The battle over who owns the city centre

Good afternoon: Sheffield is changing — and a storm is brewing. The decline of retail has meant a sea change in the policy of successive council administrations — namely, to encourage people to live in the city centre. But in some parts of the centre, where the night time economy meets these new residential areas, conflict has arisen. So who owns the city centre? The bottomless brunchers and late night revellers of West Street? Or the new residential class, who want nothing more than a decent night’s sleep? Dan Hayes reports.

Editor’s note: There isn’t a topic in Sheffield that arouses more debate than the city centre. For too long it has seemed a place that is in permanent decline. Now, as the Heart of the City developments open, things are changing, but have these changes been fully thought through? It’s the role of journalism to ask difficult questions, but that doesn’t come for free. If you want to read today’s in-depth piece in full, and support journalism that reports on the good and bad of Sheffield without fear or favour, please become a member of The Tribune today.

Your Tribune briefing

🏡 A planning application to build around 550 homes on the former Cannon Brewery in Neepsend has been approved, but the development will have no affordable housing. The plan will deliver a range of one, two and three-bedroom apartments, as well as around 3,200 square metres of retail, commercial and works spaces. Councillors raised concerns over the lack of green space, schools and health services, but the plan was approved unanimously.

🍻 In news that will gladden the hearts of Sheffield beer lovers, Bakewell-based brewery Thornbridge are to open a new pub in the city centre. The Fargate will, as you might have guessed, be based on Fargate in the old Yorkshire Bank building. Thornbridge director Jamie Hawksworth said £1 million would be invested on a new bespoke interior, which will include a polished oak island bar, hand-crafted oak panelling and leather banquette seating.

📻 In case you didn’t catch it, BBC Radio 4’s Mark Steel’s in Town comedy programme was in Nether Edge on Monday. For those who don’t know, each week the veteran comedian visits different towns, cities or neighbourhoods and pokes fun at the inhabitants. In Monday’s show, Steel takes aim at Nether Edge’s middle-class pretensions, its reputation as ground zero for the tree protests, and its obsession with house prices (The Trib got mentioned too!).

Things to do

🎸 For those who weren’t around at the time, the Tramlines Fringe is a bit like its parent festival used to be before it moved to Hillsborough Park — but a lot bigger and better. For a comprehensive list of everything that is taking place across the whole weekend, see this brilliant page. We particularly like the inventive names people have come up with for their fringe events. In addition to the annual Clamlines at Delicious Clam, this year we also have the welcome return of Canal-lines at Dorothy Pax. Fagan’s will also host Snuglines while both Shamlines and Shakelines will take place at Shakespeare’s. For a complete list of all the different fringe events, please see this lovingly-curated page on Our Favourite Places.

🥾 On Sunday, join horticultural therapist and forest therapy practitioner Caroline Cook from Well With Nature for a relaxing, mindful river walk along the Porter Brook — inspired by the current exhibition at Weston Park Museum City of Rivers. Take time to slow down, notice, reflect and immerse your senses in the beauty of one of Sheffield’s rivers as the glory of summer emerges. The two-hour walk is £12 and begins at 10.30am from Shepherd Wheel.

⚽ Also on Sunday, join the Sheffield Home of Football team for a guided tour around the key landmarks and hidden places of the city’s unique sporting history. Starting at the site of the Surrey Theatre, owned by Thomas Youdan, the founder of the first cup competition in the world, the walk will conclude at Freeman College, the former home of Lockwood Brothers, the oldest “works team” in the world. The 90-minute walk starts at 11am and costs £6.13.

The battle over who owns the city centre

Peter Sephton had not long been chair of the Sheffield city centre residents’ association when one councillor’s response to a complaint proved what a mountain he had to climb. “I was meeting some councillors and told them we’d had reports of people vomiting, urinating and defecating in parts of the city centre,” he says. Peter tells me one councillor, who he has asked us not to name in order to spare their blushes, responded in memorable fashion. “Well, what do you expect if you live in the city centre,” he said.

Fast forward a decade or so and things have improved, although perhaps not enough for Peter’s liking. Back then, the city centre was home to fewer than 20,000 people. Now there are thought to be around 27,000 people living there and according to council predictions, by 2030 there will be 35,000. This increase isn’t an accident but rather a direct consequence of council policy — encouraging people to live in the city centre is seen as a way of revitalising it after the decline of retail, and avoiding building on the greenbelt. But this encouragement hasn’t come without problems.

The night time economy and city centre residents obviously have different needs. Bars and clubs want to attract as many customers as they can and for those people to stay there as long as possible. Residents are drawn to the hustle and bustle of city centre living, but still need to be able to sleep. Of all the parts of the city centre, there is nowhere where this conflict is more in evidence than at the top of West Street. 

There, a mass of residential buildings loom over the bars on the streets below, many of which have licences that allow them to open until the early hours of the morning. Several recent licensing applications have thrown this conflict into stark relief, with residents complaining about venues which have been given licences up to 4am, or even 5am and 6am. 

Ultimately, the dispute raises the question of who the city centre will be for in the future. One argument goes a little like this: surely there should be one part of Sheffield where those who wish to stay out all night should be able to do so. Perhaps West Street, or part of it, should be prioritised as a space for revellers and night owls — after all, if you want undisturbed sleep, you could always move to the suburbs. Another pushes back: if Sheffield has been so keen to promote city-centre living, then surely it has a responsibility to its new residents to guarantee them a decent night’s shut-eye. But who is right? And could a compromise be struck so that both camps are happy (or happy-ish)?