9,000 managers but a vet ain’t one

Good afternoon readers — and welcome to our Monday briefing.

It was on this day 27 years ago that a fresh-faced lad from Bolton started a politics degree at the University of Leeds. While I’d like to say I worked incredibly hard from the get go, I don’t think many of you would believe me if I did. Fast forward almost three decades and the latest cohort of impossibly young-looking students start at Sheffield’s two universities this week. In today’s big story, our data guru Daniel Timms (Politics, Philosophy and Economics, University of Oxford, 2014) takes a closer look at what the 65,000 students who call our city home actually study — and what they don’t.

In addition to that, we have an update on The Leadmill, a beautiful 18th century coach house in Totley, a young Sheffield designer goes to London Fashion Week and a cheese-based War of the Roses event comes to the Hideaway (yes, really).

Catch up and coming up

For our weekend read, Dan got his walking boots muddy at Forge Dam, asking how a much-loved beauty spot ended up looking less than pristine and if public money has been wasted in the process. You can still read that piece here.

Last week we sent two great newsletters to our 1,646 paying members. For the first, Victoria went to Wicker Pharmacy to speak to staff about how they are trained to administer naloxone, a drug which is saving the lives of city heroin addicts. And in the second, we followed up our big story from last weekend about The Leadmill, after a hearing into the venue’s licence was held at Sheffield Town Hall. An extract from that second piece is below.

Arguably the most impassioned speech came from Matthew Renshaw, whose business rents office space from The Leadmill Ltd in the upper floors of the building. Describing the shadow licence as “one of a thousand cuts in killing The Leadmill,” he argued that Electric Group and “vulture capitalist” Madden “pose a credible threat to the area”. He referenced a mural above the doors to The Leadmill, which shows two people holding a bass and a trumpet. “I would like to ask Mr Madden what he would put on display,” Renshaw said. “Would it be a hand holding a bag of drugs? A dripping knife?”

This week we’ll send out two more including one about two therapeutic gardening groups in Lowedges and Burngreave on Tuesday, and another on Thursday which we can’t say too much about at the moment! To help fund a new way of doing journalism in Sheffield based on subscriptions rather than clickbait and celebrity, please consider subscribing using the button below. It costs just £1.34 a week or 23p a day if you pay for 12 months up front (£70).

Editor’s note: We’re really happy that so many more of you have joined The Tribune since our piece about The Leadmill last weekend. While I can’t say we will be able do a story like that every week, I can promise that if you support us financially, we’ll be able to produce our distinctive brand of thoughtful pieces and in-depth investigations for many years to come. Please join The Tribune today.

The big picture: The streets are ours 🚴

On Sunday hundreds of children and their families took part in the first Kidical Mass, an event aimed at encouraging young people to cycle. The group set off from Millhouses Park before riding along the Little London Road active travel route and back again. As well as giving children the opportunity to practise on public roads, the ride is part of a nationwide campaign for safer streets. You can watch a television news report on last night’s BBC Look North programme on the ride presented by long-time Tribune member Mark Ansell here.

This week’s weather ⛅

Our weather forecast comes from dedicated Sheffield weather service Steel City Skies, who predict a mild but mixed week with a bright and breezy start giving way to a stormy midweek. Signs of something more settled to finish, though.

Monday ⛅ Isolated shower risk, many staying dry and fine. Breezy from the southwest but it's a mild breeze with highs of 21°C.

Tuesday 🌦 A cold front/trough combo brings the threat of rain through Tuesday, with bright spells either side of this. Still mild, still breezy, with highs 19-20°C.

Wednesday 🌧 A deep low spins up to the west and looks set to bring a spell of rain and very gusty winds later in the day. Potentially a named storm, with temps around 18°C.

Thursday ⛅ High winds easing with many enjoying a brighter and drier day as the low clears northwest. Temperatures still respectable, with highs of 18°C.

Friday ⛅💦 Potential for a shower/rain risk from the west, but brighter periods are likely too. Perhaps a little cooler, with westerly winds fresh. Highs of 17°C.

Outlook: Some uncertainty by next weekend, but it looks reasonably likely that high pressure will build in across the southern half at least 😎 A lot of dry and bright weather hopefully!

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

The big story: 9,000 managers but a vet ain’t one

Top line: Last week was a frenzy of freshers' fairs, anxious parents, learning to use a washing machine and getting acquainted with Sheffield’s classiest haunts. Work begins today (at least, that’s the theory). But what are Sheffield’s students — all 65,000 of them — actually studying?

The most popular courses are in “subjects allied to medicine”. These people aren’t training to be doctors and dentists, but instead taking courses in nursing, pharmacology, nutrition and other “medicine adjacent” courses. They account for about a sixth of Sheffield’s students, and mostly go to Hallam instead of Uni of.

After that it’s business and management — a massive one in seven Sheffield students study these courses, and again, it’s most popular at Hallam. Do we have this to thank for the recent business mini-boom we’ve seen in Sheffield? Or is it another tell-tale sign that the Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire is finally going corporate?

Over at the University of Sheffield, engineering draws the most punters (roughly 6,000). That’s aligned to one of the Steel City’s traditional economic strengths, meaning we can hopefully keep some of these people once they have to really start working. They’re followed by 3,000 odd social scientists — a truly noble calling, and if that’s you, you can dream of one day working for the Sheffield Tribune…

But some of the traditional subjects are losing out. Both maths and the physical sciences (which includes physics and chemistry) had fewer than 1,000 students in Sheffield during the last year we have data for. That’s despite a nationwide push for more STEM graduates. Sheffield is also notable for the complete lack of veterinary training on offer — neither of our main universities are training vets.

Subject enrolments at Sheffield Hallam and the University of Sheffield, 2021/22. Top ten subjects shown

A quarter of these students come from outside the UK — with about two-thirds of them studying at the University of Sheffield. Most of those are outside the EU: ten times as many foreign students come from outside the EU as within it.

The first week back might not be such hard work after all, as UCU-affiliated lecturers are out on strike. The confrontation with the University of Sheffield has intensified after the University made 100% pay deductions for days where staff didn’t work due to the marking boycott. The University claims that staff were informed beforehand that this would be the result of their participation, and that they cannot accept partial fulfilment of contract. Many students who finished their degrees last year still haven’t got their results. There’s a broader nationwide strike action going on by the UCU at the same time, and difficult industrial relations don’t seem to be going anywhere. 

Our take: The “town vs gown” debate is a perennial talking point in most university cities. But in many ways it misses the point. Sheffield’s students contribute hugely to the city and are essential to its economic success. We should be proud that we attract young people from all across the world to study here, and we also all have an interest in what they study, especially if we want them to stay when they finish their courses. Welcome back, students!

Electric dreams 🎸

Our two pieces about The Leadmill last week were some of the most popular stories we’ve ever published — but the saga is a long way from being over. While Sheffield City Council’s decision to grant the building’s landlord a so-called “shadow licence” is good news for them, it’s still unclear exactly what will happen next. Sheffield council leader Tom Hunt last week said the authority had a legal duty to be fair and unbiased towards the licence application, but that the licence held by The Leadmill’s management team also remained valid and the venue was “able to remain open and run as normal”.

Over the weekend, The Leadmill posted their reaction to the news on social media, saying the fight for the future of the venue was “far from over” and that they would be considering their next legal steps over the coming days. “We remain defiant against a London landlord trying to get his hands on one of Sheffield’s cultural assets in such a cheap and underhand way,” the statement read. The Leadmill management added all scheduled events would still go ahead as planned and that they would continue to programme further into the future while the legal process continues.

Yesterday, Dominic Madden, co-founder of the building’s landlord Electric Group, told The Tribune they were pleased to have been granted a shadow premises licence for The Leadmill. He added the decision was a “significant milestone” and that he was grateful to both Sheffield City Council and its licencing committee for focusing on “facts, not smears” and what he called his company’s “outstanding track record of compliance”. “We hope that this decision can mark the beginning of a new chapter, where we can put the hostilities of the Save the Leadmill campaign behind us,” Mr Madden added. “Our repeated intention has always been clear — to secure The Leadmill as a thriving music venue for music artists and community projects.”

Our media picks 🎧

Sheffield designer wows fashion show 🥻 A young fashion designer whose clothes blend traditional Islamic dress with modern sportswear has starred at London Fashion Week. Kazna Asker, who grew up in Sheffield but has Yemeni roots, says her revolutionary designs are inspired by the clothes she sees her family wearing. “I'd see my grandma in a traditional hijab and abaya and my cousin sat next to her in a roadman tracksuit,” she tells the BBC.

Sheffield named as UK's second fastest growing city economy 📈 Sheffield’s economy is growing faster than London, Manchester and Leeds, a new study by The Data City has found. The Steel City is currently growing by 12.4% a year, with only Liverpool in the UK growing at a faster rate. The study found that the city’s rapid growth was down to significant expansion of its advanced manufacturing, energy storage and digital creative industries.

‘Sheffield Council made my life hell’ 🥊 One of Sheffield’s oldest boxing clubs is fighting for survival after being moved into a crumbling building by the city council. St Vincent’s Boxing Club on Crookesmoor Road had trained boxers since the 1800s at its previous base on West Bar until they were forced to move due to the redevelopment of the area. However, since 2013 they say the council have “done nothing but put one obstacle in front of another”.

Home of the week 🏡

This stone-built three-bedroom detached coach house in Totley dates back to 1854 and is just a few minutes walk from the Peak District National Park. It is on the market for £225,000.

Tribune Tips: If you want to tell us about a story or give us some information, please email editor@sheffieldtribune.co.uk. We are always happy to speak to people off the record in the first instance, and we will treat your information with confidence and sensitivity.

Things to do 📆

Theatre 🎭 Starting on Wednesday night (27 September) at the University of Sheffield’s Drama Studio is Night of the Living Dead Live. The show is based on the classic 1968 George Romero film of the same name but rather than just recreate the story, the play is a fun and hilarious re-imagining that celebrates the history and influence of the movie. Tickets are priced £10-12 and doors open at 7.30pm. The show runs until Saturday, 30 September.

Comedy 🎤 Also on Wednesday, 27 September, top comedian Josie Long returns to The Leadmill on her latest tour. In the brand-new show — which features humanity, compassion and some brief political rants — the triple Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee covers topics including the changes wrought by time, passion, moving to Scotland, and loving the world under, let’s face it, difficult circumstances. Tickets are priced £16.50 and doors open at 7pm.

Food and drink 🧀 At Hideaway on Eyre Lane on Wednesday, 27 September, Homage to Fromage will be hosting a cheese-based War of the Roses evening (yes, really). On the night, participants will taste eight radically different cheeses, four from Yorkshire and four from Lancashire, to decide which county is the champion. Tickets are £20 and include the eight cheeses, crackers, chutney and all the trimmings (eat as much as you can). Doors open at 6.30pm.