City Councillors lets go for a walk!

As we leave the Town hall we have Fargate to our right hand side which should have the best shopping that Sheffield has to offer,what we see is lots of Scaffolding covering the old buildings that used to house Carphone warehouse,getting ready for its new high quailty retailer that is H&M.

On we go down Pinstone Street along the right hand side we see lots of boarded up shops(next to HSBC) which have been in this state for years and right in the Heart of the City,we carry on over Cambridge street avoiding all the cars doing U turns so they can get to Furnival Gate and go past Debenhams.
As we progress down the repaved Moor which was supposed to help improve the retail enviroment we go past all the £ shops,that once housed the likes of Hamleys and Habitat and Marks & Spencer then we hit a dead end that is the manpower services building so we go left on the Eyre Street. Now the street looks lovely with all its new trees and shrubs surrounded by the tempory car parks,closed night clubs and cheap ex DIY buildings.

As we walk back up to Arundle Gate we pass the newly reclad Redvers House and we think that this would be a good place for high rise clusters,so on we go past all the new buildings including Derwent House,The new Council offices,No1 St pauls,the hallam buildings on the right and we agree that not one of these buildings have any good design qualities about them.We then go past the soon to be a Tempory car park that would have been the 32 storey scraper and past the Millenium Galleries and on to the Roxy building and i suggest building flats sorry apartments on this site which has been in a sorry state since err,well the 60's! They would have lovely views of the listed Park Hill and all the councillors agree ,i mean with a view as good as that how could we fail they say to themselves.
We go on past the dating Crucible which sits in the lovely Tudor Square(which Sheffield1 wanted dug up) and onto the Junction which houses T.J.hughes and i say i just want to pop in to House Of Frazer, to which Jan replied 'dont you mean TJ's' Oh yes i replied and carried on walking.

As we go past the world class (15 year old) Ponds forge sports centre we talk about how Sheffield has the best sports facilities in Britain and how the Olympics in 2012 will be good for Sheffield, i replied that by then the Arena,Don Valley,Ponds Forge,Hillsborough,Graves Tennis Centre, will be 22 years old and judging by past experience will be in the process of being demolished to aid yet more regeneration.And so wont be even able to attract the Alaska Olympic squad to train here.

As we cross over Commercial Street we see all the 'Tempory' car parks and marvel how most of the citys hotels are located around the Castlegate area of the city,and how proud are the city fathers for thinking that one up!

We decide to give the markets area a miss as time was limited and did not have security with us this day, so we walk up along the supertram route and witness yet another broken down tram blocking West street and we marvel how good the Bus Stops look with Grass on their roofs and realise that we should do more things like this now that would get people on the Buses and out of their cars,if only the Buses arrived on time,i know said a councillor what we need is more traffic lights to give buses more priorty at junctions,little realising that the same Bus is stuck have way up the road trying to get past all the parked cars on the urban clearway to get to the said junction.

We stop for a bite to eat at many of Sheffield's finest eateries,shall we have a Greggs or a Subway ,as there was 60 of us half went into Greggs and the other half went into the Greggs next door!

As the day was nearing completion we reflect on what has been achieved over the last few years and realise that most of the developments in Sheffield City Centre where mainly done from the public purse and the private money went into building Apartment.where are all the private office blocks i ask,they reply No1 St Pauls is to be let by Law firm DLA,but i replied are they not just relocation from other offices in the city...i get no reply.

Where are all the Head office's for major companies of European significance,they reply HSBC at town head street i reply i think you will find it sitting next to Citi Bank at Canery Wharf.

I thanked the council for the walk through Sheffield and summerized-

Sheffield a city of Civil service jobs,Greggs,tempory car parks,dating sports centres,dating Supertram,potholes,pound shops,no airport,no designer shops,no half decent shops.

But the flowers are fantastic!

Where would you like to walk?

Do I detect a hint of cynicism in this posting :P

Originally posted by owdlad
Do I detect a hint of cynicism in this posting :P
My boss says I am cynical.I reply it is political satire with a lot of truth in it (truth is the bit she doesn't like)

spot on !!!!!!!!!!!!! thank you !!!! i have lived in both nottingham and london and it shocks me sheffield dont appear to be even in the same league as nottingham for shops city centre etc.

hosue of frazer being replaced by TJs i think says it all !!!! for god sake sheffield sort it out !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Your tour was incomplete unners - you missed out the Peace Gardens, the Winter Gardens, plus the Lyceum theatre, Graves Art Gallery and City Hall. Not to mention West One, Devonshire Green............ but now that I've drawn your attention to them, I await your next gripe with interest.

But how do we persuade the average Sheffielder that 'cheap' does not equal 'value for money'?

Look what's naturally happening to Meadowhall. Anybody with money to spend is trotting across the pennines, and the penny-pinching tight people are providing the market for the likes of Primark to open up in what used to be the region's star attraction.

There's no need to build new markets - Meadowhall will serve nicely in a couple of years time :mad:

Originally posted by Strix
Look what's naturally happening to Meadowhall. Anybody with money to spend is trotting across the pennines...

But what's wrong with the shops at the 'posh end' of Meadowhall?

Well, where shall I start?

the branches are too small
the sales staff are thin on the ground
they stock the budget lines
Posh? who are you kidding?
............

Originally posted by Abdul
But what's wrong with the shops at the 'posh end' of Meadowhall?

They've all closed or are closing!

I went into town a week last Sunday for the first time on a daytime in at least two years. I was gobsmacked. The place is awful. The main thoroughfare from High Street to Moorfoot which was once thriving is a shrivalry of boarded up shops or Pound shops. Compare it with Manchester City Centre (Deansgate) which has Trafford Centre to compete with but has still held its own.

Redrobbo you might talk about West One (shop leases approx £2 pa per sq foot more than rest of city centre), Winter Gardens etc, but the main attraction of a city centre is its shopping and Sheffield has none.

Point taken MobileB, but unners took a tour which included supertram, Ponds Forge, bus shelters, etc., and I just added to the list.

What I look for when I go shopping is the independent unusual shops that stock something different.

Am I alone in this?

Should Sheffield be carving itself a niche that sets it apart from every other shopping centre? Top end stuff of course :thumbsup:

We had a debate a few weeks ago about what ," makes " a city , what gives it its , "buzz" and when I said that Sheffield was nothing like a lot of foreign cities for atmosphere , loads of people came on S.F. to say what a wonderful place the centre was.
We were talking mainly about night life but its general aspect too.Well , I can quite believe what the first poster said about his daytime walk through the city centre-----sounds familiar ! And from recent reports , it doesn't sound that safe a place to walk through at nights either.
Sheffield's ostrich-like defenders can't point to individual places and say , " What about that then , that's nice "-------a city is an organic "whole ".
The first poster was right------at one time from the Wicker Archers to the Moorfoot and along London Road and then from West Street , down to the Midland Station , Sheffield did have character, it had a ,"buzz " It was a bit , "rough and ready ," but that's what gave it its character-------it was an industrial city, not a commercial city , like Leeds. It had been quite badly bombed whereas some cities hadn't .....and so on.
There are many reasons for the decline of Sheffield's city centre but until reading these posts , I didn't realise it had gone down the drain so much. Sounds depressing !

I always enjoy reading about the many and numerous complaints about Sheffield city centre and it's comparisons to many other places. We all know the place has some horrible examples of architecture and some rreally terrible planning decisions but then that could be said of just about every city and town in the country and I've seen plenty of them.
So rather than griping all the time I do wish people would as well as griping offer some solutions, here's a few of things that may help slightly.
1. Do something to improve the horrible route from the railway station to the city centre [okay that's a pet gripe of mine]
2. Don't allow shop units to stand empty for weeks let alone months becoming a target for fly-posters
3. Put a roof over the Moor [yes I know it's been said before]
4. If there is a problem with litter, grafitti, 'A' boards etc have a fast response council team to deal with it
5. Install a few suggestion boxes for peoples comments as all to often the people who actually live in the city don't seem to get much input at all..

it need major investment and the council shaking up.
they are numerous examples of how they ahve failed us, ikea not being allowed to opena branch.....joke. loosing house of fraser and other leading (not even super top end shops) contracts and replacing with tripe.

We need major shops anting to come back i mean its pathetic sheffield celebrated Gap coming here, is that really the best we can do ????

liek some one said on thr thread we need small boutiques small independant shops as well, not only these major players we should eb encouraging diversity, from sheffielders themselves. I personnally hacve looked into areas such as division street and the rent is stupid, yet this is h only area i could see a small boutique possibly surviving due to the rest of the centre being so ran down and TK hughes TK max, primark are only ever goign to attract one type of person..... come on lets get it right for once

I am very proud of my city and hate to see it griped about - especially by its own.

I agree that the shops in the centre and at meadowhall are slowing declining into pound and bargain tat but....

businesses go where they can make money. If its pound shops we are attracting, it must be becase they can make a profit, which means that they have willing customers. If the more expensive shops move out or stay away it's because they don;t see Sheffield as a market for them.

You can blame the councillors all you like, but it is the people of sheffield (& surrounding areas) that ultimately decide who suceeds and who doesn't by how they spend their money.

I don;t tend to frequent pound shops - but there are obviously plenty of people who do.


* * Stands back and awaits angry posh shopper backlash * *

***BREAKING NEWS***

Sheffield City Council is pleased to announce that it has come up with a new and exciting image for Sheffield!

Having spent many long days in consultation, and in light of recent planning decisions, the new 'Gateway to Sheffield' has been agreed.

The City Council feels the image and branding truly reflects the scale of the city's ambition going forward:

Gateway to Sheffield (http://www.kynvi.com/images/J4thyrkdlegoland1.jpg)

It's a fact: Take away mobile phone shops from Fargate and what are you left with? Hardly a high quality retail sector.

No retailer in their right mind is going to give Sheffield a second look. The council, obsessed with their anti-car policies (despite the bull they come out with to the contrary) prefer to see the road restrictions slowly strangle what life there is left out of the city centre. YES, THE CITY ISN'T ONLY DYING - IT IS BEING KILLED BY THE PEOPLE ELECTED TO PROTECT IT.

Just take a look at Moorhead, where traffic has to turn up Pinstone Street to end up either in Coles Carpark (if there's space) or.., erm, roughly back where you started, via Barkers Pool and Leopold Street and (there being no left turn up West Street) all around the houses.

That restriction to me, illustrates exactly what our elected councillors' traffic policies are: frustrate the motorist into bullying him to abandon his car in favour of a shambolic bus-service which, whilst performance-wise is sinking further and further, increase their tariffs nearly every other week.

I could talk forever on the subject, but if anyone truly wants to see a positive change in the policies of how a city centre should be run, then the opportunity does exist:

It's called the ballot box.

Originally posted by Deavon
***BREAKING NEWS***

Sheffield City Council is pleased to announce that it has come up with a new and exciting image for Sheffield!

Having spent many long days in consultation, and in light of recent planning decisions, the new 'Gateway to Sheffield' has been agreed.

The City Council feels the image and branding truly reflects the scale of the city's ambition going forward:

Gateway to Sheffield (http://www.kynvi.com/images/J4thyrkdlegoland1.jpg)

Where's the grafitti? Where's the No Right Turn signs? Where's Phones4U and Carphone Warehouse?

That's not Sheffield, not by a long way!!!!

Loupylou ,
Well , I think it might all be a bit more complicated than what you suggest.
Firstly , I think there's roughly as much money to spend , per capita , in Sheffield , as most other places------it's just that people don't seem fond of spending their loot in Sheffield City Centre ,therefore the place goes into a decline. You're right in that businesses won't go where they won't get a return on their money but why won't they come here or why won't more people shop in the centre ?
Let's suppose , for the sake of argument that something or some things put people off , coming to Sheffield for a few hours shopping or to spend the day here and browse round the city centre . If something does put them off , well , that's when the downward spiral begins.
Now , have you thought about parking in Sheffield ? Have you thought about how easy and/or cheap it is for Sheffield's own residents to get to the centre by public transport ? How easy is it for people on the fringes of Sheffield to get here by public transport ?
Is it pleasant to have a leisurely stroll round the centre and pop in somewhere nice for lunch ? When it's cold and/or wet , is there somewhere nice to go to ?
Is there a good , well-signed information centre open all day to give you advice about facilities in the centre ?
Do you feel safe , especially if you are elderly or vulnerable when you walk round the centre of Sheffield ?
O.K , well , if all or some of the above factors put people off , they find somewhere else ; businesses realise it's not worth investing in expensive , attractive places , therefore less people come .........and so it goes on.
I think the answer may be in that lot somewhere.

Originally posted by redrobbo
Your tour was incomplete unners - you missed out the Peace Gardens, the Winter Gardens, plus the Lyceum theatre, Graves Art Gallery and City Hall. Not to mention West One, Devonshire Green............ but now that I've drawn your attention to them, I await your next gripe with interest.

Got to go to work now,but i will arrange a night time tour for the above buildings and report my positive/negative feed back on here.

Wo wo wo I don’t agree at all with your argument, yes pound shops do come as they can make money but with the streets flooded of these, people have no option, plus who do u think dictates what shops come…the council ! they should be chasing shops that generate an imagine to increase further investment !!!! for god sake its basics you offer crap your attract crap !!!! and sheffield at present is full of crap (shops).

Yes Sheffield has many plus points I agree but that isn’t what in question here look at fargate, the moor etc. just who on earth are those shops aimed at ? and what does this portray ! its dreadful !

What hope does a small independent shop have ? wheres the boutiques ?

From the looks of it the council need some young person who is in touch with the people of today !

If the areas of fargate, the moor, division street, west street (don’t get me started how this is desperate for investment !!!!!) even the markets (need drastic facelift and getting the riff raff out) all pulled together it could have a city centre to be proud of instead of a city centre full of gregs, chavtastic card shop, pound shops and discount cosmetic shops. !!!

Sooooooooo frustrating when I walk around Nottingham on my lunch seeing and feeling the buzz of the place, its magical, trendy shops but yes they have balance of large international names plus small boutiques as well as another part of town dedicated to gregs etc. but not swamped by these. !!!!!

Originally posted by Fareast
Loupylou ,
Well , I think it might all be a bit more complicated than what you suggest.
Firstly , I think there's roughly as much money to spend , per capita , in Sheffield , as most other places------it's just that people don't seem fond of spending their loot in Sheffield City Centre ,therefore the place goes into a decline. You're right in that businesses won't go where they won't get a return on their money but why won't they come here or why won't more people shop in the centre ?
Let's suppose , for the sake of argument that something or some things put people off , coming to Sheffield for a few hours shopping or to spend the day here and browse round the city centre . If something does put them off , well , that's when the downward spiral begins.
Now , have you thought about parking in Sheffield ? Have you thought about how easy and/or cheap it is for Sheffield's own residents to get to the centre by public transport ? How easy is it for people on the fringes of Sheffield to get here by public transport ?
Is it pleasant to have a leisurely stroll round the centre and pop in somewhere nice for lunch ? When it's cold and/or wet , is there somewhere nice to go to ?
Is there a good , well-signed information centre open all day to give you advice about facilities in the centre ?
Do you feel safe , especially if you are elderly or vulnerable when you walk round the centre of Sheffield ?
O.K , well , if all or some of the above factors put people off , they find somewhere else ; businesses realise it's not worth investing in expensive , attractive places , therefore less people come .........and so it goes on.
I think the answer may be in that lot somewhere.

It certainly is. I won't even countenance shopping in Sheffield city centre because:
1: It's dingy, down-at-heel and lacks a real focus.
2: Parking is appalling and the bus system is confusing.
3: The dingy, down-at-heel nature of the place means it's full of dingy, down-at-heel people, and shopping's a stressful enough experience without having that lot to gaze on as you shuffle by.
4: Everything about the place is badly-designed. Apart from the lack of an obvious centre it rambles in a radiant fashion, and you have to do an inordinate amount of walking to get your stuff. Try picking someone elderly up from the Coach station - you have to park illegally to do it, as there's no car access.
5: It's a tragic fact that Leeds eclipses Sheffield, and Manchester blows it away. Oh, and London's only a couple of hours away.

A bit of design and planning would zone the place so that Poundland freaks could have a lovely time in one area, and Harvey Nicks fans could have a gay old day being Yuppies in another. Appropriate eateries and bars would spring up to feed the incoming hordes and everyone would start wondering why they had ever spent time running down the centre of what had become one of the nation's coolest cities. But the current City Council seems patchily inactive, hopelessly (and I suspect financially) in thrall to the whim of Sheffield Hallam University and desperately unable to deliver the shot of adrenaline the place needs so terribly. And the Gateway isn't going to do the job if there's nothing for it to lure people on to. I suggest we vote for change at the next opportunity, and elect a crowd of councillors who can make this a city to be proud of.

Originally posted by dinkdankdo10
What hope does a small independent shop have ? wheres the boutiques ?

From the looks of it the council need some young person who is in touch with the people of today !


Division Street has the only decent clothes boutiques, but compared to Leeds/Manchester it's feeble. I agree the council need some younger people's advice, or at least people who are aware that we are in the 21st century.

totally agree it needs to be 'zoned' out ! poundland section and non.

also the gateway excellent point ! whats is the pont of this if they is no substance to the city centre itself !

ok how do you get voted onto to the council ? im 25 and would lvoe the chance to throw my opinions at people who can make the change !

Write to the council for a start. I feel moved to, because I despair at the state a city I'm very fond of is getting into.

Originally posted by LoopyLou
I am very proud of my city and hate to see it griped about - especially by its own.

I agree that the shops in the centre and at meadowhall are slowing declining into pound and bargain tat but....

businesses go where they can make money. If its pound shops we are attracting, it must be becase they can make a profit, which means that they have willing customers. If the more expensive shops move out or stay away it's because they don;t see Sheffield as a market for them.

You can blame the councillors all you like, but it is the people of sheffield (& surrounding areas) that ultimately decide who suceeds and who doesn't by how they spend their money.

I don;t tend to frequent pound shops - but there are obviously plenty of people who do.


* * Stands back and awaits angry posh shopper backlash * *

this sounds like fatalism. We've attracted poundland shops, so that's all we can do.
The fact is we can look at why they've been attracted and make changes in order to get rid of them and get some decent shops back.

Oh and the car situation is really terrible, it's either a deliberate policy or plain incompetance, but the next person to suggest a one way street or no right turn should be taken outside and shot (or run down).

The critisism of ponds forge and the other sports facilities is unwarranted, they may be 15 years old now, but that's just bedding in time. They should last for another 30 at least, possibly with some minor improvements along the way, but they certainly won't need tearing down and redeveloping in another 7 as suggested.

Originally posted by dinkdankdo10

ok how do you get voted onto to the council ? im 25 and would lvoe the chance to throw my opinions at people who can make the change !

You will have to stand for election as a Ward Councillor in the Local Elections. The next ones should be in May next year.

My personal opinion is that, unless you have some large power base behind you already from some sort of community involvement, you are unlikely to get elected without being a member of one of the main political parties.
In Sheffield this usually means either Labour or LibDem although the Conservatives and Greens also have representation.

I would suggest talking to one of your local councillors or if they don't match your party of choice, then get in touch with the local party concerned.

We already have a generous selection of Quarters in the city so maybe all the pound shops and mobile phone outlets could be herded together in a Chav Quarter.

Maybe put a roof and doors on the Moor, and make it a sportswear hell where ringtones play ad infinitum as its occupants scud about flaccidly consuming Greggs pasties? Mmm...

Personally I can't wait for the snotty Middle Class quarter, with boutiquey little places, coffee shops and chi-chi bookstores. We could call it Get Knotted Hill, and I'm ashamed to say I'd haunt the place regularly.

The council just doesn't even try to attract any good retailers to Sheffield. I agree that we are well behind other cities but we just need some aggressive marketing to bring in the big names and encourage the small independent.

I know from my own experience with the council, that they really are pretty lax when it comes to promoting Sheffield.

i agree with the posts above, but someone keeps voting this council back in, which would suggest that the views on this forum dont represent the views of sheffield in general.

IMO people get the shops they deserve. Look at M'hell, shops are shutting because no-one uses them. Similarly, it's not the city centre that turns shops away it's because there's no money in it for them.

Originally posted by joyphil
Personally I can't wait for the snotty Middle Class quarter, with boutiquey little places, coffee shops and chi-chi bookstores. We could call it Get Knotted Hill, and I'm ashamed to say I'd haunt the place regularly.

Isn't that Ecclesall Road you've just described there? ;)

As suggested in another thread, sending the council your comments on the Sheffield Development Framework here (http://www.sheffield.gov.uk/in-your-area/planning-and-city-development/planning-documents/sdf/consultation-on-the-sdf) (in particular on the various proposals for the city centre (http://www.sheffield.gov.uk/in-your-area/planning-and-city-development/planning-documents/sdf/core-strategy/emerging-options-document/emerging-options-14), retail and leisure (http://www.sheffield.gov.uk/in-your-area/planning-and-city-development/planning-documents/sdf/core-strategy/emerging-options-document/emerging-options-7) in the city and transport (http://www.sheffield.gov.uk/in-your-area/planning-and-city-development/planning-documents/sdf/core-strategy/emerging-options-document/emerging-options-13)) may well be a good start on seeing positive changes made within the city.

Like Sheffield for lots of reasons, but not really for its shops apart from John Lewis. Used to visit Manchester regularly by train, liked the variety of department stores and never felt the need for a car there - get off the train and there is a regular FREE bus that circles the city centre. Its an excellent way to draw in shoppers, and Piccadilly Station isn't even at the bottom of a steep hill (unlike Sheffield).

Agree with the posts about IKEA as well - don't think this would have had a negative effect on city centre as not really in competition with anything else - I think it might well have drawn people into the area.

Originally posted by Mathom
Isn't that Ecclesall Road you've just described there? ;)

I was hoping to avoid the Champs Bar and Nursery type bods. They belong on Eccy Road but not in my Cheltenham/Stoke Newington Church Street stylee Utopia.

Originally posted by redrobbo
Your tour was incomplete unners - you missed out the Peace Gardens, the Winter Gardens, plus the Lyceum theatre, Graves Art Gallery and City Hall. Not to mention West One, Devonshire Green............ but now that I've drawn your attention to them, I await your next gripe with interest.

Last night myself and my councillor friends decided to do a night time tour of Sheffield and hears what we saw.....

I arranged to be met outside the train Station we proceeded to walk in the opposite direction to park Hill(as you would'nt want to be looking at it) I asked what was happening around the Station area they told me that this was going to be a world class entrance to the City and having looked at the plans on the hoarding i said that they looked really impressive and i suggested that the area will look very nice when the 'Cutting Edge' and the fountains ect are lit up at night,well they will look nice until the bulbs blow and no replaces them for years."What do you mean" they said,Well judging by past experience you build all these nice squares and renovated buildings,bridges etc install uplighters,spotslights etc then they get no maintance and never see the light of day or should that be night again.Examples they replied

Town Hall, new lighting installed arround the building half now longer works,Catherdral Square, installed new lighting under trees,on the buildings and steps when the Tram was installed half no longer work,Walkway next to Millenium galleries that takes you to the library the wall has uplighters that have not worked for ages,new bridge on parkway the floodlighting no longer works,lights under the trees on eyre street only installed last year and half of them dont work.Light on the advertising hoarding on the central library no longer work,half the lights installed on the Lyceum dont work,floodlights on the top of gap to light up Vulcan on the top of the town hall no longer work.

"right" they said.My point is they should really sort out a maintance programme out before Barkers pool,City Hall,Station Square,Howard Street lighting etc is completed and make sure they dont go the same way after just a few months or other wise its just a waste of money.

Anyway on we go past all the road works and i point out that the Station area will look very open which is a good thing except for the fact that the Workstation building is looking very tatty with its unpained windows peeling black paint on the hand rails,and the whole building looking very dirty and suggest that some one buys some paint and gives it a freshen up,before it starts to detract from the nice new square.(i forgot to mention the crap 1980's add on,on the roof!)

As we walk up to the closed Millenium Gallerries and Winter Garden we notice how quiet the centre is of a night time and how there does'nt seam to be anything to entice visitors into the city on a weekday night,you would think that all the shops would be open until 8pm on Wednesday but most were closed and so i left disappointed that i could not buy £10.00 of cheap tat from the pound store.
On we walked through the Delightful Peace gardens which have just retained the Green Flag and well done to all concerned especially the lighting people for changing the bulbs in this area at least.we stand at the top of the Peace Gardens admiring the new 1970's buildings taking shape and advise then not to use uplighters when complete!

Red Robbo asks why i have neglected to mention Sheffield Theatres and i said i was waiting to book tickets to some MAJOR West end shows that never seam to turn up,so i book some tickets for Ken Dodd at the Crucible instead!

By this stage we are feeling a bit hungry and since all the Greggs are shut for the night we go to West One for a bit to eat,as we walk past all the dodgy folk on Devonshire green we think to ourselves what an asset this place could be,but cannot thing of much to say about a big patch of grass.

Anyway we go to one of the many restaurants doing two for a Fiver as is the case in Sheffield on a weekday night as town is so dead had a lovely meal,i pay for my half and the councillors put theirs on the expenses,then we have to leave to catch the last Bus home at 23.15! and they want to encourge people to use public transport!

i like ! very good !

Originally posted by dinkdankdo10
i like ! very good !
Thanx,sad but its true!

Originally posted by max
IMO people get the shops they deserve. Look at M'hell, shops are shutting because no-one uses them not. Similarly, it's not the city centre that turns shops away it's because there's no money in it for them.

Meadowhall's shops aren't all closing down as if the shops there did not get any custom then there would be uproar and the centre would be closed down; I don't see anything like this happening!! The shops make their money at Meadowhall trust me hun but supermarket's don't really make sufficient. Not all shops are closing for that reason hun but I will admit one or two are.

Hey unners you missed a few of the more obvious charms for a pedestrian walking into the city centre. Firstly you have the sometimes longwait at the pelican outside the station which would be foul in bad weather. Then you get a covered walkway leading to the bus station with one guy lurking there with a sob story and basically asking for money, not to mention the few skateboarders who use it as a runway. Then we arrive at the bus station with it's non to clear signage as to which way to go and the occassional group of teenagers who don't seem to have anywhere to go. Get across Flat street remembering not to go to near the gallery as you may get pelted with the odd chip or two [or worse]. Then up the ill-lit path by the side of the car park, negotiate the steep steps into a darker and darker environment. The subway narrow, smelly and very badly lit with the drunk slouching at one end [if you're lucky not urinating] Then up another flight of steps to fresh air but then do you walk round the corner of TJ Hughes past the benches with yet morr rowdy teenagers or cut through the little lane avoiding the urinating drunk and trying not to trip over any of the rubbish scattered around. At last High street and the bus home with a strong wish never ever to go into the city centre again.