Sheffield City Centre

Coordinates: 53°22′53″N 1°28′29″W / 53.3814°N 1.4746°W / 53.3814; -1.4746
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Sheffield City Centre
South Yorkshire
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53°22′53″N 1°28′29″W / 53.3814°N 1.4746°W / 53.3814; -1.4746

Sheffield City Centre (referred to locally as simply Town) is a district of the

Winter Gardens
. Several areas of the city centre have been designated as quarters. It is home to the city's major business, transport, leisure and cultural attractions.

In recent years, the city centre has undergone massive regeneration with every section of the city centre seeing constant development. Projects include the development of new squares and public spaces; new residential and office buildings, including

Heart of the City II and Moor shopping areas; redevelopment of existing buildings, such as the Crucible Theatre
; better transport and shopping facilities; and new cultural attractions, such as museums and art galleries.

Sheffield Centre at Night

Zones/Quarters

Sheffield Digital Campus

Following the implementation of the 1994 City Centre Strategy eleven 'quarters' were defined within the city centre.[1] Following on from this, during the 2004 redevelopment of the city centre four 'districts' were identified within the city centre, primarily for aiding traffic.[2]

Districts: Centre, Riverside, Sheaf Valley & West End

Quarters:

Heart of the City
.

The main Districts are as follows:

St Pauls Tower, a new, mixed use development which forms part of the St Pauls Place development. In the top left corner is the Main St Paul's tower itself. Below it is the Tower 2, connected to the main tower but half the height. To the right is another office building in the same development. All have been completed within the last 5 years and represent some of the newest architecture in the city.
St Paul's Place, 2010

Centre

The central district of Sheffield is home to the

Sheffield Supertram. The city centre has several cinemas including, Odeon Sheffield located on Arundel Gate, 'The Light' cinema on The Moor and the independent 'Showroom
' cinema based near Sheaf Square.

Also within the central zone is

Sevenstone retail development. However, the opening of a new purpose-built indoor market hall in November 2013 and the ongoing Sheffield Moor Development plan footfall has increased and there has been a stimulation of businesses reopening and moving into the area. The Scottish Widows group own the majority of The Moor and are funding its staged redevelopment,[3] including the significant public realm improvements to the street scene that were completed during 2013.[4]

Riverside

The Riverside District, lying along the banks of the River Don, was traditionally an industrial zone including the

Riverside Exchange
and West Bar developments are a significant part of this change and have seen the area transformed dramatically. Also in this area is the St Vincent Quarter which lies on the opposite bank of the River Don to the Riverside Exchange area.

Sheaf Valley

Sheffield Town Hall

The Sheaf Valley Area, surrounding the

Showroom Cinema, which books a more diverse selection of films than mainstream cinemas.[7]
Red Tape Studios is also in the area. This area, in contrast to the other parts of the city centre, has seen less redevelopment in recent years as it lies outside the normal shopping areas and those frequented by tourists/visitors to the city.

West End

The West End District, lying to the West of the Central zone, is the city's social and academic hub. West Street, the main thoroughfare in this area, is home to Sheffield's largest concentration of bars, clubs and restaurants and is heavily used by young adults, students in particular. Many university buildings are in this area, including many parts of the Sheffield Teaching Hospitals (although they mostly lie beyond the Inner Ring Road and thus do not constitute part of the City Centre). The Supertram also runs through this district, connecting it to the central zone and several other areas of the city. The Devonshire Quarter, on the southside of West Street, is a social and commercial hub, again especially for the young. It has seen a great deal of investment.[8] The St Georges Quarter, right in the centre of the West End zone, is relatively small and focused upon the end of West Street as it meets the Inner Ring Road at Sheffield University Officer Training Corps home - Somme Barracks, main entrance is on Gell Street.

New and future developments

Riverside Exchange

In recent years there have been numerous new developments in Sheffield City Centre seeing a large number of new additions to the skyline. Most of this work has been carried out under the guidance of the 'City Centre Masterplan 2008' and examples of its progress can be seen

Riverside, Castlegate and the Sheffield Digital Campus.[9]

Riverside exchange
and the West Bar combine to make a large business district on the north side of the city centre and are also home to legal and governmental offices.

Sheaf Square and the

Sheffield Station have also been heavily redeveloped and are due to see extras improvements in the next few years. In the West End area the University of Sheffield has invested in a number of new facilities and student accommodation and Sheffield Hallam University
has greatly improved the area outside its main campus on Arundel Gate also.

In late 2006, the "Connect Sheffield" scheme came into being.

GPS
technology.

Sheffield's shopping areas are in the process of being redeveloped and when finished will attract business from further afield than ever before. The Moor, once Sheffield's busiest shopping street, is being gradually redeveloped by private owner Scottish Widows and a new £18 million indoor market was opened in 2013, relocating traders from the ageing Castle Market in the Castle Gate Quarter of the city.

The

Sevenstone/New Retail Quarter development was due to redevelop a substantial portion of the city centre. It had been on hold since 2008 due to the recession and was cancelled in its current form all together in July 2013 when Sheffield City Council decided to relieve developer Hammerson of their development rights.[12]
Sheffield City Council announced in late 2013 that they will proceed with their own development scheme to replace the axed Sevenstone project.[13]

Events

Sheffield City Hall from Barker's Pool.

Sheffield City Centre is host to a multitude of events, ranging from small farmers markets to international sporting events. Sheffield International Venues and Sheffield Theatres maintain the larger venues whilst several others are managed privately.

Sport

Ponds Forge International Sports Centre, on the edge of the city centre, is host to numerous national and international sporting events, notably swimming and basketball.[14]

The

World Snooker Championships since 1977.[15]

Sheffield City Centre was the finish location for Stage 2 for the 2014 edition of the Tour de France.

Theatre

Sheffield is home to the greatest concentration of theatres in the UK outside London; these include the Crucible, Lyceum, Montgomery and Playhouse theatres.

Live Events

The city centre is home to numerous venues which attract many well-known musicians, comedians and theatre groups; examples include the City Hall, O2 Academy, Plug, and the Lyceum and Crucible theatres.

Sheffield city centre is host to its own music festival, Tramlines. This event, entry to which is free, was first organised in 2009 and takes place at several venues across Sheffield, notably in the city centre.

Markets

Sheffield City Centre plays host to a number of themed markets throughout the year with most taking place on

Barkers Pool.[16] Themes include Continental (European foods, crafts etc.), German (Christmas market) Italian, Tunisian and occasionally global themed markets take place. There are also farmers and crafts markets taking place throughout the year.[16]

Attractions

  • Millennium Square and the Winter Gardens
    Millennium Square and the Winter Gardens
  • The Crucible and Lyceum theatres in Tudor Square
    The Crucible and Lyceum theatres in Tudor Square
  • Millennium Galleries
    Millennium Galleries

Transport

Railway

Sheffield station and Sheaf Square
at night

Heart of the City
.

Supertram

Sheffield possesses its own tram system, known as the

Sheffield Supertram
. It operates on four routes, all of which run through the city centre; the Cathedral Square stop forms a focal point for operations, being the terminus of both the Purple line and Tram-Train.

Coaches

Chesterfield and Milton Keynes en route.[18]
Numerous other services connect Sheffield with destinations across the UK, all of which depart/arrive at Sheffield Interchange.

Buses

Sheffield Interchange

Sheffield city centre is home to Sheffield Interchange. In recent years, it has lost importance as the

zero fare city centre bus service, was scrapped in 2014.[20]

Road

The city centre is encircled by the Inner Ring Road, which connects to the Sheffield Parkway at Park Square and on to the M1 motorway. This has been enlarged several times, with the most recent extension opening in 2007.[21]

In a bid to improve the city centre's environment, several major thoroughfares which were once open to the public have been

pedestrianised
in recent decades; as a consequence, there are fewer options for car drivers in the city centre.

Leisure and Business

Fargate, Sheffield

Fargate

Fargate is a major pedestrianised street in the heart of the city with its southern end lying outside the town hall. Also located at this point was the Wheel of Sheffield which, during 2009 and 2010, was a landmark on the Sheffield skyline. Several well-known High Street stores have a presence in this area or the connecting areas of Orchard Square or Commercial Street.

The Moor

The Moor has historically been one of Sheffield's most popular shopping zones. Like Fargate, it is a pedestrianised area and plays host to markets (although on a more permanent basis than Fargate). By the early 2010s The Moor had become run down and played host to a massive redevelopment project. The Moor Market, a large indoor market opened in November 2013 at a cost of £18 million.[22] A new retail and leisure development built on a large site adjacent to the former Debenhams department store opened in 2016. It includes a nine screen The Light cinema, a flagship Primark store, four additional shops, and seven restaurants.[23][24] The Moor has seen many other high-street fashion retailers move from Fargate, such as Next, New Look, H&M (although they have kept their Fargate store open) and River Island.[25][26][27][28]

New Retail Quarter/Seventone

Originally due for completion in the early 2010s, NRQ/

Sevenstone was to become be a major shopping/living area adding 250 new shops to the city centre. As of 2008 the project remained on hold due to the economic downturn and Sheffield City Council finally dropped developer Hammerson in July 2013 after no firm agreement for recommencement of the project could be reached.[12]
Sheffield City Council has announced that it will eventually take a new scheme forward using a combination of private and public funds. No firm time-scales for the new project have been formally released as of April 2014, although plans were expected to be released to the public in spring 2014.[13]

Riverside

The Riverside Exchange is a new, large business district in the north of the city centre and is home to organisations such as Irwin Mitchell and the UK Border Agency.

West Street/Devonshire Quarter

The West End district of the city centre is home to many independent shops, bars and coffee shops - particularly catering for the large student population in the area. Devonshire Green, a small landscaped district park which hosted the main stage of the annual Sheffield Tramlines Festival from 2009 until 2014 as well as outdoor cinema screenings throughout the summer.

Street names

Several street names in the city centre are associated with the Duke of Norfolk (Arundel Gate, Norfolk Street, Surrey Street, Fitzalan Square) and the Duke of Devonshire (Cavendish Street, Devonshire Street).

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sheffield City Centre.

References

  1. ^ Sheffield City Council Archived 6 July 2010 at the Wayback Machine. Sccplugins.sheffield.gov.uk. Retrieved on 30 September 2011.
  2. ^ Sheffield City Council Archived 28 May 2010 at the Wayback Machine. Sccplugins.sheffield.gov.uk. Retrieved on 30 September 2011.
  3. ^ "Moor Assets". Moorsheffield.com. Archived from the original on 15 April 2014. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
  4. ^ "Project to develop The Moor in Sheffield signed off". BBC News. BBC. 7 March 2012. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
  5. ^ UK Museums – Kelham Island Museum in Sheffield. Gouk.about.com (17 July 2011). Retrieved on 30 September 2011.
  6. ^ a b [1] Archived 4 July 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ Showroom Home – Showroom & Workstation – Sheffield. Showroomworkstation.org.uk. Retrieved on 30 September 2011.
  8. ^ [ARCHIVED CONTENT] The Devonshire Quarter, Sheffield | Case studies. CABE. Retrieved on 30 September 2011.
  9. ^ City centre masterplan | Develop in Sheffield. Creative Sheffield. Retrieved on 30 September 2011.
  10. ^ "Sheffield City Council – Connect Sheffield". Archived from the original on 13 February 2007.
  11. ^ [2] Archived 23 May 2006 at the Wayback Machine
  12. ^ a b "Sevenstone developer dropped by Sheffield council". BBC News. BBC. 29 July 2013. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
  13. ^ a b "Sheffield plans new retail scheme after Sevenstone scrapped". BBC News. BBC. 10 October 2013. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
  14. ^ Ponds Forge | Sport | Sheffield Hallam University. Shu.ac.uk. Retrieved on 30 September 2011.
  15. ^ World Snooker Championship Archived 16 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine. Sheffield Theatres. Retrieved on 30 September 2011.
  16. ^ a b Sheffield City Council – Farmers' and Specialist Markets Archived 15 July 2010 at the Wayback Machine. Sheffield.gov.uk. Retrieved on 30 September 2011.
  17. ^ from Sheffield – Trains to Europe. Eurostar. Retrieved on 30 September 2011.
  18. ^ London to/from Sheffield. National Express Coach Timetable. nationalexpress.com
  19. ^ Interchanges. Travelsouthyorkshire.com. Retrieved on 30 September 2011.
  20. ^ FreeBee bus service ends. bbc.co.uk. Retrieved on 6 September 2020.
  21. ^ "New city ring road opens to cars". BBC News. 19 November 2007. Retrieved 12 November 2023.
  22. ^ "Sheffield's Moor Market opens for business". BBC News. BBC. 25 November 2013. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
  23. ^ "Sheffield Moor sees The Light". The Star. 5 February 2014. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
  24. ^ "Excitement builds as The Light Cinema announces its official Sheffield opening date". The Star. 6 March 2017. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  25. ^ "Next opens the doors to its new Sheffield city centre store". The Star. 3 July 2019. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  26. ^ "New Look reveals when Sheffield store will close as another shop disappears from Fargate". 4 March 2020. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  27. ^ "Sheffield customers brave the rain as huge new H&M store opens on The Moor". The Star. 14 November 2019. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  28. ^ "Further blow for Fargate as ANOTHER major retailer opts to move Sheffield city centre store". The Star. 5 August 2019. Retrieved 19 November 2021.

External links

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