It's almost 25 years since I left Sheffield having spent three great years there allegedly at Uni but in reality bumbling about between West Street and Walkley. I'd love to re-visit the city this year, as I'm struggling to remember a great deal about it. As a village-born lad, I was totally overwhelmed by the place. Which of my memories remain and which have gone? (in no particular order, but may well follow the 95 bus route!)


Walkley Photo Gallery
Little grocery shops
Sweet shop where old granny sold individual fags to small kids
Boating lake ( Dam House or something?)
Hendersons Relish factory
Western Works - home of Cabaret Voltaire
Hallamshire Hotel
Beehive pub
Limit Club
Rare and Racy
Kites (?) restaurant
Loads of little cutlery works
Kelvin flats
Nirmal Indian restaurant
Hyde park flats
Leadmill
Hole in the road

..used to be puzzled by buses with 'Intake' on the front, thought it meant you could only get on...

I was away from Sheffield during the 1990s, and there were many changes that happened during that period - some good, some bad.

The hole in the road gone, and High street is no longer a dual-carriageway but a single-lane two-way road!

The number of times I've stepped into the road without looking both ways... not fun!

Most of the Hyde Park flats have been demolished, but some remain.

The water fountain at the top of Fargate is gone, replaced by the Peace Gardens next to the eggbox town hall - which itself was flattened a few years ago!

You won't recognise the place now, but you'll love it just the same :)

Most of the changes are for the better - it's not the grimy place you'll most likely remember ;)

If you arrive by train, you'll be amazed ;)

If you arrive by car - ask us for directions coz they've dug up a huge swathe of the place to finally finish off the ringroad that wasn't finished in the 1960's, and neither google nor multimap are up to date yet :mad:

I don't think Sheffields changes that much at all, not in town anyhow, i can still find my way around, although it was about 6 years ago i was last there, just the odd road constructions made it a bit confusing, I hope to be there again this time next year for a couple of weeks.

I used to come in on the train from York, we seemed to rattle through miles of derelict ground and great steel rolling mills - is it all Meadowhall now?
Is the old railway station still there above the Wicker?

well Rotherham now looks a bit less derelict than it used to, but there are still some scrapyards and rolling mills, and yes, Meadowhell (no cooling towers now though)

The Wicker has undergone some radial changes - as this is where the new ringroad cuts through. The canal basin nearby is more appealing too!

Hmmmm…. Well, the Kelvin Flats have gone and the hole in the road has been filled in (trams go over it now - http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/47/Supertram_Castle_Square.jpg). The Beehive became the Foundry & Firkin but Rare & Racy is still going strong. And of course, Henderson's Relish goes on for ever. Enjoy your visit!.:)

coo - that's almost European with the trams. Don't suppose it's still 4 pence to Walkley?
Another vague memory - was there a Temperance Bar close by Kelvin Flats?

I live in Walkley - so here we go...



Walkley Photo Gallery
Gone - I think

Little grocery shops
Only one in walkley - though Levitts - the little supermarket - now sells organic stuff and real ales (which give you a measure of how Walkley has changed)

Sweet shop where old granny sold individual fags to small kids
Gone

Boating lake ( Dam House or something?)
Still there - complete with bar half owned by carlton palmer

Hendersons Relish factory
Still there

Western Works - home of Cabaret Voltaire
Gone

Hallamshire Hotel
Now BRB doing nice pizzas but probably with slightly fewer punks & psychobillies than last time you were in

Beehive pub
Now a big bar (who's name escapes me)

Limit Club
Gone

Rare and Racy
still there

Kites (?) restaurant
Now another bar - but stillquite nice inside

Loads of little cutlery works
Gone

Kelvin flats
Gone

Nirmal Indian restaurant
Still there with Mrs Nirmal still pestering you to buy expensive dishes with spinach in them

Hyde park flats
Still there but tarted up

Leadmill
Still there but a lot less arty than you remember

Hole in the road
Gone

..used to be puzzled by buses with 'Intake' on the front, thought it meant you could only get on...
Still there


Enjoy your trip down memory lane!

:)

Ok - I've got bad flu and on strong painkillers but this is crazy

I used to live opposite the boating lake growing up and I fell into that damn green gunk so often I can't count!

Henderson's Relish - yummmmmmm can't ever eat a stew without a teary-eyed thought of it

Hallamshire Hotel - when A-ha first hit the charts I was earning some cash as a 'runner' and had to dash to Top Shop on the Moor to get Morten some new jeans!

Mrs Nirmal gave a cooking lesson at one of the colleges in '84 and I was her helper -got paid £15 and went to Rebels (and Yes I was very underage lol)

Walkley Photo Gallery

It was the Untitled Gallery which also housed Sheffield Independent Film Group. Both are now relocated to the so called Cultural Industries Quarter near the train station.

Little grocery shops

Mostly gone.

Sweet shop where old granny sold individual fags to small kids

Gone because of health and safety

Boating lake ( Dam House or something?)

Gone because of health and safety. The lake remains, it's in Crookes Valley Park , but no boating now

Hendersons Relish factory

Amazingly still the same!

Although the surrounding area is much changed.

Western Works - home of Cabaret Voltaire

Dunno

Hallamshire Hotel



Beehive pub

Gutted and turned into a youth bar.

Limit Club

Gone

Rare and Racy

Amazingly still the same! Run by the same people who still have the exact same jazz playing.

Kites (?) restaurant

Mr Kites, now the Green Room. Not so much different to what it was.

Loads of little cutlery works

Not many left now

Kelvin flats

Demolished

Nirmal Indian restaurant

Amazingly still the same! Right down to Mrs Nirmal showing one too many rolls of flesh through her sari while she insists you order what she wants rather than what you want.

Hyde park flats

Still there, but the central "citadel" was demolished and the rest re-clad making them much less imposing

Leadmill

Still there.

Hole in the road

Filled in, made into a regular junction.

..used to be puzzled by buses with 'Intake' on the front, thought it meant you could only get on...

Yeah me too. Halfway confused me too. I kept looking for the bus that said All The Way, but it never came.

Do what you never did and travel further on the 95 (you can get an orange route pass for 40/41/42/94/95 buses for £2.50 for day/£7week). Come to the Foxwood at intake (2nd stop after the firestation at manor top - walk down the hill take a left and enter the pub from the back - happy hour b4 6pm or tuesdays I think) just say hello to a regular and a pleasant conversation should follow.
Hope to God you have called in on a day when 'Stans' is open and get soem of (if not) the best fish and chips in Sheff.

Go to crystal peaks, plenty of people there who love to chat and a greggs to sit down in (they are student havens nowadays :hihi:).
Call in at the rileys - 4th stop after the Foxwood - play some snooker/pool/american pool - theres some damn good players there.

Wonder why you never travelled out of the centre before and then return and se how the centre has changed... Many fun times should follow :D

On the subject of buses - once got the 60 bus to Crimicar Lane, see what it was like. I think we went to a pub called the Shiny Sheff or something and flung ourselves into massive snowdrifts on a golf course - never seen the like since. Think this would have been 1982/83.
Found out last year that a colleague's father ran the post office at Oughtibridge (another bus destination I liked the sound of but never went to).
16p bus fare to the Fox House Hotel near Hathersage - now that was a value for money ride!
I also remember an underpant bus - sponsored by Jockey Y-Fronts and heavily decorated with aforementioned product. My friend forbade us to travel on it in case we were seen - even if it meant walking home instead.

Walkley Photo Gallery
Little grocery shops
Sweet shop where old granny sold individual fags to small kids
Boating lake ( Dam House or something?)
Hendersons Relish factory
Western Works - home of Cabaret Voltaire
Hallamshire Hotel
Beehive pub
Limit Club
Rare and Racy
Kites (?) restaurant
Loads of little cutlery works
Kelvin flats
Nirmal Indian restaurant
Hyde park flats
Leadmill
Hole in the road

..used to be puzzled by buses with 'Intake' on the front, thought it meant you could only get on...


Bold is definitely still here, red is definitely gone, the others I don't know.

Yes - the Beehive became the Foundry & Firkin; but I think it went a bit trendier later.

Rare & Racy is the best (maybe now the only?) secondhand bookshop in town.

My goodness - is Nirmal Gupta still running Nirmal's, right down to the rolls of flesh bulging through the sari, and her "persuasive" manner regarding the menu? I worked with her husband, Lal Gupta, in the botany department at the University in 1968. By gum - that seems a long time ago....