First thoughts on Sheffield

It looks as though I will be spending most of the next few weeks in Sheffield and I am looking forward to exploring it as I have only been here once before and that was for one day the better part of thirty years ago.

It is pretty harsh to judge anywhere after just a couple of days but here are some initial thoughts on Sheffield anyway!



The public spaces in the centre of the city are plentiful, large, surrounded by impressive buildings old and new, are packed with urban art and are largely devoid of people.

In fact the whole of the centre feels like a scene from a post-apocalyptic film (think 28 Days Later) with the few people that are to be seen sheltered in the buses and trams that cross the city.

There are lots of hotels. These are also empty but somehow manage to charge around £100 a night.

There is plenty of urban art and this is a good mix of the majestic, such as in Peace Square shown above, and the subtle. One of my favourites is this multi-story car park that is clad in shaped steel squares to hide its purpose.

There is also quite a lot of street furniture (benches, bins and barriers etc.) which seems to have been procured at different times as there are several distinct styles in use across the city centre. I particularly like the bins and barriers that look like extra terrestrial armoured warriors.

The restaurants that I have found so far tend to be Mediterranean in nature and while I have managed to eat both Indian and Chinese these took some finding and I have, so far, only found one of each.

This is my only my third day in Sheffield with quite a few more to come which will be spent working hard then wandering around curiously with camera n hand. More views of the city in pictures and words will follow.