AY1975

Does anyone know what is happening with the Old Queen's Head pub on Pond Street by the bus station?

When I tried to go in there at about 9.30pm last Saturday it had a To Let sign up and there were lights on and people inside but the entrance looking towards Flat Street was locked. When I tried to go in there one evening earlier this year it was closed and there were no lights on.

On 15/01/2024 at 13:57, AndrewC said:

Broomhill is home to a wide variety of restaurants and cafes catering for a wide range of diets.

Including the Grind Cafe on Whitham Road, just up the hill from the Nottingham House. I suppose the Grind kind of makes up for the loss of Vittles - their all-day breakfast (and vegan breakfast) is excellent. They also have another outlet on Kelham Island.

I know this is well after your friend's visit in March, but I've only just come across this thread. For future reference South Street Kitchen on the ground floor of the Park Hill flats is worth a try (only until 4pm, though: they open for lunch every day but only on Friday evenings). Or the Fat Cat pub on Kelham Island.

Wagon Rasoi has recently reopened, presumably under new management, having been closed for several months. It still offers a small selection of curries but now also does things like burgers and pizzas. I was once again the only customer in there when I made use of it recently, though. I think it's closed on Tuesdays but open most other evenings.

At the moment there is scaffolding up outside it, and it has a sign hung up on the scaffolding saying open as usual. That was true when the sign was first put there, and it's now true again.

Unfortunately it would appear that Wagon Rasoi has closed too.

Apparently it's supposed to be reopening soon under new management (and probably a different name).

On 14/02/2023 at 16:27, XPertByExperien said:

I'm pretty sure there's still a Photo shop on the High St, next door to HMV.

 

 

Yes, Max Spielmann according to Google Maps.

On 14/02/2023 at 09:18, forgeman said:

Yes Harrisons on London road. I took an old photograph of my Gran and Grandad which was all creased and cracked but they did a marvelous job reprinting and enlarging it.

Excellent. I had a look on their website (https://www.harrisoncameras.co.uk/) and couldn't find any reference on there to them offering that kind of service, but if they do, then that would be ideal for me.

Does anyone know of any shops in Sheffield where you can still get prints from prints or negatives? Obviously they are very few and far between thanks to digital photography.

I could preferably do with finding somewhere in or near the city centre or Broomhill, Crookes, Walkley, Heeley, Nether Edge, Manor, Intake, Frecheville or Birley (or if there's anywhere at Crystal Peaks that does it that'd be OK too).

There used to be a Jessops in the city centre but I'm not sure if it's still there.

On 09/05/2022 at 22:06, Bargepole23 said:

A shout out for South St Kitchen, had yet another great meal there at the weekend.

I would second that.

Unfortunately I see that the Blue Moon Café has closed. I've set up a separate thread on that at https://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/topic/481801-blue-moon-café-closes/

Has anyone tried Tigs on Campo Lane, or Garden Kitchen on Devonshire Street? 

And what about the Pom Kitchen in Crookes? I see that there's also a Pom Kitchen on Sharrow Vale Road. I'm guessing that they're both part of the same outfit.

I see that the Blue Moon Café has closed after 27 and a half years. They posted a note on their Facebook and Instagram pages on Thursday 5th January announcing their closure with immediate effect. Basically they'd been suffering from the effects of the economic crisis and the after-effects of Covid so they were running at a loss.

A great pity, though not surprising in the current economic climate. I would guess that they also faced competition from other places nearby such as the cathedral café.

The Blue Moon was something of a long-established Sheffield institution, having originally opened in 1995 on Norfolk Row opposite the Catholic cathedral and moved to St James Street next to the Anglican (Church of England) cathedral in about late 2001 or early 2002. Sheffield city centre won't be the same without it.

Before the Covid pandemic they were open every day except Sunday from 8am to 8pm. They did occasionally get busy in the early evening but it was usually fairly quiet by that time. It was where I usually went before going to an evening event in town such as a meeting or concert. I also had my birthday meal in there a few years running. Since the pandemic they've only been open from about 11am to 4pm, though.

At least there are still plenty of other vegetarian and vegan cafés and restaurants in Sheffield, including at least three in the city centre: Dina in Fitzalan Square (not sure if they're doing food at the moment, though), Tigs on Campo Lane, and Garden Kitchen on Devonshire Street which opened in December.

See also this long-running thread on the best vegetarian restaurant in Sheffield:
https://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/topic/416056-best-vegetarian-restaurant-in-sheffield/?tab=comments#comment-3327769

This year for the first time I've heard the Sheffield Town Hall bells playing Christmas carols on the hour: It Came Upon The Midnight Clear at 3pm today and Hark the Herald Angels Sing at 1pm yesterday.

I wonder if that's something new for this year. Has anyone heard it playing carols in previous years, or playing any other tune for any other special occasion?

On 21/12/2021 at 22:52, echo beach said:

Turn the clock back 55 years and you could walk in off the street and ride the Paternoster lift as many times as you wanted.

However, it's not like that today,  Took one of my granddaughters to see it last year and, no doubt  for security's sake you need permission to enter the building. How times have changed!

At least we could go into the Western Park Museum complete with its stuffed polar bear and sumo wrestlers. Ah, the childhood memories.

 

echo

 

I managed to wander in and take a ride on it about four years ago. It was about 4pm on a Friday and it was still running but there weren't many people about by then.

I would guess that they've got tighter on security since then, though, especially since Covid when they would have had to do track & trace and they might have decided to keep those extra security arrangements in place permanently so presumably everyone who isn't a student or a member of university staff has to sign in at the porters' lodge by the entrance and give a valid reason for being there, and collect a visitor's pass (as has been the case in many office buildings for years).

I think they're probably also much more paranoid about undesirables coming in and stalking students than they would have been back in the 1960s, 70s and 80s.

But there is a window at the back of the building where you can stand and see the paternoster in operation from outside. I think it's only normally in operation on Mondays to Fridays during normal office hours, about 8 or 9am until about 5.30 or 6pm I think.

On 25/09/2022 at 21:56, Andy C said:

50/50a Sheffield-Mosborough-Eckington-Chesterfield (Stagecoach): New timetable, no longer limited stop.

I wonder why the 50/50a is reverting to observing all stops? I think it became limited stop between Sheffield Interchange and Birley about three years ago, still observing all stops between Mosborough and Chesterfield, presumably to improve reliability and reduce journey times for passengers making journeys such as Sheffield city centre to Mosborough or Eckington.

I am guessing that the most likely reason for reverting to serving all stops is that Stagecoach has decided that it could do with the extra revenue from passengers who will get on at the stops that it doesn't currently serve, and maybe to make up for cuts in other services that serve those stops. Not sure if they will gain much extra revenue by doing that, though, as I suspect that many passengers tend to let the 50 go and wait for the 120 if it takes them nearer to where they want to be in the city centre whereas the 50 only goes to the Interchange. 

I suppose they might also have had complaints from passengers who want to get from places like Mosborough or Eckington to the stops that the 50 doesn't currently observe, for example if you used to live in Manor, Intake or Birley and have moved out to Mosborough or Eckington but still go to the same doctors or dentists.

They might also have had some passengers who didn't realise that it was a limited stop service and who got nasty when the drivers refused to let them get off at stops where they weren't supposed to stop.

On 22/09/2022 at 12:07, top4718 said:

Yes that rings a bell I think it was.

Yes, that's right, it was still the West End in the early 2000s when I first moved to Sheffield.

On 22/09/2022 at 12:49, makapaka said:

I was in there a few weeks ago - was a sorry state as it was an excellent pub pre-covid when it was linked with little critters brewery.

Agreed, they used to do really good food too.  For a short while after Little Critters Brewery gave it up it still had a good selection of ales.

It's a few years since I last went in there, though.

One Sunday I went in there for lunch only to find that they weren't doing food but they said they were happy for people to bring in takeaway food bought elsewhere (as some pubs that don't serve food do - the Fox & Duck in Broomhill used to let you do that when they didn't serve food themselves) so I got a falafel from Falafel King on the other side of Glossop Road and took it in the Doctors Orders and had a beer with it. 

Does anyone know if the Doctor's Orders pub on Glossop Road, between the University of Sheffield Students' Union and the Royal Hallamshire Hospital, has closed, or does it just no longer open on Sundays?

I'm only usually in the area on a Sunday, and the last few times I've gone past it I've never seen it open even though according to its entry on Google Maps it's supposed to be open from 12 noon to 10pm on Sundays.

The nearby University Arms pub also doesn't open on Sundays, presumably because they don't think there's enough passing trade in the neighbourhood on a Sunday to make it worthwhile, and maybe the Doctor's Orders has decided to do the same for that reason?

Does anyone know if the Curator's House restaurant in the Botanical Gardens has closed down permanently? It seems quite a while since I last saw it open: not since before the Covid pandemic, I don't think.

For a while after the indoor restaurant part of it appeared to have closed the ice cream kiosk part of it was still open, but I haven't even seen that open for at least a year now.

Apologies if there's already a thread on this, but while I was waiting for a bus at Sheffield Interchange yesterday (Sunday 18th Sept) no less than 50 cyclists rode their bikes along Flat Street going towards Fitzalan Square. This was at about 2.30pm.

Does anyone know what this was in aid of? Was it a charity bike ride or what?

I liked Wok2Work too, and I've been in there a few times since it became Wagon Rasoi, an Indian street food place. The food is great, and the helpings are really generous - I'd recommend it to anyone who likes curry.

As with the previous Wagon 1871 place and Wok2Work it never seems to be very busy in there, though: on one occasion I was their only customer when I first got there! Unfortunately I think in that kind of location it can be rather difficult to run a cafe or restaurant and really make a success of it unless you put a lot of effort into marketing it and it has a unique selling point. It's not slap bang in the city centre, and there are plenty of other places in town in more convenient and more prominent locations that offer something similar.

It's a great place to go before or after seeing a film at the Showroom if you fancy a change from the Showroom cafe-bar or if the Showroom cafe-bar is too busy.

I fear that this one could turn out to be yet another short-lived use-it-or-lose-it place, though.

UPDATE: I am told that the for sale sign is indeed on the property next door to "V and V", thank goodness.

I was recently on Kelham Island and I noticed that "V or V", which I mentioned in entry #32 in this thread, appeared to have a for sale sign up, or it might have been on the property next door.

Does anyone know if this means that "V or V" has closed or will be closing shortly, and if so how soon it is closing? Their website still appears to be accepting bookings for the next few months, and there doesn't appear to be anything on there about it closing.

On 17/01/2022 at 17:53, sammo sparks said:

If it's the one I'm thinking of, they're turning it into an Indian street food restaurant. Looks like it's nearly finished as well.

Yes, it now has signs up saying Indian street food. I haven't had a chance to make use of it yet but I hope to do so at some point. 

About ten years ago, before it became the 1871 Wagon Bistro, it was a kind of noodle bar type place called Wok2Work. I've been in there a few times both when it was Wok2Work and when it was the 1871 Wagon Bistro. I really liked both establishments but it was never very busy despite being one of the nearest (if not THE nearest) places to the station where you could get a proper sit-down meal. Let's hope the new Indian street food place does better!

The 1pm siren in the city centre - not sure if any other UK towns or cities have a time signal (other than a striking clock) apart from the one o' clock gun in Edinburgh. There is a separate thread on this at 

On 10/12/2016 at 13:20, escort1 said:

On my way to work yesterday morning i asked 3 staff stood outside HL Browns about the time signal, they commented they had not noticed until i reminded them that it has not been heard recently and they did not know the reason why it is not sounding at the moment.

I'm fairly sure that it has restarted now.

Does anyone know if any other towns or cities in the UK have a time signal of some kind (other than a striking clock)? Offhand the only other one that I know of is Edinburgh which has the one o' clock gun. In fact, when I first saw the device on the wall outside HL Browns, with a sign next to it saying 1pm time signal, I presumed it was a one o' clock gun sound like the one in Edinburgh.

On 26/10/2021 at 20:23, S1 1DJ said:

I understand the other was at Leicester University, which has been replaced with a standard lift.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-42339097

 

If so, it's now unique to the UK!

With the one at Leicester University having gone I thought that meant Sheffield was the last remaining UK university with a paternoster, but apparently the Albert Sloman Library at the University of Essex in Colchester also still has one. I believe that it was out of action for refurbishment for a while but has recently reopened. The library web page even tells you what hours the paternoster is in operation today: https://library.essex.ac.uk/home

So I think that means Essex and Sheffield are the only two remaining UK universities with working paternosters. Several others that were built in the 1950s and 60s had them when built, but they gradually fell out of favour from the 1970s and 80s onwards because of concerns about their safety and their unsuitability for disabled people or for carrying anything heavy or bulky.

There is a separate thread on the Sheffield University Arts Tower paternoster at 

7 hours ago, cgksheff said:

No need to worry about what "some people" may say.

Veolia Sheffield are quite clear on the subject when they ask you to rinse glass and replace lids.

👍

Ah yes, I see that the Veolia Sheffield website does indeed ask you to empty bottles, rinse and replace tops, and it says tops can be recycled. Until now I had always assumed that you had to remove lids from bottles and jars before putting them in your recycling bin or a bottle bank (which I think you do in some other areas - it varies from council to council). I have sometimes put the lids in the same recycling banks as plastics, tins and cans, though, but I'm not sure if you're supposed to do that.

Obviously it would be difficult to put lids back on bottles that you remove with a bottle opener, such as those on most beer and cider bottles.