I have noticed noone seems to use the front door in this city. I even asked a friend why this is and he didnt know - thats just what everyone does according to him. Is there a reason?

this was covered not long ago.

Most front doors open directly into the living room and onto or very nearly onto the street.

It's because we are different. We refuse to conform, do we Sheffielders.

Lots of the terraced houses that are rented have the traditional "front room" that the front door opens into as a bedroom, so the front door is not used.

The terraced houses i find most bizarre are where you have to walk through the little ginnel (where you keep your ladders), through a door (not a gate, but a door) which ALWAYS has a "Beware of the dog" sign on it, through one or two back yards and to the back door of a house 3 doors down.

Crazy.

-PK-

Perhaps its to disguise when you're off out. People will pretty much gather that you're leaving if you go out of your front door (as most people make a bit of noise etc) but you can get out of your back door quietly without attracting burglars... Thats my theory :-) Generally seems to apply to terraces that don't have enterence halls etc

When the houses were built, the front room was a 'parlour' which was kept for best - weddings and funerals kind of thing. The front door opens into this room, so it isn't practical to treat it as the main entrance.

In this day and age, you don't want to open your living room to the wind and rain that whips across the hills in Sheffield.

Apart from that, in other houses I can only imagine it's a habit from growing up in such a house.

It drove me nuts when house hunting though.

In Liverpool, your kitchen is the space that only your close family and friends are allowed to see. Your front door is your face to the world, and visitors enter through it - into the hallway and are shown into the 'parlour' or living room. Visitors therefore only get to see your best side. Bringing people through the kitchen is like going out without your make-up on to some people.

In our first house we used the back door because me and my brother were young and we lived on a busy road so my parents didnt want us to run straight into the road. but our front door opened into an entrance hall. Another reason we used our backdoor is that as me and my brother got older and we wanted to use the front door we discovered we'd lost the key to it. And where we used to park was closer to the back door than the front. Our second house we used the front door because it was just convienient that way and it again opened into an entrance hall. In this house we use the front door mainly because its quite a bit further to our back door, round the corner up the drive and accross the mud bath the dogs have created.

Originally posted by nightrider
I have noticed noone seems to use the front door in this city.

I do, and so does everyone else I know. That's that little theory dead and buried then. :)

Originally posted by t020
I do, and so does everyone else I know. That's that little theory dead and buried then. :)

not really. You have quite a limited social group (imo) so, you represent a very small number of sheffielders.

My grandparents use the backdoor (for reason as aforementioned), my parents use the front door (semi detached), we use the backdoor (same reasons mentioned before).

The strange thing is, my neighbour uses his window more than any door (he keeps losing his key...or so he claims! I think it is just a fetish!)

Anyhoo..back on point....I would use the back door, but being on an upstairs flat it is kinda suspicious when I get the ladders out!

Know what Strix means about the difference twixt Liverpool and Sheffield, being a Scouse who moved here a good decade or so ago. In addition, it took a while getting used to locking my door when I came in, as the small town on teh outskirts of Liverpool I lived in was one of those places you could leave your door open all day (and even night) and not worry about intruders!

It took 4 people walking in off the streets before I learnt that lesson here!

We use both back and front.
Mostly the front which is a mare to keep clean as it is only a few feet away from the street.
We have put in Laminated floor in the front room so a quick mop will do.

Our neighbour only uses the back door as he gets picked up for work in the back alley where no one (social security) can see him go out

Terraced houses seem to be the main coulprit for this cos most the front doors open straight into the living room which arent that big.
Going off the subject a bit but what is it with door numbers?
Im a parcel carrier and the amount of homes (private more often then council) without them makes my job a nightmare.
They buy double glazing make the house look nice but cant spare a couple of quid for door numbers!

Originally posted by Strix
When the houses were built, the front room was a 'parlour' which was kept for best

My parents are still funny like that, keeping the front room for best, no-one, and I mean, no-one was allowed in there, unless you were the Doctor, Vicar, or Insurance Man! They even had like a cling-filmy type cover over the sofas so they wouldn't get dirty!!!

What category do you fit into if you use the conservatory door?? Is that classed as a back door?? :huh:

Having the back door as the main door [like I do] means that the focus is on the communal back yard area, where I wave to my elderly neighbours on my way out and back. They keep an eye on my door when I'm not in and I on theirs. I don't use the front door which is in the passage, because it is awkward, because it wasn't used much by the previous owners and lets the heat out in the winter. If I have a lot of heavy stuff then I will open it to make the task easier.

Originally posted by Cyclone
not really. You have quite a limited social group (imo) so, you represent a very small number of sheffielders.


Yes really. Note the observation "I have noticed noone seems to use the front door in this city". Keywords being NO-ONE, and THIS CITY.

Me being a resident of this city, and also knowing several other residents in this city, I can safely say the theory is wrong.

Many terraced properties use their back doors for reasons already stated, but it depends on the design, and how good the passage is to the back. I know of several houses, where there are dark, often steep steps to the back door, which leads people to prefer to use the front.
Another thing to think about, is how many people have their back doors wide open in the summer as they spend time in their garden. Often the garden gate is shut to stop people just wandering in to the house, as it is impossible to open it without making a noise.
And in hillsborough there are lots of large victorian villa properties with nice front entrances, most people use this as a main door as it is so convenient, with coat hooks, shoe racks etc. nearby.

Having thought about this deeply (well, fairly deeply), as a few have pointed out - traditionally front rooms were saved for special occasions, or in some instances never used.

I can certainly relate to this. As a child my grandmother's back room was always heavily populated, whereas the back room - containing a piano and a three-piece suite - was never used, apart from serving as a venue for juvenile plink-plonk sessions on the piano for me and my cousins.

I cannot remember the front door ever being open.

We use our back door almost all the time, but then again the alarm system dictates that we have to enter and go out this way.

It is , it seems, an old tradition that isn't going to go away.

It is certainly the case as a piece of social history that in many working class areas (represented by the many terraced houses we still have surviving in Sheffield) that the front room was reserved as the best and so never used for entrance or exit. Only last night I was with a friend who asked about getting his front door replaced (he uses it) and he told me that when he moved in it didn't even have a lock on it, only a couple of bolts shot from the inside, so clearly it was meant to be opened from the inside only for special occasions. It was a matter of pride to reserve the front room or parlour that way so as to have a modicum of respectability (and I've heard that often the last thing poor people pawned or sold was the piano (if they had one) as that was also a marker of status.

I must admit that the houses with the entrances through a ginnel between them (which I have heard called "tunnels-backs") are a feature I've not seen elsewhere and may be a local tradition. Also about 30 years ago when I was first in Sheffield I lived for several months in one of the last surviving back-to-backs, a set of 10 houses (in two rows of five backing onto each other), stone-built with walls about 18" thick. Each had only three rooms, a ground, first floor and attic, all reached by stairs with winders, and only one window per room. There was a tiny cellar for coal storage. I got some photos of them before they were demolished. It must have been hell for Victorian occupants--I did the traditional thing and got a bath in a tin tub in front of the fire. And the loo was down a path at one end of the row, not the most interesting trip on a cold winter's night!

you are right in what you are saying, waltheof, about your friend's front door having bolts and no locks, and it only being opened forn the insie etc,

the front door in theparlour would only be opened for something like a wedding or a funeral. (the bride leaving from her parents' home, the dear-departed having been lain out" in the parlour before their "final" journey.)

you have surprised me, when you say that there were back-to-backs still standing in the mid 70's, as I always believed that the council had demolished the last of them all during their craze for demolition in the 50's and 60's! Where was the back to back you lived in? (I am fascinated by B2B's as both my mother and father's families were hosued in them)

I believe the last of them were standing on woodside, (pitsmoor) near rutland road. was this the ones you refer to?

My current home, is a standard new-build terrace (1990s) with only a kitchen-dining and a living room, so there is no way to keep the living room separate, and "off limits/ for best. (I really miss the attic, and the cellar!)

When I first married my ex husband, we had an old victorian terrace, which had a scullery kitchen, a "middle room" (dining/ livingroom) and a "parlour", which we kept for "best".

As a child, in the old terrace we had, my mother insisted on keeping the parlour for best. We were only permitted in there in the evening, once the fire was lit, and we'd had our tea, to watch the tv, for an hour or so before bed.

ah, memories!

PT

Originally posted by t020
I do, and so does everyone else I know. That's that little theory dead and buried then. :)

Maybe he didn't 'notice' you. Having said that if you tell us were you live we will sit outside waiting for you to come out the front door :P lol!

Or maybe it was you he noticed coming out of your front door, but thought you were a 'noone'..... LOL then the sentence would make sense hey! ;) Albeit badly punctuated!

Thanks for your observations, Plain Talker--the houses I referred to were in Stewart Road, off Sharrowvale Road, not all that far from Hunters Bar, and I was there for a time in 1971-early 1972. There was a laundrette at the bottom of the street, on the corner, which I used to make use of until I moved into another house I was buying.

I might try to scan in my photos and post them here for interest.

Originally posted by Plain Talker
you have surprised me, when you say that there were back-to-backs still standing in the mid 70's, as I always believed that the council had demolished the last of them all during their craze for demolition in the 50's and 60's!
I thought that the last were demolished in the early 70s. I might be wrong, but I was led to believe that many of the houses at heeley bottom, which were cleared for the never built Heeley Bypass were back to backs. I know that some were extrememly basic, without internal plumbing. People were made to leave from these old houses and lost their community which later became greatly mourned.

Waltheof, my friends late ex husband had a new-build bungalow on stewart road...

I only remember the launderette, on the corner, and the waste land, from me being about 9 or 10 (early 70's) as we used to cycle down Sharrow Vale Road, on our way to Endcliffe Park.

I never knew there were B2B's there!

I would certainly love to see the pics, if you can do the scanning thing... I imagine ther'sd be others too who would like to see them, judging by the interst in "bygone sheffield" evidenced by the contributions to the "history and expats section". :D

Muddy coffee:- most of the Victorian terraces were without internal sanitation. I remember well my parent's old house, off london road/ abbeydale road, it was a great old house, it just lacked an indoor bathroom. the terraces that had indoor sanitation were in the posher areas. (and they,often still had the loo outside, just a bathroom with bath and sink indoors!)

I remember the tin bath, and the trip across the yard to the loo, which really was hellish, in winter. (I remember my parents putting a paraffin heater in the outside loo, to stop it freezing up, when it was bitter.)

and yes, muddy, the scattering of communities to the four-winds, as the council did from the thirties/ forties onwards in their "magnificent" slum-clearance swathe, was a tragedy.

It happened in so many areas, that the community was decimated by "progress":- Attercliffe, brightside, kelvin, Netherthorpe, darnall, heeley, highfields, sharrow. all communities, and heritage, which are now lost forever.

I am fortunate. one of our customers is a very elderly chap. (he's 90-odd) and he grew up in this district, and when he coes in to hire one of our "chariots", he will chat a while, and tell us about the sharrow/ nether edge area from when HE wa a child/ young man. We never tire of listening to him. it's wonderful to hear his history.

PT

Originally posted by 1Man&hisBMW
Maybe he didn't 'notice' you. Having said that if you tell us were you live we will sit outside waiting for you to come out the front door :P lol!

Or maybe it was you he noticed coming out of your front door, but thought you were a 'noone'..... LOL then the sentence would make sense hey! ;) Albeit badly punctuated!

Everyone's a comedian. :rolleyes:

Originally posted by nightrider
I have noticed noone seems to use the front door in this city. I even asked a friend why this is and he didnt know - thats just what everyone does according to him. Is there a reason?
Can't get in. The settees in the way:hihi:

So in summary, people with terraced houses don't use their front door as a main entrance because it usually leads straight into their living room. Terraced housing is hardly exclusive to Sheffield though is it? Reading some of the comments, it's little wonder the rest of the country still sees us in cloth flat caps.

Sorry to ask, but whats a NOONE ?

Anyhow back on subject, we use the front and back door, depending which end of the driveway we park the car, we always leave the car keys in the car, and never locked a door or window at all, my rel from Sheff couldn't belive it when they came to visit, walking out without locking up was unheard of to them, most people on our street never lock up either, and we've never had a robbery at all in our area as far as i remeber, bin in this house over 20 years. not bragging either, it just dosen't happen that often that someone would rob a house.

Originally posted by t020
Yes really. Note the observation "I have noticed noone seems to use the front door in this city". Keywords being NO-ONE, and THIS CITY.

Me being a resident of this city, and also knowing several other residents in this city, I can safely say the theory is wrong.

dont take me so literally. "noone" clearly meant the majority of people seem to do this. I am sure there are *some* who use the front door, but I have noticed a lot of people do not....

What about the tradesmen's entrance?

"In the Ramtops there were only three times in a person's life that the front door was used, and a woman would be carried on all three occassions. Granny Weatherwax was determined to avoid the remaining two."

I come from Doncaster *hangs head in shame* but I can't talk for everyone from that lovely town... We always used the back door rather than the front, partly because the front door was always stiff and hard to open, but also it separated the callers into those who knew us and those who didn't. Those who knew us would come round and knock on the back door as they knew that was the one we used, those who didn't would knock on the front (and were more likely to be ignored - esp if they looked like salesmen!!!!)
I now live in Sheffield and HAVE to use my front door as the door/gateway to the back is locked from the inside for security.

Originally posted by t020
So in summary, people with terraced houses don't use their front door as a main entrance because it usually leads straight into their living room. Terraced housing is hardly exclusive to Sheffield though is it? Reading some of the comments, it's little wonder the rest of the country still sees us in cloth flat caps.

Nevermind, Yorkshire will be recieving gas soon..! ;)

Alex

Originally posted by nightrider
I have noticed noone seems to use the front door in this city. I even asked a friend why this is and he didnt know - thats just what everyone does according to him. Is there a reason?

Front doors are formal, back doors are informal.
Therefore the front door is for strangers and the back door for family, friends and neighbours.

IMHO.

I think people also always got into the habit of using the back door because this was near the 'middens' - a sort of Victorian en-suite...

I use either ;)

We only use the back as do most people in our area, for all the mentioned reasons. Its bolted from the inside, the sofa is infromt of it and who wants mud, rain ect tramped into the front room and all the heat let out. Almost all the houses round hunters Bar have a sign stating 'please use the back door'. Its a bit odd when you first move to sheffield but after a while, front doors become quite novel.

Both my grandmothers....one fron Parson Cross, one from where the Hillsboro' Leisure centre is now, used both the front and back doors. In summer both were permanently open and it was the visitors.....neighbours, insurance man, milk man, tea man etc., who would choose which door to use.

What I could never understand though is that you had to leave by the same door as you entered or it was bad luck!!

What was all that about???:confused: :loopy:

My In Laws use there back door (it's actually on the side) and they live in a semi. My father does the same for his semi as well. Neither of those doors open into the living room. My sister lives in a big farmhouse in the Peak, and they never use the front door. As a kid, I had loads of friends who lived in semi's with the 'back door' on the side of the house, and they all used that door and not the front.

Many moons ago, when we lived in an end-terrace (the terrace had no passages - just an alley at the back), we used the back door because of the reasons already stated earlier. Now we don't have a choice because to come in through the back door would mean cliimbing over the hedge :)

I think it's down to convenience - most people will only use one door of the house regularly, and if you can get to both easily you have to pick. What it isn't is anything to do with class.

Is everybody a student on this site? we don't all have coronation street style front doors that open out on to the street. Mine is a detached in the suburbs...

Hmmm. That's what we were looking at when we were house hunting. It's surprising how many people who are trying to sell a house (and show it's best side) still bring you in through the kitchen :(

:loopy:

i think it just depends on different people! lol

i think people allover the country do it. if u've got an easily accesible back or side door then people tend to use it to avoid muddy shoes n stuff trapcing through the living room or if they have a nice carpet in the hall, ect.

personally we just use the front door, we have a decent size hall and anyway its too difficult to get to the back door, through locked gates n stuff :p

my mother in law uses the back door coz her hallway is tiny n its too difficult gettin in and out but my parents just use the front door coz the back door has locked gates too it.

if u've got kids especially ppl get em to leave muddy shoes @ the back door :p lol

I don't think it's just a Sheffield thing. I'm from Birmingham originally and my aunty always used the back door of her house.

I must admit that the houses with the entrances through a ginnel between them (which I have heard called "tunnels-backs") are a feature I've not seen elsewhere and may be a local tradition.
Am I right in thinking that a ginnel is like an alley way between two terrace houses? Or is it behind the houses? If it's in between them then we have those in Birmingham too, and lots of people that have those go into the house through the back or side door, again because many of the front door open really close to the road. So it's not just a Sheffield thing I don't think.

I stayed in Liverpool for a few weeks, and it seemed that loads of terraced houses there had a kind of metal gate attached to the back door so that it could be left open for ventilation, but noone could creep in and rob you.

Strix can probably put me right about this; is it very popular in Liverpool to have this done?

K x

I quite like the idea of having a metal 'screen' door but thought this was just an American thing. I'm always leaving my back door open in the summer time and a screen door would be advantageous for two reasons
1. I'd be happy to go upstairs as long as that was locked
2. My dog Max couldn't go out barking at nothing, [I'm sure he's going mental]
Back door usuage ceertainly isn't confined to Sheffield or even the north, relatives in Reigate and Epsom [quite posh] used their back door.

[i]
Back door usuage ceertainly isn't confined to Sheffield or even the north, relatives in Reigate and Epsom [quite posh] used their back door. [/B]

I'm sure there's a joke in here somewhere! :thumbsup: :blush:

K x

Originally posted by WallBuilder
I quite like the idea of having a metal 'screen' door but thought this was just an American thing. I'm always leaving my back door open in the summer time and a screen door would be advantageous for two reasons
1. I'd be happy to go upstairs as long as that was locked
2. My dog Max couldn't go out barking at nothing, [I'm sure he's going mental]
Back door usuage ceertainly isn't confined to Sheffield or even the north, relatives in Reigate and Epsom [quite posh] used their back door.

It's not just an American thing, it's a worldwide warm country thing. Having a screen door (and mesh screens on the windows) allows ventilation, but keeps the insects out.

Virtually every house in Australia has them, also.

You get so used to having a screen door, that it becomes second nature to open/close both when leaving.

I was back in London a few weeks ago staying with friends and it felt really strange not having a screen door to open/close when going out into the garden.

However, although mesh screen doors provide a certain amount of security, they are not nearly as robust as the wrought iron siege bars I've seen on the doors of flats in the UK. They are a sign of just how bad crime is there now.