Is it countryside-ish? Is it nice? Is it a safe place to live? And does it have any nice pubs?

Stockbridge is like Royston Vasey. I spent a year up there working, there are rather too many obese people and very weird people. There are also some Old 'uns who have never ventured far out of the place, never having been to sheffield.

It is 1000feet above sea level out there and often gets lots of snow in the winter

More than once, one of us bought some food/sweets/chocolate bar from one of the little shops on the main street , only to find out later after chewing a tasteless mouthful that the sell by date was passed years ago.

Originally posted by muddycoffee
Stockbridge is like Royston Vasey.
...but not as friendly. ;)

i know someone with a nice room to rent in stockbridge, it's not all bad out there..
:)

In stocksbridge they dispensed with the compass points North South East West, and they have Deepcar, Midhope, Hunshelf, Bolsterstone. Men always call each other Love all the time, and pepper their sentences with the phrase "same as I say" which sounds like "sam-as-ah-sed" and it means "do you know what I mean?"

Originally posted by neeeeeeeeeek
i know someone with a nice room to rent in stockbridge, it's not all bad out there..
:)
Yeah, but you west-counry lads, probably can't sense the fear like us north sheffield lads do of that very strange place.

oh dear Gawd! Your're really selling it arent you. I was just asking as I'd spotted an ad for a room there and fancied getting out of the city. I'm living with my boyfriend, who bacame my ex boyfriend a few days ago and need to get out ASAP. Thought a bit of countryside would cheer me up, but this just sound depressing!!

Stocksbridge was basically a hulking great ugly steel works which is 4 miles long with houses dotted around it. At the far end is what looks like a colossal pig sty of a muddy field and called slag reduction company. I don't know how the air is at the moment but near the works you could never have hung out washing as it would be black. Right up on the south hill there is some nice houses which are quite rural, large and pretty. And the stocksbridge bypass is a road with a curse. It is the road which has the record for fatal accidents on it in south yorkshire.

The village of stockbridge is a long way from sheffield centre, and although there is a bus, it was always twice the price of a normal bus journey. I think my daily journey there and back was 25 miles. Don't even think about living there unless you have your own transport.

It just gets better, think I may be giving it a miss.

I was born and bred in the Stockbridge 'valley' and I have very happy and fond memories of living there,

Yes, it is miles from the City Centre and if you are bussing it every day it can be a pain.

Everyone knows everyone else or is related to everyone else, but being from the area myself, never found that a problem!

I go back there at least twice a week to see my parents and love going back. The steel works is not as big as it once was, some of it is earmarked to be redeveloped as housing at some point in the future. Wherever you live in Stocksbridge you are always within a few minutes walk of beautiful open countryside and when I were a lass spent hours walking up to Bolsterstone and around the various reservoirs and dams. I believe the crime rate is relatively low and recently the old police station at Deepcar has been reopened with a return to community policing.

If you are thinking about living there, I'd suggest renting for a few months to see if you like it - then you can always return to the city if you don't!

Liz

Stocksbirdge isnt all bad....Deepcar is better....

Yes i agree with Avalon.
Deepcar is the better of the two.
But the top of stocksbridge has wonderful panoramic views(the very top of cedar road.) -masses of countryside leading to Bolsterstone)
despite my post a couple of weeks ago likening some stocksbridge folk to people in Royston Vasey, it still is a joy to live here.
the only thing or area that spoils it is the yobs from the Kenworthy road area.- avoid whitwell estate nr shops.

Yes stocksbridge has some colourful characters including the incredible singing man that does his daily route along manchester road.
Hes not drunk or anything , hes just jolly and has a good voice actually.
i admit there are some sort of weird zombified families on the estates but they keep themselves to themselves.
perhaps too much.

I think theres only a couple of dodgy shops on manchester road
the rest are good.
And its a great shopping area the people are always friendly on there and it has a terrific fruit shop.
the factory shops ok too.
so is the big co-op.
theres also a sheffield college on there and various other organisations.

Its a great pity there are no shops at the Deepcar end.

Originally posted by muddycoffee
Stocksbridge was basically a hulking great ugly steel works which is 4 miles long with houses dotted around it. At the far end is what looks like a colossal pig sty of a muddy field and called slag reduction company. I don't know how the air is at the moment but near the works you could never have hung out washing as it would be black.

It is an electric arc furnace :rolleyes:

ddolly i really think you should visit stocksbridge and not take to heart some of the bad comments about it .
mostly from people who have never lived there.
It is surrounded by countryside and despite that one area it is mainly quiet.
Stocksbridge doesnt just consist of manchester road.
If you like countryside then this is the place to be.
pubs are ok. theres around seven and some more next door in Deepcar.
Also one up the road in Bolsterstone.
Then about three to four minutes drive in to wharncliffe side there are some there too.

theres nice woods too. in stocksbridge.
Also theres the south Yorkshire forest at the bottom.

Originally posted by tara
Yes i agree with Avalon.
Deepcar is the better of the two.


Im glad someone agrees! I was begining to think i was the only person who liked Stocksbridge!!

I am really pleased some people have come on to defend the village. And while I have never lived there, I used to work in the steel works about 15 years ago, and enjoyed my time there and liked the people.
Originally posted by Skatiechik
It is an electric arc furnace :rolleyes:
So I can confirm that it was a very large steel works (4 miles long, I still have a detailed site map) and not just an electric arc furnace. There were 4000 people working there when I was there and there were 2 standard electric arc furnaces I went inside them to repair some thermocouples. Also there were vacuum furnaces and other high temperature furnaces for melting steel down, and hundreds of annealing and other heat treating furnaces and ovens. There were rolling mills, stockyards, stainless division, chemical labs, scrap yards, training centre, etc.. etc..

For ten years My best mate has worked in a technology company based in the village, and they all call the locals The Pointyheads because they are just so strange. Every week he tells me of stupid things he has seen the local people doing, sometimes I get the impression he works in a circus.

Originally posted by muddycoffee
I don't know how the air is at the moment but near the works you could never have hung out washing as it would be black.

Telling people what a place was like 15 years ago, doesn't mean it is exactly the same now does it? :loopy:

Your first post read in so many words (well it is the way I read it) "Stocksbridge has a steel works and is belching out black smoke all time, you'll never be able to go outside and breathe fresh air or even hang your washing out" Which is so untrue!

The quality of air is probably far cleaner than you will ever find in the city centre.

Originally posted by Skatiechik
Your first post read in so many words . . .
Yes I know. I used to visit, and work on the fume plant in the melting shop (no.4 melting shop - old name!), so I was always acutely aware of the air quality in the village. I arrived on my motorcycle, and the visor would need cleaning because of the dust on it. When the fume plant had a fault, often the air was so thick with dust that you felt as though you had a sore throat.

It's true that this was 15 years ago, there were 5 massive furnaces in a line in that huge filthy factory building. And a fume plant sucked it all in like a giant hoover with lots of filters on the roof.
I am not aware that they have closed down all the arc furnaces, so the system must be similar today.

Originally posted by tara
...If you like countryside then this is the place to be...
I can think of much better places.

STOCKSBRIDGE is fine, if you can get used to the noise from the steelworks on a night time!!! took me ages to get used to it but I belive the bit that makes all this noise is being knocked down, it will improve the area then cos it is a bit of an eyesore, although from my bedroom window I look on to Underbank reservoir which is very scenic.

When i first moved up here I remember a local chap telling me that if id have moved here ten years ago then i wouldn't have been accepted, as the locals didnt take kindly to new people on their patch.(so to speak)
But he said its different now.
So i see what you mean muddycoffee about the strangeness 15 years ago.
I live on the Deepcar side but my postal address comes under Stocksbridge- dont know why.
But people are quite normal at my end anyway.

I can assure you though the higher you go up from manchester road the more beautiful it gets- scenery wise.

"The Friendship" in Stocksbridge was probably the most misleading name ever given to a boozer.

If you were a stranger (ie not inbred) going in there in the 70's the whole pub used to go quiet and everyone would turn and look at you, just like the saloons in the old cowboy films.

We moved to Deepcar 19 years ago but have since moved to Stocksbridge. Can't be as bad as some describe because we are still here. Ok......there used to be a noise problem. Firstly from the amount of traffic on the main road, but then they built the bypass. The steelworks used to make a noise, but I hardly hear any noise off them at night anymore.
The surrounding areas are breathtaking and we benefit from all the local wildlife. We have loads of birds in the garden.......hedgehogs and visiting foxes.
The shopping centre is good and is in the process of being re-developed right now. I see this area as very much on the "up". With the re-development of the redundant steel work premises will come much new housing. That in turn will attract new blood into the valley and I can visualise a situation where people will be queuing up to move out here. That in turn will cause a rise in housing prices............so if anybody is thinking about moving here.......now is the time to do it before it becomes unaffordable.
As for the people.........I personally have never had any problems about being excepted at all. I have allways found people to be friendly and welcoming. I suppose a lot depends on your own attitude to others. Of course there will be the few oddballs but that isn't solely down to any one area..........you will find them all over any city. I don't think that crime and youth nuisance is any worse here than anywhere else.........and in fact as somebody has allready pointed out, we now have community policing back again.
Somebody mentioned the local veg shop on Manchester road. Now that is the best veg shop ever and if you want a snapshot of local friendly people.........just go in there.
Whatever you decide Ddolly..........visit the area first and have a good drive around both Deepcar and Stocksbridge and all the surrounding countryside.

I know someone who has a room in stockbridge in a nice house with all mod cons, off road parking and a garden. 45quid a week plus share of bills. Share with easy going young female owner. PM me for more info.
:)

This has been covered before here:

Stocksbridge thread (http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7670)

but it was a year ago so wo't merge.

i lived at stocksbridge for 15years,then exchanged to deepcar,i prefer stocksbridge to deercar,we are not all overweight,my kids have all left home now but im still here,wouldnt live anywhere else,everyones friendly,theres far worse places to live.

We have never lived in Stocksbridge but it is our number 1 place whilst we are looking for houses.

It is amazingly beautiful and the people are really friendly. For instance, we looked at a house and the next door neighbours introduced themselves, answered our questions and invited us to the weekly bbq's they hold on their front garden. All this and we hadn't even put an offer in!

Having 2 dogs, it is ideally situated for a 2 minute walk in any direction, leading to fields, woodland and not much further are the reserviours.

Stocksbridge seems to have this reputation of everybody being inbred - probably due to lots of the parents' children also buying houses in the area. Do YOU shag YOUR own children just cos they live nearby? Of course you don't, it's ridiculous.

So many narrow-minded people on this forum, stop being losers and get out more.

Stunning coutryside, great people, well priced houses. What more could you ask for?

Oh and the Steelworks on the other side of the valley have all but closed down now. Can't see Corus being around much longer.

Originally posted by mullers
...we looked at a house and the next door neighbours introduced themselves, answered our questions and invited us to the weekly bbq's they hold on their front garden...
Have you not seen the butchers shop on "The League of Gentlemen"...

...maybe you were going to be the barbeque!

:suspect:

I gave myself 10 minutes for someone to come up with that - Well done! you beat it by 2 minutes! :loopy:

Originally posted by mullers
I gave myself 10 minutes for someone to come up with that - Well done! you beat it by 2 minutes! :loopy:
Oooh, 'ark at her!

Keep yer nickers on luvvie.

:D

"You'll never leave"

Well ddolly the big question now remains .
Have you been up for a visit yet and if so what did you think?

I've just read this whole thread and can't believe what people think of Stocksbridge!

I think it's fantastic. I lived here all my life then left for 18 months to live in Woodseats but i came back and would much rather live in Stocky!

Why do people think we're all inbred? Yeah i've got quite a few relatives here but that doesn't mean we're at it with each other!

I just felt i had to write something coz STOCKSBRIDGE IS GREAT!!!

My eldest son has moved from there but you have got to have a 4 wheel drive to get up and down the hills when it snows. Buses don't even run when it snows (and he lived on the route). Great if you like churches and hairdressers. Costs a fortune in petrol getting back and forth to Sheffield. Bad going into town via Stocksbridge byepass. Murder nose to tail off J35A to wentworth roundabout at night.