Gleadless, where did it go wrong?

[having fun 10]

the valley used to be a very nice place to live (I have not lived there but family have) some parts are still nice and I don't think others are any worse than other areas of sheffield. The estate even won awards when it was built for the architect for being built on the hills unknown at the time. People do seem to focus on the negative and be blind to good things that are still there

[gabby 10]

Gleadless isnt the best place to live in the world but it certainly isnt the worst.

Anyone who buys a house there and then whines about it is (and im sorry if this offends) pretty silly really and they should have researched the area a bit more beofre making such a major purchase.

 

Unless you've got at least £200,000 to spend on a house, where in Sheffield are you gonna get a house that's not in an area that experiences some sort of crime on a fairly regular basis? I saw Streetforce cleaning up glass from a smashed-up bus shelter on the Beaucheif end of Abbey Lane yesterday. If it's happening there, well,.......

[cosywolf 10]

Gleadless isnt the best place to live in the world but it certainly isnt the worst.

Anyone who buys a house there and then whines about it is (and im sorry if this offends) pretty silly really and they should have researched the area a bit more beofre making such a major purchase.

 

That's pretty simplistic, I think. With house prices the way they are people without very high incomes have very little choice but to either buy where they can afford, whether it's ideal or not (generally not) or rent indefinitely.

[Zebra 10]

OK, let me reiterate, the crime stats are higher in Gleadless than MOST areas of Sheffield. MOST.

The house purchase prices are lower for various reasons than many areas, one reason is the crime stats. We moved here feeling reasonably aware of what goes on but we couldn't know all of it, the seller didn't share any info and things have become distinctly worse even in the time we've been here.

The wisdom in moving here was that we needed a bigger house very quickly and at least we're on the purchase ladder. We lived in a private rented house in S2 previous to this and suffered LESS crime despite the road we lived on being very nice. We had no violent domestics, no vandalism, no car crime, no nuisance kids, no off road bikes on the pavements, no noise troubles. We had two attempted break ins and one prowler but I did not suffer any crime.

Here I've called the police probably about 20 times in 18 months, one of our cars was burnt out, we've had our property vandalised more than once, we have nuisance youths, problems with motorbikers, regular fires in the woods, lots of audible violent domestics, noise trouble and some pillocks defending it.

It doesn't get much worse.

My home purchase choice debate, name calling, refusing to agree and attempts to defend yourself and the area will not change the fact that Gleadless Valley is an absolute hovel.

No amount of comparing it to other areas or telling me how little crime you've suffered will make it a better area.

Not one person will ever convince me that this is a nice place to live, I live here and I can see with my own eyes, I can witness the drugs be sold outside my house. I can see the people staggering from the pub and beating each other senseless with planks of wood, I can see the burnt out shells of cars, the broken glass and the graffiti adorning everything, who can't see it for goodness sake?

Ah, yes, you can't!

[Plain Talker 11]

i can't recall Gleadless Valley ever having any decent parts?

 

Potentially the area could be fantastic place to live with all its woods, parks and green spaces but this obviously isnt good enough or appreciated by most.

 

Gleadless townend and Charnock have a overall better clientele though just a shame theyre so close to all the neanderthalic specimens living in Gleadless Valley.

 

See the reply a couple above yours, green

 

I was born onto the valley over forty years ago. it was an absolutely banging place to live.

 

The tenants were decent tenants, mainly because the council vetted prospective tenants, closely, and didn't house scumbags. They didn't commit crimes, burgle, vandalise, twoc, etc. They respected their homes, looked after them, had a sense of community. In a lot of tenants, those values have not been instilled into them.

 

Where I moved back to, a few years ago, there were shedloads of druggies, and drug dealers. in fact it had the nick-name of "brown valley"

 

it was purgatory, living there. four drug dealers, in the immedaite vicinity.

 

The sooner anti social behaviour is "come-down-on" hard, the better.

[gabby 10]

who can't see it for goodness sake?

Ah, yes, you can't!

 

I have to agree with you. I can't.

[Zebra 10]

Then you must be living in a better part than I do, or in the past, either way I envy you.

Where I live is just awful.

[gabby 10]

Then you must be living in a better part than I do, or in the past, either way I envy you.

Where I live is just awful.

 

I hope you don't think i'm having a go at you, Zebra: i'm genuinely shocked about all the bad things you've put up with on your doorstep, but you can only judge anything by personal experience. I'm just saying, in all honesty, that i've not had a single problem in my 5 years in GV.

[Zebra 10]

I've been here almost 2 years and it's been hell.

The people who defend it around here and tell me to shut up when I complain are the ones who commit the crimes.

The decent ones daren't make a sound most of the time, they're the ones I feel sorry for, they just put up with it.

I've met more horrible people, seen more crimes and been involved in more unpleasant stuff outside my home than I've met nice people, seen anyone do anything or people just be plain sociable. The balance tips strongly in the favour of being a hovel then add the crime we have suffered and the stuff we witness and we're ready to go.

[Fareast 10]

Plain Talker's comments are spot on and in fact when Gleadless Valley was first completed [ in the '60's, I think ] it was a showcase for the rest of Britain !

 

This was because the main architect [forgotten his name] was said to have used the geography of the area, the layout of the roads, the design of the houses and the building material in a brilliant combination.

 

In the early 1960's I sat next to a young female architectural student on the train down to London. She had been to Sheffield to study the Park Hill flats, as did people from all over the country.

 

There's nothing intrinsically ' wrong ' about a location or a style of architecture but if you have a certain number of pigs in any community and you let them do as they like, they will turn any area into a sty.

 

Unfortunately, the number of scumbags is increasing in the U.K. and has been for years. Even the government have started to notice it.....so it must be serious !

[gabby 10]

Unfortunately, the number of scumbags is increasing in the U.K. and has been for years. Even the government have started to notice it.....so it must be serious !

 

And why not? Where's the deterrent? If you or i were to act like scumbags for, say, a month, just for an experiment, what the police do about it? Sweet jack potatoes, that's what!!

[happyhippy 11]

It's such a large place, it's tough to categorise.

 

OK, here's my history of it. I moved in with my ex in the tower block (which was demolished at Herdings), in 1992. It was a bit rough round the edges, but not nasty. We had friends who lived near the Gaunt, and when my ex was pregnant with our eldest, I/she/we'd think nothing of walking back through the woods.

 

We knew the 'dodgy' bits to be in the Blackstock 'dip', or in the maisonettes by the Wyvern and Far Lees. Even then, there was nothing more than noisy kids and the odd spat.

 

Even up at Herdings, (one notable specimen excepted), there was no real hassle, but as the flats were cleared elsewhere, problems 'really' began.

 

From 1994-6, just two years, the whole face of the Valley, never mind Herdings changed. The Gaunt and the Groom (landlord there 15 years ago played rugby league for GB and Hunslet) were never the best pubs, but they were honest. Now I wouldn't give you tuppence for 'em.

 

I still don't think it's as bad as it's portrayed, but compared to 15 years ago, it's awful.