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Distinctive Sheffield
When I first came to Sheffield, I was struck by how very different – odd even – the city was compared with any other large town that I had ever known. Sure, in places it did conform to my conception – as someone brought up in the south – of a gritty northern industrial city. But that was far less important than a whole series of other things that made Sheffield special, and for me still does. It's partly a matter of topography: I had been living in Cambridge immediately before coming here, and couldn't at first get over the fact that you were always either downhill or uphill of where you wanted to be. It's also to do with architecture and form of the city: all those rows of stone-fronted houses and the clusters of special buildings on prominent hillsides. And it's to do with really wild country right on the city's doorstep.
Arriving …
One of the things that I love about Sheffield is arriving and leaving the city. Coming up from London by rail the train climbs its way out of the Rother valley, plunges into Bradway tunnel to cross the frontier of The North and comes out – not in the heart of a big city, but in a secret place, overhung by trees with an upland stream running alongside the track. At first more or less the only signs of habitation are Dore station, a nice piece of Midland Railway rustic architecture, and the Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet. Only later do you pass the more obviously urban Millhouses Park and the city begins to open out and the familiar landmarks come into view. In no other big city do you arrive quite like that.
This is one of Sheffield's big surprises, but many other entries to the city are just as good. Coming over the moors from the Snake Pass perhaps, where the city gently envelopes you as you come down Rivelin Valley, or over the hills from Huddersfield. Perhaps best of all is cycling (a bit more laboriously these days, for me) up Ringinglow Road and finding suddenly that the city is beneath and behind you, something you can then enjoy in the glorious view from the head of Porter Clough as you pause for breath. And in each of the views the city is subtly different. The same buildings appear in different configurations and reveal new things about the way the city is put together.
Secret places
Abbeydale is far from being the city's only secret place. Favourites of mine are Stalker Walk and Frog Walk alongside the Porter Brook and the atmosphere of timelessness that seems to set Sharrow Snuff Mill apart from its surroundings. Then there's Mushroom Lane, with its stone boundary walls, running along the edge of Crookes Valley Park, that tricks you into thinking you are somewhere far removed from urban life. Much the same is true of that unbelievable pocket-handkerchief wilderness that is Sunny Bank, an unbelievable oasis next to Ecclesall Road. But I also love the way that Porter Brook is now becoming accessible as it passes through the Cultural Industries Quarter as a counterpoint to the industrial buildings and a reminder of the importance of water to Sheffield.
Industrial buildings
Buildings and places are my stock-in-trade and there are too many special things in Sheffield for me to record all my favourites here. Sheffield does not appear to have industrial buildings of the grandeur to be found in West Yorkshire or Lancashire, or the kind of mercantile magnificence you find in the centres of Liverpool or Manchester. But it has great riches nevertheless.
I love the great wealth of industrial architecture which still exists, much of it modest in form (and not always very well built) but distinctive in the way in which building ranges enclose a courtyard with an archway onto the street. A particular, recent, favourite is Portland Works, off Bramall Lane. Not only is it a very good example of the kind of building that the little mesters of 19th century Sheffield worked in, it is still being used in exactly the way that it was intended. Highly skilled independent craftsmen, many of them still in the metal trades, able to benefit from being in close association with others, represent a continuing tradition, something which keeps faith with Sheffield's past, but is part of its future too.
Town Hall
I have, of course, more obvious favourites. The Town Hall is one such. It's not just the wow-factor of the entrance hall or the Mayor's Parlour, or the familiar, and rightly much-loved, landmark of the campanile. Conservation Advisory Group met for many years in one or other of the committee rooms along Surrey Street, and I was always struck by the robust simplicity of those rooms and the evident care with which the all details, like the early electric light fittings, had been designed. And there are other equally quirky interiors, like the rates hall, that unfortunately the public does not often see.
Small shops
It's not only buildings that make Sheffield special. Its shops also have a certain charm. Sadly, its network of small bakers selling rather good bread, and things like custard tarts, tray parkin and Battenberg cake, has nearly all gone. But Pollards, a traditional grocery store in its original Glossop Road shop when I first arrived, still sells a wonderful range of coffees and teas. Or again there is Beanies, part of a new generation of small shops with its big array of fruit and veg. And in an era of DIY superstores where else can you find such a comprehensive hardware store as Williamsons in Broomhill?
Eating out
When I first came to Sheffield, it was best to draw a veil over the possibilities for eating out. If you wanted a really good meal, you cooked it yourself. Happily that has changed beyond all recognition, and eating out has become a favourite pastime here, with a wonderful range of restaurants. There's everything from a delicious sandwich eaten in PJTaste's cosy premises in Glossop Road to Chinese hot-pot and dumplings at Jabu and really great cooking at Moran's (one of Abbeydale's secrets) or Artisan.
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