Sheffield city centre Castlegate area destroyed 

Totally agree with you. I was down at Cardiff arms park in 2005 for the Wednesday play off final, the town centre was still buzzing them. Shoppers and councils are both to blame, Sheffield council haven't a clue and are wrecking on purpose to turn the city centre into one big University campus with High rises everywhere Hugo.

Angel St before it was bombed was like a Fairy tale. Arundel gate/charter row roads bulldozed through the city centre after the war destroyed so much. The Corn exchange was a beauty.

Angel Street's facade's were stunning, each and every building complemented one another. The Corn Exchange is another favourite of mine. The drop Gothic arches that helped to create the veranda (of sorts) on the ground floor are noteworthy. The Victorians had a great sense of purpose and optimism.

Why can't we build these old buildings using modern methods?@@dwnxdw

Once the heart of Sheffield.

I now call it Shitefield cus it is.

Only in your opinion.

All the born and bread Sheffielders will say that this area has had the life sucked out of it. any who say it hasn't are living in La la land. The Moor at the moment is empty compared with how this thriving area once was.

@@timawells Absolutely true there,its sat there just rotting away instead of making something good from it. They're chucking money away on Fargate yet again,how many more changes is that area gonna go through 🤨

I was born & bred in Sheffield in 1950, & walked down either Snig Hill or King St on my way to work every morning in the mid-60’s. Put me there now & I would be totally lost & not have a clue which City I was in. I moved out to Nth. Derbyshire when I got married early 70’s & have hardly been back since. Looking at this now, I don’t think I’m missing much - Is this called progress ?

I have been coming out all through lockdown to document and I am getting disorientate as they remove the character rather than small gradual improvements.

I think we are in retrograde. My dad remembers big Ada.

I’m 76 & I remember Big Ada on Dixon Lane where my Mum would go for her fruit & veg for the week-end every Saturday afternoon. The old lady who had a Weighing-Chair at the very top of Dixon Lane. It was Brass & Red Velvet & you could sit in it while it swung & weighed you for 1 penny. People weren’t bothered about how much they weighed in those days - so very few people were over-weight.

I totally agree.

Absolutely correct. And we'll be sorry one day.

So full of life and now the dead centre of Sheffield Sam. This is by design not incompetence.

Its been completely destroyed. I know we went through massive job losses in the 1980s due to the cutting of jobs in the steel industry, but town was still buzzing. Since they closed the hole in the road(needed renovating) and built the super tram in 94 they have done everything possible to kill it.

True that, even with all the industry closing as it did, city centre still had a buzz about it in the 80s. 2 Pence to get on the bus to town, used to go every Saturday as it was the thing to do on a Saturday morning. Beatties was my favourite shop as well as Just Micro and Games Workshop on The Moor.

Yes every Saturday we all trooped into Town Alex.@@AlexMitchell-sj4sb

Spent many hours as a teenager in Games workshop, Beatties and just micro. Every Saturday would go into town just to see all the computers I couldn’t have. Always went to a chippy near pond street bus station up on the gallery and having chips and gravy. They also had a defender and vanguard arcade cabinets which we used to play whilst eating the chips. Do you remember the horse drawn open top bus that used to go round town in about 82? Used to get on it near the NCP car park near Sunwin house.

Did you get down to Redgates. That chippy was a greasy spoon one. Can't remember the horse draw bus. @@mrgonk871

I think they take the biscuit.

From being a young child my dad always parked on Maltravers car park, I still park by the canal basin and walk in. Its very sad.

Not half Roy. Can it be turned back around?

No parking anywhere

Unless you pay NCP charges. $10 for a few hours on the Moor. Free to park at Meadowhall. That is the issue. Sheffield had cheap parking at the bottom of the Parkway before they built all over it and a decent bus service..@@mudball220

Have you seen my Doncaster video Andy? The destruction is happening UK wide. Thanks for your kind comments. Me and We will be out this weekend trying out my new CAZ sign by the Midland station.

Yeah I did see the Doncaster video - and really appreciated the honest coverage Tim. Good on you for standing up mate. Hope you get a good turn out for the CAZ tax opposition! It's shocking to see whats going on, in UK and all over the west (all in lock step - the great reset - WEF etc... unbelievable). Take care @@timawells

They are talking about opening up the river Sheaf and putting a park around the castle ruins, but other than that nothing. I would rebuild the castle as a tourist attraction. The markets needed rebuilding rather than moving to the bottom of the Moor. I could turn this area into a Paradise if I got my way Mike.

@@timawells Yes agreed. The Castle would be a brilliant tourist attraction. I'm surprised the money grabbing Council haven't thought it through. ! What use is a park when no one goes into town anymore !

I think focusing this area on our industrial past and an Iconic castle rebuilt as per www.guedelon.fr/en@@AMikeOnLine

@@timawells Great link and a great read, thanks Tim. Almost makes me jealous of what they are doing in France. I'm sure we have the skill set to do a similar thing here. Imagine the income and the jobs it would create.

It would create some great skills for the people constructing it and may be jobs many homeless could be part of. @@AMikeOnLine

What a lovely building Linda, but it was the character of the people and the hustle and bustle. XX

Some towns seemed to have escaped the madness. Yes we could say its incompetence but it looks planned. Kate Josephs the CEO of Sheffield council was the Task master general who impose the draconian lockdown on people who fell for it.

I don't think the new Market compares, rents doubled as far as I know.

I remember my mother dragging us through the market on the way home to pick up a bargain cake and then jump on the bus at the side of the Sheaf market.

@@timawells my mum used to take us into fish market in Castle Market to buy meat,used to hate the smell of fish.

Same with me the fish was a strong smell, like the hops near Castle St.@@stellahawkins1958

I used to come from Rotherham with my mum and sister when we were kids, was a great day out, used to love seeing big fish tank in the hole in the Rd, loved coming to see Sheffield Xmas lights

Do you remember the Christmas ride in Castle House Co-op on Angel St and the spiral staircase? Lights were 2nd only to Blackpool in those days.@@janetmcneice6246

Yes incompetence by design.

I think its the same for all our great cities. I notice it more it being my home city.

There is a spiral stair case through the centre of it no longer visible. Its nothing compared with its former glory.

Occupied by both Kommune and the National Videogame Museum isn't it?

I recall a Star article a few years back mentioning it was going to be turned into office space and a recording studio. I wonder if those plans still exist for it.

@@timawells I remember! The electrical department was on the top floor. I was 15 in 1986. Left Sheffy in 1991 for university. Returning for the last time in 1995 was a haunting experience. It was at the end of the summer on a Saturday evening as I made my way from the train station to the Novotel near the old registry office. The town centre was deserted under a purple sky...It was like being in an art house film! I'll never forget that moment of surreal solitude! The next few days in Sheffy weren't as interesting despite me checking out my old haunts some of which were closed down. I live in Liverpool now and yes, everything you've heard about Scousers is true but I have made some great friendships here.

The council will do ten fold damaged the Germans did. High St, Angel St, Snig Hill and The Moor were the worse hit. I have no hope for Castlegate, the Park they are creating isn't what I expected. I expect High rises all around it.

Absolutely.

You mean the same Bolshevik's doing what they have done since the 1950's? Gary

Fargate is shocking.

@@timawells I hear that Tim. Every time I go to Fargate there's another fence up with more construction work or the mini Berlin Walls around (or should I say the anti-terrorism ramparts) I'm left thinking, why did I bother to come to town?

@@Sheffield_Steve These metal posts are there to install fear. It was concrete blocks in lockdown that became flower pots.

The spiral staircase if blocked off. Did you go to Bridge st bus station Alex?

@@timawells No, it was a bus stop on Snig Hill. Bus to Stannington, can't remember the number.

The Modern John Lewis was built in Barkers Pool and the Old Gaumont cinema was across from it. But the Original John Lewis building Coles was on the corner of Fargate and High St and looked glorius.

They spend money making things worse. But I can't understand how exchanging 70,000 producing steel jobs for 70,000 students who are heavily in debt, that debt is taken on by us in 75% of cases and non producers. 90% of these students should be in their home cities doing worthwhile apprenticeships. The students get to vote in Sheffield, clear off and leave us with disastrous Labour; Liberal and Green policies. P.S. All the decent pubs have gone and where are all the bands?

@timawells The shops and restaurants that once stood in the areas in your video would surely still be there if they were profitable. All that student accommodation is ugly, but it makes a lot of money, and allows the older housing in the surrounding areas to stay affordable despite the influx of students. And i know this goes against my previous point, but Sheffield also has the highest percentage of students anywhere who choose to continue living in the city after graduating, so i dont think they're voting against the city's interests (at least not knowingly). I don't think these are partisan issues anyway, the tory council bankrupted us here, and I dont have any faith in labour either. The housing crisis is forcing people to migrate north, and no party is seriously committing to build more housing to solve it. People further south in the country literally can't afford to stay in their home towns. Half of my friends have moved to Manchester, Sheffield, or Leeds already, because they offer more for less. It's true, we're part of the problem for those perhaps like yourself who have lived in Sheffield for generations, but what's the alternative for us? I've only been to Sheffield a handful of times so far, but it's better in practically every way than Northampton (shocker!), while being cheaper. Easy access to stunning nature has become extremely desirable too since everyone was locked in during covid.

You need to understand the history as a Sheffielder. The council allowed Meadowhall to be built then removed cheap car parking in the city. The markets have always been in the Castlegate area for 750 years, so what do they do, move them to the other side of Sheffield. I am against the modern Universities which I see as a money fraud destroying Sheffield, funded 90% by our money, when we should be manufacturing cleanly in Sheffield. I understand your predicament, I worked around the UK in the 90s for Midland Bank/HSBC, big bang and mass immigration into London has caused the issue you know have. I saw this coming back in the early 90s, I dreaded working in London. Back then Sheffield was still Sheffield. Best Tim

@timawells Thanks Tim, I appreciate your perspective. You're right, it's easy to gloss over the details when I don't know the history, as i have no attachment to its past. I do hope we enter an era of councils seriously being held accountable for their actions, and perhaps the glory days of Sheffield can return. I'm vaguely left wing and the son of an immigrant myself, but I think it's idiotic when people don't accept that there are some major downsides to immigration.

At least you are willing to look at things from the other perspective. Some just want to walk all over our feelings. @@thegrinderman1090

Only town I have managed to find any life in was Barnsley in South Yorkshire, both on my channel. My nearest town is Worksop which used to be fantastic now a ghost town every one shops at Meadowhell. I have seen pictures of Rotherham town centre back in the 1950s it looked fantastic, they started destroying Rotherham in the 1980s with a one way system, while I was at College there.

@@timawells I was at Thomas Rotherham from 86-88 then at RCAT for a year. It was still a busy town at that time. I was shocked to see that they knocked down the lovely buildings on Corporation St. Fortunately they left the top ones that are on high st. I’m not sure the one way system had a massive detrimental effect but who knows. Meadowhall and Parkgate shopping centres are the big ones I think.

You aren't related to Paul Eyre I did my process control apprenticeship with are you? I spent 5 years at British Steel Rotherham,@@neileyre6019

@@timawells I am related to a Paul Eyre who I recently found, something like 4th cousins, doing my family tree. My uncle worked there too Peter Roebuck.

I thought you may have been, Paul was still working at Stocksbridge steels the last time I spoke to him. What was Peter Roebucks job?@@neileyre6019

Its very fair to blame Sheffield council. They have done everything possible to make it a nightmare getting into Sheffield with a car, they removed all the cheap parking at the bottom of the Parkway for Saturday shoppers and moved the market to the bottom of the Moor, when it has been there for 700 years. Back in 1985 when I worked at HSBC, from 1985 to 1995 I could park on the road for free off Tenter St, then they started restricting parking. Then they stopped us driving down the Parkway and through town and made the journey in and out of Sheffield a nightmare. You will find Leeds and Manchester are thriving shopping centres. Why allow Meadowhall to be built in the first place, if they didn't have the plans to do what they are now doing with the Universities.

@@timawells You’re quite right that Manchester and Leeds are doing well in their city centres but they’re exceptions. The decline in Rotherham town centre predated and has been more severe than that of Sheffield yet it’s a different council. The local economies of Sheffield and Rotherham have simply never recovered from the decline of the steel industry. Same is true of where I live now, Stoke on Trent, which has lost its potteries, collieries and steel industry. The urban decay in Stoke is quite staggering, much worse than Sheffield, and it does not have Meadowhall to compensate.

I know Stoke well I worked there and a girlfriend came from there. I can't believe what has happened to Hanley. But Sheffield are Rotherham are a total mis management by the council. Sheffield council doesn't want cars in the city and want to turn it into an University campus with High rise flats. They destroyed the city centre putting the supertram in which isn't fit for purpose, then destroyed it when upgrading the Moor as they left that part of town closed for over 10 years. now they have done the same to Fargate and High St. They could have competed against Meadowhell if they hadn't shut out cars or provided a decent transport system. @@WilliamHayes-Wood-gg5hr

Blame the council all you like ... the tories and the mis-management of the economy are to blame ... They have finished the job Thatcher started in the 1980's? And it's not just Sheffield!

I will blame the council all I like, they are the ones pushing the Net Zero fraud and don't know how to conservatively spend money. I haven't voted Tory since the 90s, but Labour when in power were Tories, privatised the NHS, went to war illegally in Iraq and opened the flood gates to immigration. All the mainstream parties are traitors.@@stevejohnson4111

Wasn't it the cinemas that were on the outside of the Fiesta building or are you talking about another cinema. cinematreasures.org/theaters/27483

@@timawells the cinema was in hole in the road if i remember correctly... I'm talking mid 80s...i even remember the film i watched bloody care bears😆... auntie took me i was about 3 or 4

I was born in 1964 i can never remember a cinema in the hole in the road.@@leeturton9254

1994 was the year they shut down the hole in the road and smashed the High St when they installed supertram, its been downhill ever since sadly. Where did you come from before Sheffield? Best Tim

Absolutely Mark. I think the hole in the road was a great idea, but they had zero security or maintenance on it. But at that time it was a Tory controlled council.

Totally agreed. The hole in the road needed cleaning up and security. The tram smashed straight through small and medium businesses which never recovered. However back in the 1970s they talked of putting a monorail over the Hole in the road.

Totally agree its not all Amazon as the council have made it impossible to get in with a car and there is no bus service. All they are concerned with is the Univesity.

Its a ghost town.

I am Sheffield born and bred from 1964. Where Argos was Cockaynes, which became Schofield of Leeds and then Argos. The ABC was at the bottom on the corner of Angel St and Bank St, got knocked down and became a car park that I parked on to dance at the Boardwalk, They then built the Premier inn on the site of the ABC. You can see the Boardwalk/ Mucky duck just to the right of it in this picture. cinematreasures.org/theaters/25406

I have just been told I don't like progress and that Sheffield used to be crime ridden in the 1990s. I don't think they were watching my video I what i said.

@@timawells destroying a city is NOT progress,all cities are looking the same,got no individuality it's tragic.

Cities should inspire us and not depress us with the sameness Stella. We once had beautiful ornamental gardens now shrub gardens. @@stellahawkins1958

We still do have beautiful ornamental gardens.

There is no one around to throw litter down and the street cleaners come in from Canal basin on their daily routine.

I remember Rotherham from my days at the College in the 1980s, totally butchered as well.

I personally want a balance between shopping online for things I could never purchase locally, I don't like shopping online for everything I buy. Meadowhall has no issues, because the council have destroyed access to Sheffield and the parking charges are now ridiculous. I avoid Meadowhall like the plague.

@@timawells Ye sure. Every business needs foot traffic to pull people in, but why would anyone be here in the first place?

I remember it as a Chinese. May have been a small nightclub in the bottom I can't remember.

Due to the large number of students and middle class living in Sheffield they have willing participants. But I haven't given up the ghost to waking people up to the madness the reason for these videos.

A lost cause fella. @@timawells

I can understand, its recorded and people need to know what has happened.. I think we can turn the clock back it happened in a communist part of France.

They are destroying Sheffield on purpose to turn into a 15 minute city. When ever we visited a B&B as kids we always checked knifes were made in Sheffield.

We can now see why Walkley residents were pushed out as this has now become a student area. They have a plan we aren't included in Andrew.

Funny how they said building flats in the 60s which had lots of green space surrounding them was bad,. Now they have built 10 times the number of flats that are taller with no Green space.

@@timawells they just see people as cash cows Pack em in make lots of money then run for the hills any issles that arise later on they response " nowt to do with us ".