How famous is Sheffield?

[tinfoilhat 11]

Sheffield isn't particularly well known down south let alone globally. Unless you bump into a former student of one of universities, a fan of snooker, or a lover 90s club culture ive found you get a "sheffield? Thats up norf init?", or worse still "is it near leeds?" The craft beer industry has raised the profile a bit but in terms of actual reputation we are no further ahead than nottingham, imho.

[Guest busdriver1]

6 hours ago, alchresearch said:

It depends what you want in a holiday.  I like the NY Moors but I would rather stay in a nearby town and drive to it and spend the day there.

 

The first time I stayed in the moors itself I felt like I was stuck in a tiny village in the evening with just two pubs to eat in and little else.  

I am sure in the case of the Peak District, Buxton would certainly provide necessary evening entertainment and has the advantage of being actually in the Peak District rather than close to it. 

With our wonderful road system I would be surprised if anyone chose Sheffield as a base for holidays in the Peak District. There are far better options nearer to the area. 

Edited June 25, 2019 by busdriver1

[Unisol 12]

I’ve mostly travelled around Europe most of my life so can’t really comment on the global scale but can’t recall anyone I’ve met not having heard of Sheffield and nor can I recall anyone saying anything negative about the city, quite the opposite in fact. Wish I could say the same for the natives. 

 

Im born and bred here and without wearing rose tinted spectacles I love living here. Granted, I have my own highly successful business and live in a nice area etc so am fortunate enough to experience a nice lifestyle here.

 

I acknowledge we don’t produce the wealth of neighbouring cities like Leeds and Manchester but Sheffield is to me a far more interesting place. It’s quite hip and quirky and think we should appreciate these aspects. However, Sheffield’s big city feel is definitely starting to ramp up now. There are cranes everywhere which signifies investment in the business and residential sectors. 

 

Compared with many other medium to large English cities, Sheffield is quite unique in many ways and I think it’s a pretty good place to live. 

 

I think the the problem with many native’s negative attitude is simply because they don’t go out and explore what the city has to offer. I speak to so many locals who have no knowledge whatsoever of many places I mention that we’ve visited - including bars, restaurants, galleries, independent shops, parks/woods etc etc.

 

And lastly - many people see some European cities (for instance) as amazing solely because the weather is usually better. I have family members who live abroad in reasonable sized cities and let me tell you, they can be the most boring places when the sun isn’t shining.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Longcol 597]

5 hours ago, busdriver1 said:

I am sure in the case of the Peak District, Buxton would certainly provide necessary evening entertainment and has the advantage of being actually in the Peak District rather than close to it. 

 

Buxton isn't actually in the Peak District but it is close to it.

 

https://www.peakdistrict.gov.uk/visiting/maps/pdmap

[Ontarian1981 10]

I worked in the steel fabrication businees all my working life in all types of work and in many supervisory roles. I was running an afternoon shift and all my football mad Italian, Portugese Serbian etc, workers pinned me down about where I came from. This was in the canteen area, I told them I was from  City that is basically responsible for their livelihoods and their favourite sport ...Sheffield. They all looked bemused even though they knew the names of both Sheffield clubs they had no idea about Sheffield FC starting  the game and were amazed when they read about the 150 th  anniversary celebrations going on at the time.

Edited June 25, 2019 by Ontarian1981

[Guest busdriver1]

10 hours ago, Longcol said:

Buxton isn't actually in the Peak District but it is close to it.

 

https://www.peakdistrict.gov.uk/visiting/maps/pdmap

It may not be in the National Park but is certainly in the Peak District area.

[alchresearch 214]

19 hours ago, tinfoilhat said:

 you get a "sheffield? Thats up norf init?", or worse still "is it near leeds?" 

Even worse, in Newcastle: "that's in the MIDLANDS". Arrgh!

Edited June 26, 2019 by alchresearch

[FIRETHORN1 58]

Just out of interest, where does Sheffield rank in the list of England's largest cities? How is it measured? Is it by the density of the population per square mile, or is it measured by the actual square mileage of the city boundaries?  As a kid, growing up in Sheffield in the 60's, I recall always being taught that Sheffield was the 5th biggest city in England, after London, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds....with Liverpool being the 6th biggest. I then recall that, due to boundary changes in the 80's, when places that were previously classed as Wortley Rural District Council, Bradfield Parish Council etc, were "swallowed up" by Sheffield and allocated Sheffield postcodes, we apparently became the 4th biggest. I just looked on Wikipedia, and since 2017, we are now supposedly the 11th biggest - smaller even than Bristol!  Not that size particularly matters, of course (😁)….but I am just interested in how we rank in the current list of biggest English cities.  

[Longcol 597]

It's measured by population.

 

The population of Sheffield is bigger than the City of Manchester  - however if we want to make real comparisons, the City of Manchester is only a small part of the conurbation / continuous built up area of Greater Manchester. 

 

Boundaries vary and appear pretty arbitrary - for example Sheffield includes many outlying areas eg Stocksbridge, whereas Nottingham doesn't even include West Bridgeford where you'll find Trent Bridge  and Nottingham Forest - similarly neither Manchester United or Old Trafford cricket ground are in the City of Manchester.

 

So to make real comparisons we really need to look at the conurbations / built up areas - so yes Sheffield does rank about 11. 

 

As an addition Sheffield isn't a county town or a regional centre so may not have as many national / regional offices / HQ's based here - as opposed to smaller cities - say Leicester (county HQ for Leicestershire) or Norwich (both county town for Norfolk and the regional centre for East Anglia).

 

 

Edited June 26, 2019 by Longcol

[Unrecordings 10]

About 15-20 years ago I had regular dealings with the IRS (USA's tax body) - now if you think HMRC can be grumpy, then the IRS can take it to a whole new level - except when you cheer them up. So using the time difference I used to call them as soon as the lines opened, put on my best jovial english accent and let rip with the social engineering. The first UK point of reference for them was always The Beatles & Liverpool, but they would have no idea where Liverpool was, so:  

Top of Ireland, East a bit, South a bit, to the thing that sticks out which is the top of Wales, yes as in The Prince Of Wales. Just above that is Liverpool, further East is Manchester (which would also excite some of them with the whole Madchester thing). Then further East over the hills, somewhere near the middle is Sheffield. No mention of Leeds, Newcastle or Birmingham. On occasion if The Full Monty was brought up, then the conversation might turn to economic comparisons with Pittsburgh & Detroit, but that was only a couple of times

 

[jamie risner 10]

14 hours ago, FIRETHORN1 said:

Just out of interest, where does Sheffield rank in the list of England's largest cities? How is it measured? Is it by the density of the population per square mile, or is it measured by the actual square mileage of the city boundaries?  As a kid, growing up in Sheffield in the 60's, I recall always being taught that Sheffield was the 5th biggest city in England, after London, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds....with Liverpool being the 6th biggest. I then recall that, due to boundary changes in the 80's, when places that were previously classed as Wortley Rural District Council, Bradfield Parish Council etc, were "swallowed up" by Sheffield and allocated Sheffield postcodes, we apparently became the 4th biggest. I just looked on Wikipedia, and since 2017, we are now supposedly the 11th biggest - smaller even than Bristol!  Not that size particularly matters, of course (😁)….but I am just interested in how we rank in the current list of biggest English cities.  

There's a great article on this on CityMetric: https://www.citymetric.com/skylines/where-are-largest-cities-britain-1404

 

It's a complicated question!

 

J

[BigAl1 143]

A few years ago I was traveling on a train in southern Thailand. We stopped at Yala and I was looking for food vendors and this old man on the platform asked me where I lived and I told him Sheffield. he immediately started relating all the facts about the Hillsborough disaster, date teams, replay scores and the like

 

In my experience in Asia and Africa if they have heard of Sheffield then it is Sheffield United and or Sheffield Wednesday