant stand it here so we ae moving up to Sheffield asap. Hes found that already in the chat room etc that ppl there are very freindly and helpful.
Just one problem though... trying to understand the accent.lol
hes been with me 2 years and still has problems understanding me

I was born in north london and lived there until I was 18. I came to live in Sheffield for uni in 2002.
I don't think anywhere else in britain can be compared on the same level as london, it's like comparing an orange to a t shirt - most cities in britain have their own unique identity and cannot be directly compared to other places. however, i do think cities in britain can be put into categories for example i'd put manchester, birmingham, glasgow and leeds together because of their size, population, economy, social makeup etc. I think london needs to be compared to other 'world' cities like paris, new york or tokyo.

All of that asides, before i came to sheffield I had an image of a typical industrial northern town which had suffered from the decline in manufacturing - i expected a 'full monty sheffield' of derelict areas, unemployment and social problems.

But since coming to sheffield I would never want to live anywhere else. It's an up and coming vibrant city with major attempts to improve itself. The town centre is perfectly adequate with the bonus?! of meadowhall. Division street to me goes some way although not all of the way of meeting my much loved Camden in london. The green space seems more plentiful and of a better quality in london with the peaks uncomparable to anything in/around london. The people are more friendly, the sports facilities are good, both the universities have great reputations, employment and business is rising. The west of sheffield is so pretty and such good value of money compared to areas in london.

Although for me, as a young person, nothing can beat london's cinemas, theatres, museums, retail, gig venues or other leisure activities, i see sheffield growing to satisfy these needs.

One thing i love about london is the ethnic mix and amazing diversity of people which although sheffield has but on a smaller scale, is masked by segregation and racial tensions which i feel exist in sheffield. I think london is unique in its uniqueness of people in that respect.

For me London's pull factors as the economic centre, higher wages, better leisure etc are totally masked by it's cons or push factors. I'm glad i no longer live in london because of the poor transport systems, the crime, the lack of community, the expense of housing, food etc, the pollution, the traffic etc.

To end this stupidly long post, Sheffield has pleasantly suprised me, its kept me happy and occupied and i'm very content to consider myself someone who lives and wants to continue living in sheffield. I see it as a city with huge potential and numerous opportunities and although I wouldn't currently place it in a group with leeds or manchester, I do feel it has the potential to reach that status.

I've lived here twice, with bouts of London in between. The place is a decent, friendly city with astonishing amenity value. Very few places boast such countryside 10 minutes from one's door. I love it, but then I am a climber.

Do miss London's cinemas, theatres, gigs, concert halls, jazz clubs etc, however. But the Showroom makes up some of the shortfall.

Lovely place, and I'm happy to live here.

Originally posted by Brigette
one problem though... trying to understand the accent.lol
hes been with me 2 years and still has problems understanding me

Hey up, dont thee worry, e'll get use ter thi!

Me and some mates visited friends at uni during the late 90's and loved the place, one by one us Southerners started to trickle up here and we love it. It's more friendly than the Milton Keynes/Luton/Dunstable area and life up here is better in general. I found that I really feel at home here.

I lived in various places in the north and south of the country, and I absolutely love Sheffield. I lived in Bath for a while, and some of the comments I had people make to me about Sheffield were just ridiculous like "Sheffield a right dive isn't it?" I replied that no, I didn't think it was at all, and when had they last visited, and of course the answer was "well, I haven't, but I went through it on the train..." :loopy:

Generally it seems people have preconceptions but as soon as they visit they change their minds!

I'm reminded of the story of Prince Charles and the fox fur hat.

A few years ago, whilst on a royal walkabout in Sheffield, HRH The Prince of Wales wore a very expensive genuine fox fur hat. At the end of the walkabout a reporter from the Star asked the prince why he had chosen to don such a garment in a city not known for its fox hunting tradition.

"Actually", said Charles, "it was my father's idea. I was at a Buckingham Palace banquet and was chatting away to The Duke of Edinborough. I mentioned that I was due to visit Sheffield, and he said, 'wear the fox hat', so I did.

I grew up in Essex / East London borders, went to college in Sheffield and fell in love with it, went back down to London and spent some time in the States, moved back up here a couple of years ago.

I don't want to sound ridiculous but I suspect I will -- cos I think Sheffield at its best is heaven on earth. I think it's Britain's most beautiful city, in every sense of the word, and also the weirdest.

I still work two or three days a week in London but I don't think I'll ever leave Sheffield now.

You'll only get good views from Londoners here I would guess cause most of us who are reading this probably live in Sheffield now and we wouldn't if we didn't love it. And I'm London born & bred although I have lived in Brighton, Oxford & Southampton...

Initially my view was grim, depressed northern town (Full Monty & all that). But that changed after I read a couple of articles that said it was becoming quite a cool place with lots of art & music. Then I got into bands like Boards of Canada and Nightmares On Wax who were both on the Warp label (from Sheffield). I was thinking, there must be a seriously cool scene there if they're coming up with music like that!

I came up on my own one weekend to check out property. Ended up in a great bar, met random people who came back to my hotel and stayed up til 5am. The next day one of them took me on a tour of the city (o.k. of the pubs!) and 3 years later she's still one of my best mates.

I agree with what someone else here said. Sheff is beautiful in all senses of the word. It's really special and I for one hope it doesn't change & get too trendy-up-it's-own-bottom like Brighton did a few years ago (too many Londoners that's why!).

Hey! Why don't we have a 'Londoners/Southerners in Sheff' themed forum meet?'

My husband moved to Sheffield from London when he met me a few years ago.
He lived in London all his life and left behind all his family and friends. He says he'd never go back to London now, he misses his family but can jump on a train to visit, he really likes Sheffield. When we do go down to London for visits he can't believe he lived with the noise and the filth for all those years.
I'm not a native Sheffielder but have been here 20 years now and think you have the best of everything here, glorious countryside on your doorstep plus all the benefits of living in a city!
:)

Originally posted by HarrietStar
I'm glad i no longer live in london because of the poor transport systems...

I think the public transport provision in London is far superior to Sheffield.

The buses are cheap, plentiful, modern and run right through the night. Wherever you live you are normally not far from a tube station, offering a fast and frequent service. There is also a complex network of regular suburban trains.

Compare that to Sheffield - the tram and train network is limited, the buses are expensive and unreliable, and there is no public transport at night.

However where Sheffield wins is the congestion on the road is nowhere near as bad, and we don't suffer the same level of overcrowding on public transport.

Basically in London there are too many people for the infrastructure to cope with.

To point out the blinking obvious, I think Sheffield is very hilly! hehehehe

On a more serious note, it struck me as being a clean, airy, and spacious city, albeit one which punches below its weight for its size (look at the soccer teams!). However, I visited in the summer, so I did not see many students, but I understand it has a virbant nightlife during university terms, which might go some way to offsetting my impression that it is a bit quiet for its size.

I must mention that I think a significant detraction is the presence of the Meadowhall shopping centre (which I have not visited) which appears, to me at least, to have sucked some life out of the city centre. But I could be wrong about that, it was just an impression I gained.

Some of the archietcutre in the city centre - in common with many other UK cities and towns which suffered bombing during World War 2 - is not appealing.

Also, it is not as multicultural as other cities in the country, a drawback for me but a plus for some, no doubt!

Overall, Sheffield does appear to be a friendlier place than most, and I suspect it offers a nice lifestyle to its inhabitants.

A thought occurred to me recently that Sheffiled posses many characteristic of Canadian cities. In particular, a sense of space, cleanliness, perhaps not as vibrant as neighbouring cities (like with Canada - which I have not visited - in respect to the USA, I suspect), and next door to a wilderness area.

Just a thought!

Well i'm from the Midlands, so I guess that counts as South....

When I applied to uni, I applied to unis in THREE cities:

- Liverpool
- Leeds
- Sheffield

Liverpool had the lowest points requirement for my course, and the image of that city speaks for itself, I wont rub any more salt into the wound.

Leeds had the second lowest points requirement, and what stuck in my mind about there was thuggery and Alan Smith's accent. So that was out too.

Sheffield had the highest points requirement for my course (which I surpassed anyway) and I didnt have a perception of the place really. I remembered the Full Monty being set here and that Sheff Wed used to be in the Premiership, but nothing else sprang to mind.

So I came up for an open day and had a look around the uni and the city centre. I was impressed with the uni and how relaxed the city felt. I could tell pretty much straight away that this was the place I was going to be living for the next three years.

Into year 2 now, and i'm very glad I came to Sheffield. Friendly people (offset by a very strange accent), swish trams (offset by crap roads) and a great nightlife (offset by NOTHING :D )

When i'm finished me course, I will probably move home but I can see myself coming back again and again and again to visit.

Loads of students stay in Sheffield after uni, its not hard to see why.

Originally posted by Roadrunner
Overall, Sheffield does appear to be a friendlier place than most, and I suspect it offers a nice lifestyle to its inhabitants.

Just out of interest roadrunner, how long did you visit for? Because you seem to have made a pretty accurate representation of the lovely Sheffield!

I reckon Sheffield is in the North, a bit to the right of Manchester, a bit above Birmingham and a short way below Leeds. It's got northeners in it too and they all talk funny and say things that i don't understand like 'duck' and 'love', I do understand 'daaaaaaaaaarn' tho as they say that in gloucestershire as well, it means 'down' in the queens english.

so now you know

Originally posted by beckyaa
Just out of interest roadrunner, how long did you visit for? Because you seem to have made a pretty accurate representation of the lovely Sheffield!

For 3 and a half days last July.

Thank you for your compliment.

It's bloody cold.

I moved up to Sheffield from Exeter back in February 2001, and have enjoyed living here with only a few exceptions (car crime and unprovoked GBH), and to be fair these would have existed in either Exeter or any other city to that point.

I have a fondness of sheffield - more so as i feel that i can identify with a place that is trying to better itself and to achieve its rightful place as England's 4th largest boundary city (point has been raised plenty of times before)!!

Yes, when i moved up from Devon - my impression of Yorkshire in general was people driving land rovers round green fields, granite walls and the woolpack in the background. Then my follow up opinion was one of coal mining, steel workers, and derelict housing and factories!
It was far too easy to stereotype the North, especially with Southern footy chants like 'you dirty northern B****RDS' blaring out. BUT, i chose to move up here off my own back and knew no one, in the hope that moving somewhere new would open my eyes and broaden my horizons!!
4 years on, admittedly i don't have a huge circle of friends but the people i have met here are great friends to have, watching a new city rise from the demolished industrial era gives a sense of pride and proves what commitment and planning together can achieve!
To echo a previous point - Sheffield can't be classed against other cities as each city has its own socio-cultural foundations that cannot be mirrored anywhere else. I love that it has something to offer most people and that regeneration is taking effect at a much more rapid pace than anyone had predicted!!

I moved to a city that despite offering trams, shopping and pubs - lacked a personal identity suited for the 21st century. I am due to move from sheffield this summer having witnessed many changes, and despite being happy to move with my partner - i will definitely miss the city that i have come to call my home!

May Sheffield never lose its charm (greenery), character (buildings/people), nor its heritage. It deserves its recognition as one of the Great British cities, however surrounded by other greats such as Manchester, Leeds, and Liverpool - it would need something drastic for other southerners to open their eyes. I personally hope that it doesnt become a tourist haven but instead as a secret gem!!

Originally posted by chalicefc3
I personally hope that it doesnt become a tourist haven but instead as a secret gem!!

I think Sheffield deserves all the compliments you have paid it, except that it already is a secret gem! I have confidence that it will only get better though!

lived in sheff until 6 years ago - been in london ever since... most have barely heard of sheffield - they think its a grim dirty place if they have heard of it and coronation street always comes into the conversation.

the likes of tv such as 'a life of grime' and 'south yorkshire police' aired on londons primetime tv is classic...get the jokes all day long the next day!!!

just to pick up on london's transport systems..

I tend to find that people that have not lived or worked in london for a long time think the transport is excellent. The public transport system in london seems to be excellent because for one off night-bus trips back from a club, or for a week's riding the tube at off-peak hours from hotel to tourist attractions, problems are rarely encountered.

I think the problems with the public transport system are only seen by londoners who use it regularly and essentially over a long period of time.

The buses are not cheap because the prices have risen so much in a short space of time. The same can be said for a one-day travel card which has gone up hugely in price. And taxis, unlike in sheffield, are for most people out of the question due to price.

The tubes although regularly scheduled, often have delays or closures on many lines which can literally stop people from getting to work with no alternative transport. The tube strikes are an obvious example of this.

The overcrowding, dirtiness, smelliness etc. of buses and tubes in london is disgusting with tubes being freezing in the winter and dangerously hot in the summer.

I think what non-londoners see when they see the tube is a novelty, almost tourist attraction, to be proud of and something thats fun to go on. Londoner's see it as a pain in the backside which is an unfortunatly necessary part of their journey to work/school/uni/friends! oh and it is seriously underfunded.

ok rant over :)

oh and about the life of grime/traffic cops thing, I'm unfortunate because my home borough in london was the for original life of grime series and i moved out here and couldn't escape it, haha!

Originally posted by HarrietStar
I think what non-londoners see when they see the tube is a novelty, almost tourist attraction, to be proud of and something thats fun to go on. Londoner's see it as a pain in the backside which is an unfortunatly necessary part of their journey to work/school/uni/friends! oh and it is seriously underfunded.


I lived in London for nearly 6 years, and I completely agree about the tube, it's a form of turture, as are the comuter trains where you risk getting crushed to death of pushed through the window onto the tracks as the train screaches round the corners.

I ended-up moving as near to work as I could afford so I could walk there every day and avoid the public transport.

I too hail from NE london/essex borders. Also came up for Uni but also house prices and to escape crappy council maisonette. Stayed since '93 and bought house for price of deposit down south.

Only real whine is that I grew up in Epping Forest (did go to school once but not for long) and find local woodlands a bit on the tiddly side. Didn't realise I was leaving the UK's biggest continuous deciduous ancient woodland behind. Tsh!

Otherwise, nothing would persuade me to leave, I can actually afford to live here, I actually like the people here, the schools are just as good as they were down south, and hey here its really cheap and easy to keep a horse and people are complimentary about my dog!

Got the lingo too now, but sound weird myself, sort of neither fish nor fowl, but can understand everyone I meet anyway, even the old geezers.

My parents are still terrified of Sheffield as all they know is it was bombed badly and they think its still wrecked., only place they'll visit is Meadowhall, but maybe they'll chill when they discover the war is in fact over.

I relocated to Sheffield about 7 years ago, from North Kent.

I commuted to to work in London for over 10 years. I worked in both central and north London, travelling by train, tube, and later by car. It used to cost me thousands of pounds a year in travel costs, which increased year on year above inflation, and took me nearly 2 hours each way.

When I moved to Sheffield I could walk to work! This made a tremendous difference. I had much more time to spend with my family, and of course I had zero commuting costs - effectively an instant pay rise.

When you live near London you have no choice but to commute if you want a decent job. All the good specialist healthcare is also in London, while here in Sheffield we have the Royal Hallamshire, Children's hospital and Riegate Centre right on our doorstep.

The cost of living is much less up here (though it's increasing), and the people friendlier.

So as a 'soft southerner' I'm proud to be an adopted Sheffielder, and I make sure that all my friends and family know how good it is up here.

Lived in cambridge for three years (although im irish) before moving up t'north. Sheffield is pretty much the exact opposite of it....a bit grotty to look at, but friendly and a wicked nightlife. Cheaper too. Wish theyd get the roadworks around the train station sorted...i find driving here a bit crap to be honest, but the fact that most of the drivers are really laid back and willing to let you in/out/whatever makes up for it, Ive had to curb my "every man for himself" driving style since moving here.

hilly, its extremely hilly. i've been hear for over a year now and i cannot get to terms with the amount of hills i've had to go up. lack of independent retailers and wholesales. lot going on in terms of leisure.

Originally posted by skny
Ive had to curb my "every man for himself" driving style since moving here.

Strange, i've had to develop that style, I was once a timid tim as well :(

Well in Birmingham they think Sheffield is full of men with flat caps and Whippets, I have tried to dispel this myth as I neither own a flat cap or a whippet.
The thing I have noticed the most here in Brum is peoples work ethics are alot worse than people from Sheffield.
I put it down to less unemployment people just expect a living here, where as in Sheffield you have to work for a living. It drives me nuts specially if your supposed to be working in a team with the I cant be arsed bunch.

Also I dont think people actually pass the same driving test down here as they do in Sheffield, indicators seem to be optional extras, and roundabouts are just free for all wacky racers.

I have been living in Sheffield since Sept 2001 and I LOVE it up here. Everyone has made me feel so welcome. Its such a great place. I would never live down South ever again. Sheffield is my home and Southampton is where my family live. Whoever said its grim up North obviously has never been.

I've just moved to Sheffield in the last few months, although I'm further away from my family albeit not as far as most people who have replied I have found the people here have made me feel really welcome and I don't feel as homesick as I'd thought I'd be. Fantastic bars, lovely open spaces, great people. I think I've definately found a great place to lay down some roots.