It’s time to extend Pound’s Park

Tribune staff have wandered over to Pound’s Park several times in the last couple of weeks of gorgeous weather. Just around the corner from our office, it’s a hugely popular spot for families and workers on their lunch breaks. But there’s a downside — a large chunk of the area is cut out by hoardings, where the council plans to build. No viable option to develop the site has come forward yet. In today’s piece, we speak to a local urban design expert and make the case that the best plan is to expand the park — creating a large green plaza at the heart of the new development.

As well as that, we have a long-read on the fight to keep snooker in Sheffield and a social evening for people who love plants.

In case you missed it

For our weekend read, Holly Williams spoke to Beth Johnson (at one point while detangling sequins from her fishnets) about how performing in Sheffield’s silliest event helped her cope with losing a loved one to suicide. Clams in Their Eyes is an anarchic version of the classic TV competition Stars in Their Eyes, in which people impersonate and perform as their favourite artist, organised by local venue Delicious Clam. On stage, Holly writes, “Beth gets to be someone else entirely: not a grieving mum, but a popstar, sparkling bright, to the adulation of hundreds of screaming fans.” You can read that piece here.

Earlier in the week, Victoria spoke to performance and visual artist Melville the Third about refusing to let right-wing politicians speak for the working class. Meanwhile, we hear Dan’s attempt to get to the bottom of who keeps pooing on Carter Knowle Avenue was the talk of the town, with theories abounding on who the true culprit could be. An especially outlandish one came from Tribune subscriber Henry, who wrote: “My money's on it being a sex thing.” 

The big picture: Street art latest

More and more of Sheffield’s buildings are being reimagined as canvases for Street Art. On London Road, a new piece by artist Trik has gone up to celebrate the Sharrow and London Road community.

The big story: It’s time to extend Pound’s Park 🛝

Top line: Pound’s Park has been one of the most successful recent developments in Sheffield city centre. Among the new offices, eateries and flats, the decision to include green space for children to play was enlightened. But there’s now a chance to make a great space a truly excellent one — and extend it.

Much needed: Dr Michael Martin, a Lecturer in Urban Design at Sheffield University and expert in child-centred planning, told The Tribune that a study he was involved in found Sheffield to be ranked in the UK’s bottom five cities for accessibility to playgrounds.

But Pound’s Park, he noted, was in the “best practice category” for city centre developments. “[There’s a] fundamental neglect of children in city contexts internationally,” Dr Martin said. “The fact they've been included and centred in this quite big corporate regeneration… is an excellent narrative.”

Popular: The last two weeks of gorgeous Easter holiday sunshine has shown just how well-used the park is. It provides something free for families, and even includes public toilets, a vanishing rarity in city centres. It's also become a popular and safe space for teenagers to hang out in the evening.

“Fragmentation”: But, at the moment, the park is cut into by a large section, which is surrounded by white hoardings (the site known as Stirrings Place). This area was used for construction vehicles during the development of the area. The result is that the park is a strange L-shape – when a full square would feel much more natural. “From an urban design perspective, creating a solid block of public realm would be fantastic”, said Dr Martin. “The [Stirrings Place site] creates fragmentation and cuts that block off.”

That’s definitely something you feel when you’re in the park, with the hoardings constricting the area with the seating at the top. Once a tall office or residential building has gone in, this space will feel much smaller and, given its orientation, be in the shade for much of the day.

Square feels: City planning in blocks goes back to ancient civilisations. For better or worse, we like squares — and the town squares and plazas of cities like Rome or Prague attract people in their droves.

The space in blue on the plan above is clearly a single block — between Kangaroo Works (west), the NCP car park (south), Elshaw House (east) and Cubo (north, where the giant mural is). Turning the whole area into a park would open it out, creating a central square in the midst of the new development. Paths could criss-cross the park, making it easy and pleasant to pass through in all directions.

Future of the site: The council’s current plans are for the site behind the hoardings to become another building. However, when it was last put out to the market, the council decided not to take forward any bids due to economic turbulence.

This could be an opportunity in disguise. The council has already brought in lots of office, retail and residential space around the park, with much more planned in other city centre locations. Creating a central green plaza would make the area even more vibrant, and give more space for Sheffield’s children to play.

Bottom line: That isn’t in the current plans, but given how popular the park has turned out to be it’s a good moment for a rethink. Now is the moment for bold thinking and decisions that will create a legacy for decades, if not centuries, to come.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments.

Your Tribune briefing 🗞️

🎱 This fascinating piece in The Times tries to work out whether Sheffield has any hope of keeping the World Snooker Championship here, once the event’s contract with The Crucible runs out in 2027. The championship’s promoter, 76-year-old Barry Hearn, admits decamping to Saudi Arabia would be like “moving the tennis out of Wimbledon” but nonetheless insists the approximately 800-capacity venue is “too bloody small and out of date”. While his preferred solution — the council knocking The Crucible down and building something more appropriate — feels unlikely, it will be a real blow to the city if the event departs for more luxurious pastures. “We have two anchors — Christmas and snooker,” says Bookey Oshin, deputy chief executive of Sheffield Theatres. “It is a massive thing for Sheffield, but also for the country.”

🪦 Anne Scargill, the “miners’ heroine” and co-founder of Women Against Pit Closures, died last week at the age of 83. Anne was born in Barnsley, the daughter of a miner at Woolley Colliery and later married Arthur Scargill, the trade unionist who led the 1984 miners’ strike. In the Morning Star, Heather Wood remembered her fondly, writing: “Anne Scargill is a name that deserves to be spoken with the same reverence we give to giants of the working-class struggle.”

☢️ Fans of the original Threads movie have reacted with excitement to the news that it will be remade by Warp Films. Set in Sheffield in 1984, the original film followed two families over 13 years as the city is plunged into nuclear winter. Rob Brown was one of thousands of local people who took part as extras and told the BBC it was a good time to remake the film “because of what's happening in Russia and other parts of the world”. Rob Nevitt, who directed a documentary about the film to mark its 40th anniversary, added that the remake is likely to be even more bleak than the original. “We talked to one of the advisers on the original production, and he said a nuclear bomb would be 100 times worse now in terms of the devastation caused, and the effects.”

This week’s weather 🌥️

Our weather forecast comes from dedicated Sheffield weather service Steel City Skies, who say it’ll be a week of both sunshine and showers.

Monday 🌥️ A sunny start gradually gives way to increased cloud and the odd afternoon shower. Breezy southerly winds and highs of 15°C.

Tuesday 🌦️ A higher likelihood of rain or showers pushing up from the south, with brightness more limited. Lighter winds from the east and highs of 14°C.

Wednesday 🌦️ Cooler and windier from the west with early showery rain breaking up as brighter skies develop later. Highs of around 13°C.

Thursday 🌦️ Bright or sunny spells and a scattering of afternoon showers, some heavy. Light southwesterly winds and highs of 14°C.

Friday 🌦️ Further showers, with cloud amounts increasing from the west. Drier spells too, with southerly breezes and highs again around 14°C.

Weekend: A changeable weekend with more bright spells and scattered spring showers. Average temperatures.

To see the full forecast and keep up to date with any changes to the outlook, follow Steel City Skies on Facebook.

The weekly Whitworth ✍️

Cartoonist James Whitworth with his take on Sheffield legends Pulp’s return to the recording studio after 24 years.

Home of the week 🏡

The beautiful two-bedroom stone cottage in Stannington was built in the 1600s and retains a wealth of its original period character and charm, including wooden beamed ceilings and a stone kitchen floor. From the front it also has fantastic views over the stunning Rivelin Valley and is just a few minutes walk from the Peak District edge. The only downside is that — yet again — it’s another property that has artificial grass. Why? It is on the market for £225,000. 

Things to do 📆

Theatre 🎭 Starting on Tuesday at the Lyceum is the award-winning National Theatre production of JB Priestley’s classic An Inspector Calls. When Inspector Goole arrives at the Birling family home, their peaceful dinner party is shattered by his investigations into the death of a young woman. His revelations shake the foundations of their lives and challenge us all to examine our consciences. Tickers are £15-£46 and the show runs until Saturday.

Plants 🌱 Also on Tuesday, Talking Plants returns to the Mowbray in Neepsend. The self-styled “social evening for people who love plants”, this month the meeting welcomes James Hill from The Forager Within to share seven wild edibles hiding in plain sight. He will teach attendees how to identify them, how to gather ideas on how to use them, and how to uncover their medicinal magic. The talk begins at 7.30pm and tickets are £6 (£4 students).

Music 🥁 On Wednesday, witness the greatest orchestral music of all time played the limitless energy of a new generation as the National Youth Orchestra brings To the Beat to Sheffield City Hall. The young musicians will bring Stravinsky's Petrushka to life, with shifting rhythms and harmonies dancing between each instrument, creating an intoxicating world of sound. Full price tickets are priced £22 but teenagers can get in for free. Doors open at 7pm.