Sheffield in the 70s

[Michael_W 11]

Anyone remember Sheffield in the 70s, Yorkshire cricket at Bramall Lane, United in the First Division & Wednesday in the Third, buses on the Moor, Turnups nightclub at Nether Edge, The Fiesta, Top Rank, Steelworks in the East End, Cutlery and engineering firms ???????????

[halevan 11]

Yes, I remember sheffield thirty year's ago, the dances at top rank, city hall, grand hotel, buses down the moor, colour fountain at the top of fargate, the egg box ( town hall extension ) St.Philips club dances, Embassy on mansfield rd, local's meeting place at Coles corner, the old peace garden's, cocayne's at the top of snig hill, underground toilet's in fitzalan square, the hole in the road on high st. Going even further back buses and tramcar's up and down Fargate, the little mester's workshop's in the city centre, day's before supertram. Ah. happy memories.

[Michael_W 11]

Cheers halevan, I thought my one and only topic posted was lost in cyberspace, these 'young uns' don't know what they've missed. I was in my teens in the 70's and so much has changed since then, but I still remember those day's like they were yesterday. I applied for jobs at many of the places that closed in the 80's, British Steel, Dunford Hadfields, GEC Traction, Naval Ordnance, Firth Browns etc.. and I ended up at Laycock Engineering and that went too. My wife worked at Manfield shoe shop on the Moor where MacDonalds now stands. I remember the Wimpy, Redgates toys and Sugg sport shops all being on the Moor. Talking of Fitzalan Square I remember The Classic Cinema and Wigfalls...did they both burn down ??

[El Duderino 10]

I remember visiting grandparents here in the 70's as a youngster. The most overiding memory was the awful smell of the place. Especially after coming from the Lincolnshire countryside.

 

The next thing I remember was the 2p fare on the buses.

[halevan 11]

Hello Michael.

The news theatre was pulled down, but wigfalls was burnt down, going further back even before supertram ( ha ha ) and the new bridge over castle square, the old rag and tag market at the bottom of commercial street, there was an old lady in there with a red velvet seat on a weight scale, she charge one old penny to weigh you but I could never afford it! nearby was the old corn exchange and next to that was park station coal yard where the canal basin is now. My brother and brother in law used to shovel coal and coke into lorries from there, just round the corner was the old market hall at the side of dixon lane.

[Michael_W 11]

Hello Halevan,

I take it that you remember the Classic cinema as the 'News Theatre', which brings me on to all those other lost cinemas - Studio 5,6 & 7 on the Wicker, The ABC, The Odeon, The Gaumont, Cinecenta and my old local The Abbeydale on Abbeydale road. I spent a few hours queueing to get in some of those when I was younger !

[Guest Guest]

Yes Michael,

I have lot's of memories of old sheffield, the old tramcar's, the old canal basin, black swan ( mucky duck ) on snig hill, hostel on shalesmoor where they slept ten in a bed ( nine fleas and them, butler's transport cafe on brook hill, fred's on matilda street in 1941 where one could get ten a pie ( meat and potato ) pint of tea and apple pie and custard for ten old pence four pence now, oh! those were the day's. :shock:

[Guest Guest]

I too was a teenager in the 70's. I can remember Crazy Dazy (where all the smoothies went) and the Penthouse. A bus ride into town was 9p after which we would all meet up at the 'threepenny-bit' (so shaped) kiosk in Pond Street. We would then head off to the Nelson and the Wapentake. I also remember the Museum pub (knocked down when they built Tudor Square). Seeing the posting about studio 5,6 & 7 made me chuckle as that was the place where the rude films were shown and we would walk back and forth past here to see if we could see any saucy posters. I can also remember queing for hours for a taxi in Fitzalan Sq at 2.30am ...never any bother and never feeling scared or threatened. Those were the days!

[halevan 11]

Yes Michael,

I do remember the news theatre, marples public house in fitzalan square where all those people got killed during the sheffield blitz. I lived with my mother,brothers and sisters on the manor estate and we had a lump of shrapnel in the wall of our house. We had an anderson shelter in our garden where six of us ran to when the sirens sounded, I stocked it full of chocolate bars for if we ever got buried and couldnt get any food. We could always tell when there were enemy aicraft coming over by the sound they made it was so different from our own aircraft. later on in the fifties, I remember driving buses through the city centre, tramcars and buses side by side up and down fargate and the moor, beleive me it was horrendus at peak periods, in those days all buses were back loaders, no one had ever heard of an atlantian bus

[Guest Guest]

Maybe it's the old rose tinted specs. but does everyone (over 30) think that the city was better back then? The promo film about Sheffield at the start of "The Full Monty" was just one of many made at the time which showed Sheffield as a futuristic, modern and vibrant city.

 

The 'hole in the road' was a remarkable place and sadly, like the rest of the city, fell into decline when that style of architechure wasn't modern any more.

[Michael_W 11]

I don't think it's a case of thinking it was better back then, it's more a case of looking back and remembering how it was. This is something many of us do as we get older, hence the boom in 70s and 80s nostalgia, music, bars and club nights over recent years. Some changes have been for the better and some not. I personally look back at the decline in local industry and wonder where everyone works these days. I suppose it's similar in many other parts of the country, the 70s I think were the end of an era. Thatcher came to power and decided to take on the working class - and won !

When I left school in 1977 you could still get a trade apprenticeship and many thousands in Sheffield did, the 1980s saw the end of that and unemployment boomed, not only with layed off workers but the many school leavers of the time. That coincided with the increase in drugs and crime !

OK things are now picking up, but the bulk of 16 year olds now stay on at school or go to college and then University, and have been encouraged to do so by the governments of the last 20 years because there is still a shortage of decent opportunities for these people compared to before. I think !

[Lickszz 10]

Originally posted by "Michael_W"

 

I don't think it's a case of thinking it was better back then, it's more a case of looking back and remembering how it was. This is something many of us do as we get older, hence the boom in 70s and 80s nostalgia, music, bars and club nights over recent years. Some changes have been for the better and some not. I personally look back at the decline in local industry and wonder where everyone works these days. I suppose it's similar in many other parts of the country, the 70s I think were the end of an era. Thatcher came to power and decided to take on the working class - and won !

When I left school in 1977 you could still get a trade apprenticeship and many thousands in Sheffield did, the 1980s saw the end of that and unemployment boomed, not only with layed off workers but the many school leavers of the time. That coincided with the increase in drugs and crime !

OK things are now picking up, but the bulk of 16 year olds now stay on at school or go to college and then University, and have been encouraged to do so by the governments of the last 20 years because there is still a shortage of decent opportunities for these people compared to before. I think !

 

You make some good points here and i agree with them.