SheffieldForum

Some sources: MPs say building demolitions must be reduced (May 2022): https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-61580979 Don't demolish old buildings, urge architects (August 2020): https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-53642581 Construction companies told to stop demolishing old buildings ( September 2021): https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-58667328 The carbon footprint of retrofit vs rebuild (March 2023): https://www.london.gov.uk/who-we-are/what-london-assembly-does/london-assembly-press-releases/carbon-footprint-retrofit-vs-rebuild

The Tribune have today done a long-read on the imminent and sad closure of Theatre Deli. It seems the space (it’s third since opening in the city) increasingly struggled as the funding landscape has changed and bills have soared. Here’s a snippet: “The hope, he says, was that the theatre’s application for funding from Arts Council England would be granted by March. It was not. Theatre Deli then came back to CADS with a proposal which would allow them to stay put, which [Dan Butlins, of Landlord CADS] says entailed a significant year-long rent reduction, but sadly the other charity had to decline. “It wasn’t affordable for us,” he says. “If we accepted what they proposed it could have put [CADS] at risk, so they could have ended up without the space anyway.” Perhaps, he muses, they could have managed it two years ago but, more recently, CADS has had its fight with the owner of the Abbeydale Picture House draining its resources. “We couldn’t take the risk.” “But he doesn’t view it as any fault of Theatre Deli that they were unable to make the numbers add up. “We’re noticing it a lot with our studio holders — we’ve got 40-odd across our four buildings and we’re starting to see people leaving or finding it difficult to pay.” Doing what Theatre Deli does without regular funding or wealthy patrons has never been easy, and with the price of everything rising (particularly the energy bills needed to keep the stage lights on), it’s only getting harder. “They’re responsible for their own bills and, in some of our other buildings, bills have tripled.” […] “In Theatre Deli’s case, the core of that valuable but not financially profitable work is nurturing budding artists — those who are not big enough to attract the notice of a larger organisation like Sheffield Theatres, but who might one day be able to, with the right support. This is the “talent pipeline” to which executive producer Singh refers. “It’s really difficult to get your work staged sometimes, but Theatre Deli was perfect for those people who were starting out. That’s what is the saddest part of this, the fact that will disappear,” she says. “How are the next generation of thought-provoking, cutting edge companies and artists going to be able to develop if they don’t have the space, freedom and support to do that?”” As always, the full thing is available to read on The Tribune (which is very much worth subscribing to as their long-read journalism is top-class and pretty much the only place to get it in the city now!). What do you think? Is the closure of Theatre Deli sad? Should the Arts Council and the City Council have supported it more? Is supporting young arts talent not important? Have your say…

The ‘radio’ rental is now an app on their phone and like most apps it charges a percentage of a sale — in this case a fare. There’s a lot of debate over what a fair percentage is for an app provider to charge for access to use its service — most apps and app stores for example charge between 10-30% of a sale. I’m not sure what the competition is like in the rideshare space though, or what Veezu’s 12-35% sliding scale works on (someone elsewhere suggested it gets cheaper the more successful trips a driver did).

Actually, yes - delayed. As per The Star: “The new Radisson Blu hotel on Pinstone Street, opposite the Peace Gardens, was scheduled to welcome its first guests on June 10. “Booking was due to open during the week commencing March 25, yet nearly a month later it is still not yet possible to book a room at the upmarket 154-bedroom hotel. “Now Sheffield City Council has confirmed that the opening has been pushed back slightly. “Sean McClean, the council’s director of regeneration and development, said: “The addition of the new Radisson Blu Hotel to our Heart of the City II development will add another international name to Sheffield city centre. “We have taken the decision to reschedule the opening of the hotel until later in June to ensure we can deliver the best quality venue in collaboration with our partners Radisson Hotel Group and Queensberry. We will issue a further update soon and expect booking to open in the coming weeks.””

They said bookings would open ‘next week’ a few weeks ago but that hasn’t happened. Seems less likely they’ll open on 10th June as announced if they haven’t opened bookings to fill it with just a few weeks to go perhaps?

For balance, I believe it changed to a sliding scale — from 12% to 35%. Not sure what times or circumstances trigger the slide though? Is the 35% much more common than the 12% end? Does it balance out to near the original 20% in the end? Is it based on earnings or distances or what?

There’s been a lot of headlines and comments about the Snooker and specifically the World Championships being held at The Crucible. For balance, here are some comments from players about returning to Sheffield (from before the championship started this year): Shaun Murphy said: “It’s iconic in the world of snooker. If you stop someone in the middle of Beijing and ask them to say something about Sheffield they'll say snooker. “It’s just synonymous. The two things go together. It used to be steel, its now snooker, and the Crucible Theatre is right behind that. “We always say it’s great to play in arenas that were designed for performance… this has been designed specifically for it and the atmosphere out there is better because of that.” "I've been lucky enough to speak to a number of actors and actresses over the years who come here and play great shows themselves and Shakespearean shows and they all say the same thing – The Crucible Theatre is one of the best theatres in the country and for us it’s obviously home. “It’s the home of snooker. We're fast approaching the 50th year of the World Championships here and it’s very special." “I'm very aware visibly to the naked eye just how much the city continues to change. Almost on a yearly basis there is a new building gone up or something has been cleaned up - that building’s gone or whatever, and it’s great to see the city continue to grow and expand… it’s got that vibrancy, it’s got that culture, it’s great on the music scene, it’s very arty, it’s very creative and we're very proud as a sport to have this as our synonymous home around the world. Snooker and Sheffield go together hand in glove.” Barry Hawkins said: “I've grown up watching the World Snooker Championships and the reason I started played snooker was watching Jimmy in the finals here and having his 147. It’s what inspired me to play snooker. All them memories and all of a sudden you're playing here yourself, it’s amazing. I never would have thought that years ago. All the history, the intimateness of the venue, all of them things add to the occasion and to the atmosphere.” Tom Ford said: “If there is a venue that anyone wants to get to and a venue that anybody wants to play it’s the Crucible Theatre, there is so much history here. That’s why everyone puts so much pressure on themselves in the qualifiers, everyone wants to get to play at the Crucible and it’s such a good feeling when you're out there… the atmosphere is just so good here.” There’s also a statement from Kate Josephs, Chief Executive of Sheffield City Council: “Sheffield is the home of snooker. The World Snooker Championships and Sheffield go hand in hand. “We know what the tournament means to the people of Sheffield, the players that come to compete and all the fans that watch the tournament across the globe. We have created a sporting legacy here in the city and we want that to continue for generations to come. “We are in regular contact with World Snooker Tour and meet with them before, during and after each tournament and we will continue doing so.”

Did trams never break down before?

Kebabs can be delicious, when done right. Charley’s on Infirmary Road are probably the best kebabs in Sheffield, I reckon.

I’m not saying Historic England listed the building due to the carbon issue.. I’m saying that came in 2022 after the decision to keep the building was already made (following consultation) in around 2021. My timeline could be wrong though, so I’m happy to be corrected. There was a bit of a controversy because the council had stated refurbishing the building was far more expensive (about £70million) than demolishing it I seem to remember, but it was kept because of the carbon cost and other issues. The compromise after the consultation was that the car park extension was going to be demolished and the main building kept, but the 2022 listing ended up including the car park so it now can’t easily be demolished.

Most private hires I see are generally double-badged anyway - both Veezu and Uber stickers on their cars and working for both simultaneously. A driver once told me he works both but will accept cash paying Veezu journeys as a priority over anything else.

My understanding is that it was listed (or protected in some way) following the consultation and decision to keep it due to the carbon cost. There was a campaign to get it listed in case the council was to demolish it in future. It added a complication I believe in that a compromise was going to be to demolish the structurally failing car park, but the campaign that saw the building get its protection ended up protecting the car park too.

Demolishing large buildings is largely seen as a huge no-no nowadays unless there’s no other choice. The carbon footprint of demolishing and rebuilding is huge — it is one of the reasons why the John Lewis building was retained.

From The BBC: “Dozens of Veezu taxi drivers have staged a protest outside their company office in a row over pay. “The drivers gathered outside Veezu's Sheffield offices to complain about new working conditions. “Veezu has introduced a new sliding scale of commission based on how many jobs each driver completes, but the drivers say it is putting too much pressure on them. “Veezu have said the drivers are self-employed and can "decide which operator they use".” Full story here. So.. taxis… do you support the protesting drivers? Has there been much change since City turned into Veezu? Are Uber better? Do you use an alternative company? Phone up and pay cash or use the app and charge your card?

The latest blog from Sheffield Bird Study Group: https://sheffieldperegrines.wordpress.com/2024/04/22/one-day-this-week/ A snippet: "Tucked away underneath the warming body of an adult bird the four eggs are nearing the end of their incubation. Inside each should hopefully be and almost fully formed chick. Our Peregrine eggs generally take around 31 or 32 days to hatch, when measuring from the date the clutch was completed. This would make the likely hatch date to be Wednesday or Thursday of this week. Exciting!"

Four eggs - Keep your eyes on the webcams - they should be hatching any moment now. https://peregrine.sites.sheffield.ac.uk/

95% of the target with 24 hours to go! They need your help to secure the funds... DONATE HERE & THE BIG GIVE WILL MATCH YOUR DONATION: https://donate.biggive.org/campaign/a056900002SEV60AAH

Sad news ☹️

There will always be complaints about what disruption building a new tram route would bring and that would be a huge concern during any consultation. Some people consider the tram to have killed off business along some of the existing route corridors — but I do think some of that happened because of other conditions at the time too (i.e. Infirmary Road business was decimated during the time of the tram works, but that coincided with the likes of Kelvin Flats being pulled down and thousands of residents being moved away from the area, etc).

That was one on The Wicker, wasn’t it? An old episode of Undercover Boss?

For context of those who don’t like to click through to The Star: Adnans Sheffield: Health officer ‘very concerned’ after giving West Street kebab the worst hygiene score From “unidentifiable” foods, to raw chicken being washed in a colander - these are the errors that landed one popular Sheffield kebab with the lowest food hygiene score

Are you talking council house? I dont think they move anyone on after a partner passes, do they?

That would make the most sense for that location, in my opinion.

Let’s face it — even if it was under consideration by this government, they’ll likely not be in power long enough to make such a plan stick.

Not quite Attercliffe then? Also does this ‘good friend’ work in a company you work alongside, or did you forget what you originally said about where the info came from? For what it’s worth I can kinda see the ambition to build a replacement for the Hallamshire, but this proposal does come with a few problems as mentioned in the thread earlier (not to mention a lack of big enough land space around that area, and the fact that they had a huge opportunity with the land at Don Valley for something like this, if it was ever a consideration).