Dear readers — we hope 2025 has got off to an excellent start for you all. We’re absolutely thrilled to begin the year with over 2,500 members, and more than 30,000 of you on our whole e-mail list. While we have no idea what 2025 will hold, we’re sure there will be plenty of news to write about. So grab your crystal ball, because it’s time to speculate about the next year for our city, via a brand new feature: Sheffield in 2025. If it goes down well then maybe it'll become an annual event, so let us know in the comments. (Speaking of comments, it's been great to see lots of members using the comments feature on our new website – if you don't know what to do, take a look at our guide here.)
We’ve come up with ten yes/no questions about what’s going to happen in Sheffield next year. In keeping with the character of our city, it's a mix of the serious and the silly. We’ve then made our predictions as to what will happen (we must confess we don’t have 100% predictive power — the veterans among you may recall Dan once stating that the Fargate shipping container park would be a huge success…)
Then comes the most fun bit — you can take part! At the end we’ve got a link to a form where you can add your predictions. In December 2025 we’ll review what actually happened and whoever got the most right will win a year’s free membership for 2026. And we've added a tiebreaker in the event of a draw...
Plus: make it competitive and share this article with your friends and family – just hit the button below:
- Will the Blades return to the Premier League?
Sheffield United fans got the Christmas present they wanted when the club’s long-running takeover saga finally ended. US consortium COH Sports were formally announced as new owners on 23 December, ending Prince Abdullah’s 11-year-long association with the Bramall Lane club. However, the news has been followed by an immediate downturn in results, with the Blades losing twice and picking up just one point in their last three games, leaving them third in the Championship behind big-spending Leeds and Burnley.
The Tribune says: Yes. As we found out in September, the on-off ownership saga has definitely been constraining the club’s room for manoeuvre in the transfer market over the last six months. Now the long-term future is settled, they will be hoping to strengthen their squad over the next few weeks, with Southampton forward Ben Brereton-Diaz – who made a big impact for the Blades on loan last season – a top target. As long as the current run of results is a blip, we think they will make it back to the Premier League at the first time of asking in May.
- Will The Leadmill building open under new ownership?
For this to be “Yes”, two things need to happen. First, the Leeds Business and Property Court will need to grant the building’s owner, Dominic Madden, the right to evict tenant Phil Mills (see our pre-Christmas read here). And secondly, the building needs to get in good enough shape to reopen — which could be a challenge if Mills comes good on his promise to strip the building back to basics and even demolish the toilet block.
The Tribune says: Yes. The legal arguments for stopping Mills’ eviction seem a bit flimsy, and Madden believes he can get the thing open by September. Even if he’s being overoptimistic, that gives a few months' grace period to still be within the year. Of course, he’ll need to decide on a name first…
- Will the local plan get passed at long last?
Local Plans aren’t documents that get people’s pulses racing, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t hugely important. They determine where homes will be built, and give the council far more power to resist unwanted developments. Sheffield has been working on its Local Plan for the last 14 years, and finally submitted a draft to the government in October 2023 – including plans for building 35,700 new homes between now and 2039. Since then, inspectors have been examining it, and are expected to release a preliminary report in February.
The Tribune says: No. We’re in the home stretch now, but we’re not quite there yet. When the government inspectors publish, they are also expected to recommend modifications. These will then need to be consulted on in April and May before the final inspector’s report in August. If all goes to plan, the Local Plan should finally be formally adopted by Sheffield Council in October. But after years of delays, don’t be surprised if that date slides yet again. Early 2026 is probably more likely.
- Will Sheffield keep the snooker?
There have been murmurings about the World Championship Snooker leaving the Crucible for a few years now, but in 2024 it felt like they reached a crescendo. Snooker legend Ronnie O’Sullivan said he felt the tournament should move to somewhere it could be “done properly”, like China or Saudi Arabia, while Iranian player Hossein Vafaei bizarrely claimed the Crucible “smells really bad”. As the only event that really puts Sheffield on a global stage, the council is desperate for the championships to stay in the city and has been in regular contact with World Snooker Ltd trying to persuade them to stay.
The Tribune says: No. The recent statements of World Snooker boss Barry Hearn make it feel like the writing is on the wall for Sheffield and snooker. In an interview with TalkSport in November, Hearn said players were interested in increased prize money, something that is impossible without a bigger venue. A 3,000-seater “billiardrome” has been suggested, but it’s hard to know where the council would find the money. The Crucible is contracted to host the world championships until 2027, but this will probably be the year that World Snooker announces they are leaving.
- Will the universities hold further rounds of redundancies?
Over the last 40 years, what was once the Steel City has become the education city. Between them, Sheffield’s two universities have 65,000 students and 13,000 staff, but 2024 was the year that cracks began to show in Sheffield’s hard-won reputation as a global centre of learning. Changes to the immigration system made Sheffield Hallam a less enticing prospect for foreign students, while the University of Sheffield’s fall out of the world’s top 100 universities meant fewer Chinese students want to study here. As a result, the coffers of both have been badly hit and staff have been subject to repeated reorganisations, cutbacks and redundancies.
The Tribune says: Yes. The fundamentals of the higher education sector are unlikely to change any time soon. The government is desperate to reduce immigration, and student numbers are an easy target. At the same time, increasing competition globally is making it harder for even the best UK universities to attract international students. Last year, the amount universities are allowed to charge in tuition fees was increased, but by less than £300 per student per year. Barring a new government funding settlement for universities, more job cuts are sadly likely.
- Will the city centre start to fill up?
2024 was a big year for Sheffield city centre, with the opening up of the long-awaited Heart of the City development. Of the new attractions that opened last year, the Cambridge Street Collective foodhall is always busy and Leah’s Yard saw a big Christmas boost — but quite a few of the new units are still unfilled. 2025 will see yet more development open up in the city centre as the redevelopment of Fargate is finally finished and bits of Cole Brothers are slowly renovated. Is there really enough demand in Sheffield to warrant so much commercial space?
The Tribune says: Yes, but slowly. We’ve gone on record praising the council’s bold decision to spend almost £500 million on the Heart of the City, and we agree that the strategy of increasing the number of people who live in the city centre is the right one. These developments are positive, but on their own are not enough. Whether the city centre fills up will mainly depend on whether people have more money in their pocket to spend on shopping and leisure. With the economic forecast still looking dicey, there are likely to still be plenty of empty shops this time next year.
- Will Sheffield Council be forced to issue a “bankruptcy” (Section 114) notice?
It's not the new calendar year, but the next financial year that will be uppermost in many council officials' minds. Spending has gone well over budget this year, and the reserve designed to cope with future overspends will stand at just £1 million by April. Senior figures acknowledge that this “provides a very limited amount of time for action to be taken”. The big hope has been that Sheffield would get a more generous settlement from the government, but it's since been announced that the city has only be pencilled in for £3 million more than last year.
The Tribune says: Yes. We predict this with regret and really hope it doesn’t have to happen. The council can shuffle some of its other reserves around, possibly buying enough time to negotiate a better deal out of government. But given where things stand today, that feels optimistic. And there is also the spectre of an equal pay claim being put forward by GMB Union, which – from the point of view of council coffers – couldn't come at a worse time.
- Will the miniature steel man be built?
We’ve covered the fate of the steel man — a planned 31-metre-tall landmark to rival the Angel of the North — a couple of times on The Tribune. Despite being conceived in the early 2010s, with an initial plan for completion in 2014, he has yet to materialise, though he has now been rebranded as the “Yorkshire Icon”.
As recently reported by The Star, there’s now a more modest plan, to build a four-metre version on a roundabout near Meadowhall to revive interest in the project. The Star say “it is hoped [the statue] can be unveiled in 2025”. Will it?
The Tribune says: No — we're sorry to be cynical, but given the need to secure planning permission and the big delays on the main project so far, it feels doubtful...
9. Will the city centre crackdown on anti-social behaviour succeed?
As first revealed by The Tribune, Sheffield will be introducing a city centre wide Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) this year, coming into effect in April. A PSPO allows for fines to be given out for behaviours including aggressive begging, drinking to excess and loitering in doorways. We’ll say this has succeeded if the monthly police data shows a clear decrease in anti-social behaviour incidents in the city centre following its introduction.
The Tribune says: No. As we covered in our recent write-up, for a PSPO to succeed there need to be other support services around to help prevent vulnerable individuals from carrying out anti-social behaviour. There are gaps, and with its stretched finances, the council will struggle to fill them. They’ve also been clear that they primarily hope to educate and correct people rather than fining them — so the deterrent might be quite weak.
- Will Sheffield’s pub renaissance get back on track?
Spare a thought for your local pub as the reformed and regretful swerve the booze in January. But up until last year, Sheffield’s pub scene was looking promising. Data from the ONS shows that after a post-financial crash drop to around 315 pubs, the period from 2017-22 saw a rebound, helped in no small amount by our city’s growing reputation for producing top-notch beer. Unfortunately, 2024 saw a hit, no doubt due to cost of living pressures biting.
The Tribune says: We’re going to be optimistic on this one and say: yes. True, many punters are still feeling the pinch. But with inflation cooling off, and plans in the works for a few new city centre pubs next year, things are looking up. Certainly, if the tables in our local (Hop Hideout) are anything to go by, the demand is there.
Tiebreaker: We always strive to maintain complete neutrality when it comes to Blades and Owls, so having started with a question about United, our tiebreaker is: what position will Sheffield Wednesday end the 2024/25 championship in? Depending on your view of the Owls’ prospects, you can pick anything from 1st to 24th…
Now it's your turn! Head to the form here to enter your predictions. And let us know what you think on the big questions in the comments below...
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