Neighbourhoods
Kelham Island: Sheffield’s Industrial Quarter Becomes Its Hippest Neighbourhood
How Sheffield's most industrial neighbourhood became its most creative - without losing its soul.
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Sheffield Stories
Independent recommendations, neighbourhood knowledge and the stories shaping the city.
Music
Tramlines: How Sheffield Got Its Own Glastonbury
Tramlines started as a free festival across Sheffield's pubs and clubs. Here's how it became something much bigger.
Music
Arctic Monkeys: How a Council Estate Band Became the Biggest in Britain
Four lads from High Green who handed out demo CDs at their own gigs and changed British music. The Arctic Monkeys story.
History
Don Valley Stadium: Athletics, Demolition, and the Masterplan That Failed
Don Valley Stadium was built for the 1991 World Student Games, hosted world records and Olympic champions, and was demolished in 2013…
History
Ecclesall Road Then: The Village That Sheffield Swallowed
Ecclesall was its own township with its own church, farms, and identity before the expanding city of Sheffield drew it in. The…
History
The NUM and the Pit Closures: Scargill’s Sheffield and What Orgreave Left
Arthur Scargill ran the NUM from Sheffield. The 1984 strike's aftermath closed every pit in the South Yorkshire coalfield. The demand for…
History
Sheffield Steel: The Industry That Made the City and Left It
Sheffield made the steel that made the modern world. Then the modern world moved on. The industry's story and legacy.
Music
Richard Hawley, Pulp and the Sheffield Sound
Sheffield music has a literary quality that other cities rarely match. Pulp and Richard Hawley made the city a subject, not just…
History
Warp Records: How IDM Came from Sheffield Clubs
Warp Records was founded in Sheffield in 1989 by two record shop employees. The label went on to define an entire genre.…
History
The Great Sheffield Flood of 1864: The Dale Dyke Dam
At midnight on 11 March 1864, the Dale Dyke dam above the Loxley Valley failed and sent 700 million gallons of water…
History
The Sheffield Flood of 2007: The Day the Don Ran Wild
On 25 June 2007, Sheffield experienced the most severe flooding since records began. The River Don overflowed, the Don Valley flooded, and…
History
The Crucible and the Greatest Show in Snooker
The World Snooker Championship has been held at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield since 1977. Nobody planned for it to become the…
History
The Leadmill: How Sheffield Got a Student Union That Changed Music
The Leadmill opened in 1980 in a disused grain warehouse. In its first decade alone it hosted the early shows of bands…
History
Pulp, Common People, and the Class Politics of Sheffield
Common People is the best song about class in British pop music. Jarvis Cocker wrote it from a specific Sheffield perspective -…
History
Kelham Island: From Foundry District to Craft Beer Capital
Kelham Island was Sheffield's industrial heartland. The transformation into the city's most sought-after neighbourhood is one of the better regeneration stories in…
History
How Arctic Monkeys Actually Broke
Arctic Monkeys became the most hyped debut act in British music history without a record label, without a PR campaign, and without…
History
The Steel City Derby: Sheffield Wednesday vs Sheffield United
Sheffield Wednesday and Sheffield United share a city but not a postcode. The Steel City Derby divides Sheffield along lines that are…
History
The Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet: The Last Working Forge
Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet on the River Sheaf is the most complete surviving pre-industrial metal working complex in Britain. The water wheels still…