One of the biggest blunders in Sheffield's history was the approval of Meadowhall being built. It's completely ripped the heart out of the city centre and it has done little to raise the image of our city. I would eagerly vote for it to be closed!

Originally posted by "Anonymous"

One of the biggest blunders in Sheffield's history was the approval of Meadowhall being built. It's completely ripped the heart out of the city centre and it has done little to raise the image of our city. I would eagerly vote for it to be closed!

There is nothing at all wrong with Meadowhall, it saw a market that wasn't being served properly and provided what has turned out to be a very popular product with the people of Sheffield. This fact is born out by the number of people queing to get into it. The old Sheffield city centre has failed due to it's inhability to change with the times. People don't want to have to walk half a mile from the markets to the bottom of the moor. They don't want to have to pay for car parking and they don't want to have to walk down a windswept cold street being drenched by the rain.

All these things are what the modern shopper requires and Meadowhall meets those need admirably. The centre has achieved a reputation not only across the UK but also Europe as one of Europes premier shopping centres. Sheffield's Meadowhall Centre is the envy of many other towns in the uk and many more are following suite and building their own like the Trafford centre in Manchester. The centre has over the years won many awards for quality and excellence as can be seen by this list below:

Estates Times - Best Shopping Centre Award
Winner 1991, 1992, 1993
Mentor Shopping Centre Award for Retail Achievement
Winner 1993
Norwich Union Safe Car Park Award
Winner 1994
Daily Telegraph First Direct Customer Service Award
Winner 1994
Tommy's Campaign Parent Friendly Award
Winner 1994 & 1995
Jean-Louis Solal Award for Excellence in Customer Service
Winner 1996
BCSC Award for Trader/Sales Development
Winner 1996
Bali Landscaping Award for Internal Maintenance
1996
Daily Express Ease of Access Award
Winner 1997
Daily Express Ease of Access Award
Winner 1998
British Council of Shopping Centres Established Shopping Centre Award for Excellence
Winner 1997
Bali Landscaping Award for Grounds Maintenance
1998
Jean-Louis Solal Award for Tenant Motivation
Winner 1998
Sheffield Business Awards for Employee Development
1998
Regional Investor in People
1998
Arthur Andersen Global Distinction for Exceeding Customers' Expectations
1998
Jean-Louis Solal Merit for Community Relations
1999
Jean-Louis Solal Merit for Marketing Through the Internet
1999
Ease of Access Award
nomination in the Special Award category - 1999
British Council of Shopping Centres Purple Apple Award for Best Single Piece of Creative Advertising
2000
British Council of Shopping Centres Purple Apple Award for Best Single Event
2000
Bali Award for Internal Landscaping
2000
BCSC Purple Apple Award for Best Overall Marketing
2001
BCSC Purple Apple Award for Best Use of New Media
2001
Merit Award for Best Single Piece of Advertising of Creative Advertising
2001
Internet Business Awards Best Website Design
2001
Internet Business Awards Overall Winner
2001
ICSC Jean-Louis Solal Award for Best Consumer Advertising Campaign
2002

Meadowhall is the way modern people wish to do their shopping and long may it continue to provide that service. If there was a vote you would be out voted, without a doubt.

Do you work for them by any chance?

Originally posted by "Anonymous"

Do you work for them by any chance?

No I don't work for them, I just hate people slagging things off just cos they are successful and they don't like it.

You don't like it cos that's your personal preference, everybodys different.

But there are thousands of us who do like to shop there and you should respect our preference to shop there and not go round voting to have it closed.

I think Meadowhall is a fantastic place. It's a world famous shopping centre and Sheffield should be proud to be a host to such a place.

it's a good job you don't live here in Australia, because they are all like that, look on the brightside of it all, if you don't want to shop at Meadow Hall. do your shopping eleswhere, at least you have a choice unlike some of us.

Just be thankful you dont work there!

[Garth]

Meadowhall is great. It has just about everything. It's a shame the city centre isn't better, but surely that would involve the council actually doing something. I find that highly unlikely

[Sidla]

Talking about meadowhall, I found out this week that the cheapest and fastest way to get to meadowhall is by train. Previously I'd always gone by tram, but since the station is only over the road from Hallam Uni, I decided to go there randomly this week. It only cost a pound return with a young person's rail card (£1.50 without) and it took less than 5 minutes to get there.

The main problem with Meadowhall is that it's location and existence isn't promoted enough. Here in Edmonton, Canada we have the West Edmonton Mall which is considered a viable tourist attraction and promoted extensively throughout the US and Canada. The last time I was in Sheffield to visit the family the only way I knew this place even existed was when I was invited by a friend to go take a look. I only eventually saw the place from the outside and never really got the incentive to go.

Maybe, tell people that it is there and put something there worth seeing.....................

[Michael_W]

I don't think Meadowhall can be called a 'disaster'. Yes it had an effect on the city centre, but the city centre is getting it's act together again. Meadowhall has played a big part in regenerating Sheffields run down East End. Remember all those factories that employed thousands of steel and engineering workers, well they all closed that was more of a disaster !

Never having heard of Meadowhall until recently is it a place riddled with asylum seekers hanging around in gangs (such as they do in many major towns of the UK). Is it anywhere near homes?

My reason for asking is that I have enquired about buying property and was told the property is near Meadowhall. Also does Sheffield in general have a lot of asylum seekers because if it does I wouldn't be interested in moving there in the first place.

[Sidla]

No, Meadowhall is a huge indoor shopping complex.

There are quite a lot of ethnic minorities in Sheffield, I think it's rather unfair to say asylum seekers, as I don't know wether or not they are asylum seekers. Most of them are ok, as long as you know the areas to stay away from.

[custardcream]

Its got a poundland.....surely a bonus!!!

[Abdul]

That's nowt!

Sheffield city centre has three £1 discount stores!

[armin]

I rarely go shop in the Sheffield city centre because it's a damn nightmare if you got a car and I'm keen on the flexibility of individual transport. So I go to Meadowhall if I want to pop from one shop into another and don't mind the crowds or the high prices or I drive to a shop/retail complex which offers adequate and free parking.

Some shops in the city centre apparently try to accomodate folks like me, e.g. Hein Gericke near Fitzalan Square which offers a free parking scheme for customers with a nearby parking garage, but to find out anyone else doing something similar, you'd have to ask them all individually as there seems to be no central resource for this kinda of info available.

As a customer, I want things to be made easy for me. If you're not accomodating me, I'll go elsewhere and you can go out of business for all I care. Simple as that.

-Armin

[367squadron]

Originally posted by Abdul
That's nowt!

Sheffield city centre has three £1 discount stores!

Soon to increase to four pound shops, sorry guys the shop I work at, 'Max Value' is changing into a 'Poundzone'.........Im' gutted.

[Abdul]

Originally posted by 367squadron
Soon to increase to four pound shops, sorry guys the shop I work at, 'Max Value' is changing into a 'Poundzone'.........Im' gutted.

Is that the one across the road from that goth comic book shop? If so, I already included that one!

[367squadron]

Originally posted by Abdul
Is that the one across the road from that goth comic book shop? If so, I already included that one!

Yeh it's on Matilda Street and isn't a pound shop until the 1st of July. So really the total still stands at 3?

[Abdul]

Didn't Max Value used to be a pound shop, when it first opened ages ago? I think it did, then started to include items priced higher than a quid.

For the sake of simplicity, I still class it as a one pound store ('cos most of the merchandise is a quid), so I count the total as three:

1) Max Value
2) Poundland on the Moor
3) And that other unfortunate effort a little further down the Moor that doesn't seem to be doing terribly well these days.

Who'd have thought Chavs would ever go upmarket

PS - when are you getting in some more of those Cararama model cars. You haven't had them for months! Err...a friend would like to know, you see...