What is happening to our city centre?

[Dan_Ashcroft 10]

Not really, it would give people a reason to come into the City Centre rather than go to Meadowhall. Once you get people into the CC to spend money, it is up to the ShopKeepers to get them into their own shops and spend money.

 

Currently the Council is failing to get anyone into the CC as its ugly, run down and resembles a bomb site in many places.

 

Lastly, is it just me or did there used to be a grassy outside the front of the Crucible before they 'did it up'? Looks terrible now

 

Yeah. They found a big problem with the grass though - people were actually use the square. Like Devonshire 'Grey' it's much easier to manage when it's all paved over and people just walk through it instead.

[chem1st 10]

Yeah. They found a big problem with the grass though - people were actually use the square. Like Devonshire 'Grey' it's much easier to manage when it's all paved over and people just walk through it instead.

 

When finished it will no doubt be nice, but the £4million could have been spent fixing an area of town that was 'broken'.

[Wired 10]

I'm quiet new to sheffield, and I have to say I agree with that the city does look quiet run down. Yes there is the peace gardens, but around the corner from there it looks like a bomb site, borded up shops and that. There does not seem to be much variation in shops and they are all set apart from each other a strip of shops here, then nothing, then randomly more shops.

Why would I go to the town centre, pay £5+ for parking, walk long distances for shops and have to walk thro some areas that look quiet dodgey, when I could go to meadowhall, all the shops are along one long strip and parking is free.

 

I would much prefer to go shopping in the town if it werent for the inaccessibility with expensive parking and eye sores all over the town. Plus I find it hard to find shops, I would prefer the shops to be in one general area, as it is now there are a few strips of shops seperated out, as I think the shops are finished, I walk some more and find them again.

 

Free parking would solve all the problems, people wont pay to go shopping, then there are free options!

[WallBuilder 10]

The car parking in the city centre on the road could be improved by putting parking bays at 45 degrees to the pavement on some roads. This would then increase the number of parking bays and then the price could be reduced.

I remember the uproar when the Peace gardens were being re-developed, it looked terrible for ages but the end result is quite nice although I don't like every bit of it. The same with Tudor square it is a work in progress and I think the finished article will be nice.

Also for the first time I saw the waterfall feature in Sheaf square with water flowing down it and was mildly impressed and then when I noticed the buildings standing where Sheaf valley baths were i thought it is a huge improvement. I've always liked the metal car park as it looks so different and am intending to wander down the wicker at some point to see how the refurb has been going down there.

The market on the Moor is still going ahead I've heard which means the demolition and rubble removal should soon be moving again.

[bigsiqc 10]

The car parking in the city centre on the road could be improved by putting parking bays at 45 degrees to the pavement on some roads. This would then increase the number of parking bays and then the price could be reduced.

 

What a great idea!

 

I have heard two arguments against free parking in the city centre.

 

The first is that it will allow workers to park for hours for free. Well to stop that, just set the parking ticket machines to free vend, ie give out 1 hour tickets for free and so anyone at work will have to keep leaving to "feed" the meter. The benefit of this is that the council can also keep employing the meter attendants who can still create income by giving tickets to those who have overstayed their tickets.

 

The other argument is that it will compete with the car park operators. I have some sympathy for this but again it is easy to solve. Give retailers a voucher to give to their customers which can be exchanged for say 1 or 2 hours of parking in a car park. The vouchers will then be sent to the council who will reimburse the car park owners. A sort of variation on the scheme John Lewis used to have.

 

Anyway, the council don’t seem to be listening to these suggestions (may be it is against their green credentials to encourage car drivers into the city centre?) so we need to keep the pressure on them.

 

Any ideas?

[Frenchie9920 10]

I'm amazed to hear that the Moor used to be a expensive shopping address - I first started coing to Sheffield in the late 80's - early 90's and it was a chav hole then - cheap jewellery shops and market stalls selling nasty tat... I had heard that there was once a Habitat though, as I was always amazed at Shefield's lack of pot/pan/glass/crockery shops I can't imagine why a Habitat wouldn't make a killing as there is no real competition...

 

Yep, I remember the Habitat. It was on the Moor, opposite corner from Melody. It was lovely, I loved going in there. That's one of my biggest bugbears about why they refused planning permission to Ikea. The Council said it would take custom away from the city centre. The only homeware/furniture places in town now are a bit in Debenhams and John Lewis, and let's be honest, how many of your average Sheffielders can afford John Lewis furniture?! Anyway, Ikea's another thread altogether and it's been done to death!

[LinzAlonso 10]

When you think we live in a city the centre is actually appalling in terms of shops in particular.At Xmas I was really struggling to think of where to go to get cards and gifts that were a bit unusual - went to York and was spoilt for choice.The Moor is especially unpleasant - I have to get my bus there and there are invariably people drinking or coming up and asking for fags - I would be really worried about my elderly mother shopping down there on her own. (not that she'd have any reason to..)

[C3PO 10]

Well living in the city centre is great. Its 2 minutes walk to the shops, easy access to any where in the city by public transport, lovely public spaces and buildings and plenty of cafes and restaurants.

 

Shopping isn't the best but Im hardly some spendaholic. Depends what I need. I shop in the city centre, the suburbs, Meadowhall, the Internet, wherever. Even venture to Manchester or elsewhere if takes a fancy. Its all good.

 

Dont shop solely in Meadowhall and then it wont make as much profit lol!

[dazzler4 10]

Yeah. They found a big problem with the grass though - people were actually use the square. Like Devonshire 'Grey' it's much easier to manage when it's all paved over and people just walk through it instead.

 

 

i have seen the plans for what they are doing with this area and it appears to look quite nice, although there seems to be a lot of opposition towards it because the grass is going. I believe the new design is to fit in with the work being done on the crucible.

[dazzler4 10]

And they do, taking their disposable income with it.

 

 

 

It seems to be doing ok in Liverpool with Liverpool One. And in Manchester with the revamped Arndale and the new shops around the area where the bomb went off.

 

 

In all honesty, from what i have seen on numerous threads about the city centre changes on here, there appears to be a huge amount of opposition towards change. i recently visited manchester and could not believe the choice of shops in the city centre that were bustling with shoppers, and they have the trafford centre too! sheffield cc can change and can become busy providing the construction companies and scc pull their fingers out.

 

some people dont like change but without it sheffield will go down the pan. its about time that we had some of the change that others have had.

 

one post on here suggests demolishing and putting in green space, how is that going to help???

[C3PO 10]

depends what you want. Arndale forms part of an already existing shopping centre built post war. Thats not the whole shopping centre of Manchester and never has been, whereas Liverpool One is also a shopping mall detached from Liverpool. Not in a physical sense but a socially and psychologically. Its gloss without much sustance not too far removed from Meadowhall. The bullring is the same. I prefer the Arndale extension but only because of what it replaced. A dark, seedy road busy with buses.

[dazzler4 10]

but the newly built part is attractive, and has given them names such as selfridges and Harvey Nicholls to name a few, isnt that what would be ideal to bring scc up to date and appeal to public outside the immidiate area. Although the bullring looks a little strange i think th development on a whole really was needed, i lived there many moons ago when it was the old bullring and the citycentre had very little going for it, when i look at it now i see that birmingham attracts from all over the midlands for shopping. when they start the work on sevenstone and all the other developments again i think that it should be welcomed, maybe it could do with a few design changes, but i really think it will be the kiss of life that is needed, not green spaces.