The Decline Of Sheffield City Centre

[foxy lady 10]

It's a completely different event the Sheffield Food Festival sees itself more as a food connoisseur's market than a party. The Dronfield event sounds more like Pedlar Market which has been held various locations in the city centre but is now held on Kelham Island.

 

I don't think so.

 

https://www.facebook.com/events/607554946066715/

 

Edited June 10, 2016 by foxy lady

[smiggs 10]

The Sheffield Food festival has been going for six years, it's successful, people come. I don't understand why they don't run to say 7pm but historically they have always started winding down from 4pm each day. It's a serious food festival with demos from Chefs, food tasting etc. It's not as if the City Centre can't hold events that run after 5 plenty do, this one doesn't. The organisers should make it clear on their website when people will start & stop trading but that can hardly be said to reflect on the city centre.

[AndrewC 307]

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

 

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.

 

This is my issue with you gerry (I am assuming you are the same gerryuk as on Skyscrapercity). You complain endlessly about how offices are converted in to student accomodation, and always seem to blame the council in saying 'how do they expect to attract major retailers if the professional base isn't there' - but you willingly overlook the fact that these offices are the ones which are empty, old, not good enough spec, or simply don't have the demand to fill them.

 

You also talk about how West Bar is a ghost town, but say nothing about the effect that occupants at St Pauls for example have on the Pinstone Street area. Imagine what effect a large, pre-let HSBC office is going to have on the fortunes of the NRQ. It's about consolidation of good quality office space for the limited demand which is there, whilst the unwanted, poor-quality office space is converted a use that is in demand.

 

Let the student population in to the city centre, build up a demand for retail/leisure, then use those developments to further the case when reaching out to white collar employers.

 

---------- Post added 10-06-2016 at 13:22 ----------

 

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.

 

You or I may not have shopping high on the list of hobbies, but a hell of a lot of people do and that absolutely would tempt many of them to go to Sheffield CC. A high quality department store is a destination in itself.

[foxy lady 10]

T

 

Let the student population in to the city centre, build up a demand for retail/leisure, then use those developments to further the case when reaching out to white collar employers.

 

---------- Post added 10-06-2016 at 13:22 ----------

 

 

You or I may not have shopping high on the list of hobbies, but a hell of a lot of people do and that absolutely would tempt many of them to go to Sheffield CC. A high quality department store is a destination in itself.

 

But aren't those 2 things polar opposites. Students aren't here to buy high end furniture. They are here to study, and are more likely to attract pound shops than Harrods. So if we continue down the road of giving over the city centre to pound shops and students what is there to attract big business to the area within the inner ring road?

If HS2 does actually stop at Sheffield it will be at Meadowhall. It is Meadowhall that is expanding. Meadowhall where retailers want to be. Meadowhall will attract business for its proximity to the motorway, the rail network, and most importantly somewhere where they and their customers can park. It might even expand to become a new town on it's own.

Edited June 10, 2016 by foxy lady

[Cyclone 10]

Students will use leisure and retail facilities though. They have leisure time, they buy clothes and food. Sure, they won't be buying furniture, but it's not something you can take home in your boot anyway, so why should you buy it in the city centre (where space costs far more for a showroom than out of town).

[smiggs 10]

Students and universities are the cultural heartbeat of the city. If Sheffield tries to restrict the nationwide trend of building city centre student accommodation then the students will go elsewhere and the city will be poorer for it.

[Hogg 10]

Let us acknowledge the loss of some fantastic shops on the Moor and elsewhere, but we are where we are because of Meadowhall and internet shopping. Persoally, as a cinema, theatre and restaurant enthusiast - the city centre suits me very well as it is, and compared with thirty years ago it looks an awful lot better. The world is changing and in a few years, Leeds and Manchester as big shopping centers might too become irrelevant with youngsters shopping online. We are behind Leeds and Manchester but economists are talking about the fourth industrial revolution - AI - we will be arguing about the hole in the road, whilst AI is changing the world around us.

[LeMaquis 10]

Student's aren't ghosts, they are zombies.

 

Students are educated and know that there is no apostrophe in students.

 

---------- Post added 11-06-2016 at 08:26 ----------

 

But aren't those 2 things polar opposites. Students aren't here to buy high end furniture.

 

You couldn't be more wrong. I live near a lot of Chinese students and they have money to burn. They move in and buy loads of furniture. And there's also all the day to day spending. But you wouldn't know that from your country bumpkin haystack.

[The Joker 10]

Have just been having exactly this conversation on Twitter. People are obssesed with parking costs. I don't get it.

 

I can understand the parking anxiety / the parkers dilemma.

 

Say you park in town, expecting to stay for 3 hours, but there's nowt that catches your fancy, so after an hour, you've seen enough and you want to leave. But you've still got two hours on the meter! What do you do? Do you leave town, mumbling under your breath about the extra 2 hours parking you've paid for but missed out on? Or do you stay in town for that 2 hours you've paid for, and walk round the same shops again?

 

On the other hand, what if you pay for one hours' parking, but get delayed at the other side of town for some reason? You can cut short your shopping visit and rush back to your car in a blind panic, or risk getting a parking ticket for overstaying your parking period, which will be an extra unwelcome expense that would put many off from visiting the city centre again.

 

Meadowhall doesn't have this problem.

 

I get free parking in the city centre thanks to my employment. If I didn't receive this perk, I'd probably never set foot in the city centre during weekends.

[Cyclone 10]

Let us acknowledge the loss of some fantastic shops on the Moor and elsewhere, but we are where we are because of Meadowhall and internet shopping. Persoally, as a cinema, theatre and restaurant enthusiast - the city centre suits me very well as it is, and compared with thirty years ago it looks an awful lot better. The world is changing and in a few years, Leeds and Manchester as big shopping centers might too become irrelevant with youngsters shopping online. We are behind Leeds and Manchester but economists are talking about the fourth industrial revolution - AI - we will be arguing about the hole in the road, whilst AI is changing the world around us.

 

Who's arguing about AI?

 

---------- Post added 11-06-2016 at 10:11 ----------

 

I can understand the parking anxiety / the parkers dilemma.

 

Say you park in town, expecting to stay for 3 hours, but there's nowt that catches your fancy, so after an hour, you've seen enough and you want to leave. But you've still got two hours on the meter! What do you do? Do you leave town, mumbling under your breath about the extra 2 hours parking you've paid for but missed out on? Or do you stay in town for that 2 hours you've paid for, and walk round the same shops again?

 

On the other hand, what if you pay for one hours' parking, but get delayed at the other side of town for some reason? You can cut short your shopping visit and rush back to your car in a blind panic, or risk getting a parking ticket for overstaying your parking period, which will be an extra unwelcome expense that would put many off from visiting the city centre again.

 

Meadowhall doesn't have this problem.

 

I get free parking in the city centre thanks to my employment. If I didn't receive this perk, I'd probably never set foot in the city centre during weekends.

 

You can use one of the many car parks that charges on exit.

Or you can pay for on street parking by phone, allowing you to add an extra hour if you need to from the other side of the city. (Takes a small amount of forethought though).

Guessing the duration of your stay is annoying, I agree, but not insurmountable.

[AndrewC 307]

Foxylady, modern students bring a stack of cash with them these days, and whilst their pound-shop spend might be the same as most peoples, they are also spending loads in other shops, leisure facilities, supermarkets etc.

[Stoatwobbler 10]

But aren't those 2 things polar opposites. Students aren't here to buy high end furniture. They are here to study, and are more likely to attract pound shops than Harrods. So if we continue down the road of giving over the city centre to pound shops and students what is there to attract big business to the area within the inner ring road?

If HS2 does actually stop at Sheffield it will be at Meadowhall. It is Meadowhall that is expanding. Meadowhall where retailers want to be. Meadowhall will attract business for its proximity to the motorway, the rail network, and most importantly somewhere where they and their customers can park. It might even expand to become a new town on it's own.

 

One issue with the Meadowhall area is that it is not the most desirable residential location. Even with the big shopping centre that in many respects beats nearby town centres hands down it's not exactly had a whole lot of "gentrification". It's still a place you communute to and not so much from.