The Decline Of Sheffield City Centre

[Cyclone 10]

I'm shorter and have more hair and I still rarely have a chugger speak to me, and a "no, I'm busy" is sufficient to get past them. I don't even have to slow down to say that.

[DnAuK 10]

It hasn't actually. The cranes are just parked on the old NMB to do stuff to the Hallam building next door. (If that's where you mean.)

 

Oh balls!

[IanCentral 10]

I agree with Philyyy that we are still way behind the likes of Leeds and Manchester.

 

I wonder whether the likes of Selfridges or Harvey Nichols will ever consider Sheffield for one of their stores. I think this would help raise the profile of the city.

[Cyclone 10]

Why are people obsessed with those two stores. I've been in a few times in Leeds to see what was so special about them and found nothing at all.

[IanCentral 10]

I just think that these two stores would raise the profile of our city, but not sure they would work in Sheffield.

[Jeffrey Shaw 90]

'Selfridges' is an anagram of 'frigs Leeds', you know. Just saying.

[gerryuk 10]

I agree with Philyyy that we are still way behind the likes of Leeds and Manchester.

 

I wonder whether the likes of Selfridges or Harvey Nichols will ever consider Sheffield for one of their stores. I think this would help raise the profile of the city.

 

Stores like Selfridges or Harvey Nichols will never set up shop in Sheffield. In places like Leeds Birmingham and Manchester they have thriving city centres supported by thousands of professional workers based in their respective city centres.

Take a good look at Sheffield city centre today its more akin to a suburb of the city than a thriving metropolis.

There are hardly any large scale office blocks left in the centre, they have all been or are being converted into student digs. West Bar used to be the business hub of the city, now there is hardly anything left barring HSBC. The whole area up to and including the Cathedral area is now just student living. The whole area around West Bar is now just a ghost town, its depressing. When HSBC move it can only get worse.

HSBC are axing nearly 600 workers, the tax office at the bottom of the Moor is being closed with all its 500 plus workers transferring to Leeds and the government are axing a further 250 jobs in the city centre. These are all well paid professional jobs being swept aside and lost to the city centre economy.

I note today that yet another large office block in the centre, opposite St. James House is being taken over by Sheffield University.

With so few professionals working here and a city centre being taken over by students why is anybody surprised that stores like Selfridges are not represented here?

[AndrewC 310]

Stores like Selfridges or Harvey Nichols will never set up shop in Sheffield. In places like Leeds Birmingham and Manchester they have thriving city centres supported by thousands of professional workers based in their respective city centres.

Take a good look at Sheffield city centre today its more akin to a suburb of the city than a thriving metropolis.

There are hardly any large scale office blocks left in the centre, they have all been or are being converted into student digs. West Bar used to be the business hub of the city, now there is hardly anything left barring HSBC. The whole area up to and including the Cathedral area is now just student living. The whole area around West Bar is now just a ghost town, its depressing. When HSBC move it can only get worse.

HSBC are axing nearly 600 workers, the tax office at the bottom of the Moor is being closed with all its 500 plus workers transferring to Leeds and the government are axing a further 250 jobs in the city centre. These are all well paid professional jobs being swept aside and lost to the city centre economy.

I note today that yet another large office block in the centre, opposite St. James House is being taken over by Sheffield University.

With so few professionals working here and a city centre being taken over by students why is anybody surprised that stores like Selfridges are not represented here?

 

HN & Selfridges only expanded in to places like Manchester & Leeds in the 90s(?) - imagine suggesting them locating there in the 1970s, when Manchester & Leeds were like how Sheffield has been over the last 20 years. I'm not saying we'll ever see them come to Sheffield, but you're inability to think about what the future could be like if the right steps are taken now is frankly worrying.

 

You're right that there needs to be a strong professional base to support a major retail centre, but as per usual, your insistence that the council are somehow forcing employers out of offices in the city centre at gun point is completely missing the point.

 

If the demand is there, then the offices - of a suitable quality - will get built (and indeed, St Pauls, The Square, new HSBC, are being built), and the unsuitable offices left behind are converted to new uses, that are needed (student accomodation etc.).

 

What don't you get?

[gerryuk 10]

What don't you get.

 

I get the reality of the situation, I for one am not deluding myself regarding the state of Sheffield city centre.

 

You're right that there needs to be a strong professional base to support a major retail centre, but as per usual, your insistence that the council are somehow forcing employers out of offices in the city centre at gun point is completely missing the point.

 

Now you have totally lost me. Council, guns, what the hell are you on about?

 

If the demand is there, then the offices - of a suitable quality - will get built (and indeed, St Pauls, The Square, new HSBC, are being built), and the unsuitable offices left behind are converted to new uses, that are needed (student accomodation etc.).

 

The demand is not there.

St. Paul’s was only completed because the Council stepped in to financially guarantee the building to the developers, if they could not get tenants in. Worryingly there is only one tenant secured, although I have faith that this will be full in due course.

The Square on the old Sheaf market site was started in 2006 and is still only half built.

HSBC are indeed moving out of West Bar to shinny new offices, but lets face reality here, they are downsizing.

[Longcol 610]

I agree with Philyyy that we are still way behind the likes of Leeds and Manchester.

 

 

This might just be down to both Leeds and Manchester being the centres of much larger and richer conurbations

[Cyclone 10]

I just think that these two stores would raise the profile of our city, but not sure they would work in Sheffield.

 

What does "raise the profile" even mean? It's not like Sheffield needs to be more widely talked about in Birmingham, or Manchester or Leeds. It won't cause people to travel to shop.

So the people who might shop already know about the city because they live with 10 or 15 miles.

IMO it's unlikely that two vacuous department stores would suddenly cause people to return to the city centre to shop.

[Bob Arctor 11]

I agree with Philyyy that we are still way behind the likes of Leeds and Manchester.

 

I wonder whether the likes of Selfridges or Harvey Nichols will ever consider Sheffield for one of their stores. I think this would help raise the profile of the city.

 

House! Bingo! Someone said Harvey Nichols!

 

I don't think we are behind Leeds and Manchester, I think we are just different. Even if the economy was strong enough to support three comparable cities so close together, Sheffield and its people have a different character. We're less bothered about shopping and high end bars and more interested in getting out in the countryside. It's easy enough to move to or commute to Leeds or Manchester, not everywhere has to be the same.