What's Sheffield like?

G

Gabba Flamenco Crossover

High Sierra Skullfuck
I'm thinking of moving from London to Sheffield, to study and just live somewhere a bit different. My folks used to live in South Yorkshire so I remember going there when I was six - it was great, but my needs have changed since then. So can any current or former Sheffield residents, particularly those with experience of London living, give me a flavour of what it's like? With particular reference to...

The cost of living.

The ease of finding good flatshares with cool 20-30 somethings (because Im not up for living with a bunch of 18 yr olds even if I am at college)

Decent parks and outdoor spaces.

Techno-friendliness of the nightlife.

Severity of cocaine/gastropub damage within the local public house stock.

Potential hostility of the locals to a prodigal northerner who's been living in shandyland for 12 years.
 
john eden

john eden

male pale and stale
Tap up Martin Dust and 2stepfan, they know the koo. 2step made the move from London up there a few years back himself and few are more shandy drinking than him.

Parks/outdoor spaces are good there.
 
M

martin

----
I had a friend from Tooting who moved there in the late 90s and I used to go and stay with her sometimes, I really liked it. Never found it unfriendly, in fact the opposite, people were chatty, laidback and with a good, black, absurdist sense of humour I really connected with - I loved Glasgow and Sheffield and would feel a bit deflated every time the National Express rolled back into Victoria on a wet Monday morning and I saw the London rush hour pushing and shoving kicking off again. The pubs and clubs were good fun, and if you get up early in the morning in winter, you can walk over these hills overlooking loads of industrial estates and dilapidated buildings while listening to early Cab Voltaire and the Normal and soak in that industrial vibe.

Mind you, it might all be different now.
 
V

viktorvaughn

Well-known member
Gabba Flamenco Crossover said:
Yo I've lived here 4 years.

The cost of living.

Pretty good I suppose. I pay 50£ per week and live in a huge, grand (though slightly run-down) terrace. There are loft apartments and some such bollocks going up at a rate of knots in the centre but would recommend houses slightly further out. (can name areas for you) Don't forget Sheffield centre is mad small, like a town. I have walked home 9/10 times I have ever been out clubbing (obviously barring excessive drugs/alcohol consumption!) (maybe up to 40 mins tho).

Once you know the right drinking spots (we can advise) you can avoid the booze axis of evil in the centre.

The ease of finding good flatshares with cool 20-30 somethings (because Im not up for living with a bunch of 18 yr olds even if I am at college)

Not really sure as I went to Uni here, so lived with people I knew through that.

Decent parks and outdoor spaces.

Peak district is like 15 minutes in the car and some of the most beautiful scenery in the UK. Must be best city in UK for easy access to proper rugged gritty outdoors. Big climbing/walking/cycling scene I think.I have hitched out into the peaks easily, and there are buses. Yeah, some heavy parks too. Not as huge as the big London ones obviously, but pretty good.

Techno-friendliness of the nightlife.

Not fantastic tbh. There is one regular night which is breaks/tech house/techno, various other sporadic splurts of minimal or what have you. Google ‘plug nightclub Sheffield’ to see what things they have. Have seen Surgeon, Derrik May, Scarlett Etienne and various other people. Cos there are so many students though it is better not in summer. Leeds is supposed to be quite a bit better.

Severity of cocaine/gastropub damage within the local public house stock.

Hmm, not millions of top oldman pubs, but a few. And a few alright late bar things.

Potential hostility of the locals to a prodigal northerner who's been living in shandyland for 12 years.

Not a problem. Act friendly and not like an ignorant student tosser and it’s all good!
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G

Gabba Flamenco Crossover

High Sierra Skullfuck
Thanks all, keep 'em coming.

Thought I'd better clarify...

Gabba Flamenco Crossover said:
Severity of cocaine/gastropub damage within the local public house stock.
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This is about idiots taking over perfectly good pubs and turning them into pseudo-nitespots for brainless chattering 20 somethings. This is an acute problem in my part of London, albeit a symptom of a wider malaise of gentrification. If you want a normal pub with lurid carpets, a fat middle aged barmaid, some old boys and a pool table, you are seriously limited round here. It's not going to drive me out of London on it's own, but I wouldn't mind living somewhere that keeps it a bit more real.

Maybe a better way of putting this is, how has Sheffield changed over the last decade, and IYO is it for the better?
 
V

viktorvaughn

Well-known member
There does seem to be lots of shiny flats going up in the centre, even just i nthe 4 years i've been there. The area in front of the train station has been totally revamped and is now rather nice. There are plans to redo 'The Moor' i have heard, which is a scruffy shopping arcade of sorts.

So yeah, the forces of gentrification and homogenisation are afoot. I think it does bring a new sheen to whatever to the centre and is not all bad. Certainly no worse than any other city i have been to though. And as ever, there are still nice places to be found. Couple of top beer spots.
 
M

Martin Dust

Techno Zen Master
Gabba Flamenco Crossover said:
The cost of living.
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Next to nothing, you can still buy a 3 bedroom house in the subs for 175,000 brand new :)

Gabba Flamenco Crossover said:
The ease of finding good flatshares with cool 20-30 somethings (because Im not up for living with a bunch of 18 yr olds even if I am at college)
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Take your pick, loads of great places

Gabba Flamenco Crossover said:
Decent parks and outdoor spaces.
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Many, 20 minutes drive and your on the moors, ideal if you are a serial killer ;)

Gabba Flamenco Crossover said:
Techno-friendliness of the nightlife.
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Small nights no real big happenings but there plenty on

Gabba Flamenco Crossover said:
Severity of cocaine/gastropub damage within the local public house stock.
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High but it'll be speed not coke, there's a good mix - you just have to find your places...

Gabba Flamenco Crossover said:
Potential hostility of the locals to a prodigal northerner who's been living in shandyland for 12 years.
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We see it as a victory, welcome - here's a pint.
 
Slothrop

Slothrop

Tight but Polite
viktorvaughn said:
Peak district is like 15 minutes in the car and some of the most beautiful scenery in the UK. Must be best city in UK for easy access to proper rugged gritty outdoors. Big climbing/walking/cycling scene I think.I have hitched out into the peaks easily, and there are buses..
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There's a good train service too - approximately hourly up the Hope Valley and the Vale of Edale towards Manchester.

And yeah, the Peaks is one of the top areas in the country for climbing (and caving) and pretty good for walking too if you like either picturesque countryside or vast lonely moors as well as just pointy things.
 
Grievous Angel

Grievous Angel

Beast of Burden
It's the most beautiful and weirdest city in Britain.

People still thank bus drivers when they get off and men will call you "love" in the street.

It's the greenest city in Europe and the safest place in the country. The parks are unbelievably good and there are loads of them. The Peak district sinks long tendrils deep into the city. There is a large outcropping of ancient forest on the fringe of the old industrial area. Where I am typing now (on the south west side) I can look across the road and down a wooded valley that goes straight into the Peak District. I can walk out into open fields in ten minutes, but I am a ten minute bus ride away from the centre of the city.

It is a hard place to run a club night and the scene is small compared to Leeds or Manchester, which are "proper" cities. Sheffield is a large town that is a city only because it includes lots of other towns, like Rotherham and Doncaster. The north east side of the city is much, much poorer than the south west side.

Houses are beginning to get expensive - they were dirt cheap three years ago. It's still affordable by national standards. Renting is getting cheaper because of a glut of student and yuppie flats. Places to look:

Walkley: edges onto the moors, relatively cheap, bit studenty, very political, very nice.
Crookes / Crookesmoor: very studenty indeed, getting pricey, nice
London Road / Sharrow: urban / asian, bit of edge, really vibey, nice
Nether Edge: getting gentrified but still a bit of a cosmopolitan, hippy hang out

There are many other areas worth a look.

The centre of town is pretty bachannalian on a Saturday night. I quite like it. Restaurants used to be rubbish but it's much better.

Sheffield is home to the world's greatest techno label.

I still rejoice every single day of my life that I get to live here instead of London.

http://sheffield.gumtree.com/
 
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Mr. Tea

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
Martin Dust said:
Not where we drink :) It's used as a measure to test people and why would you pay for 2/3rds of a pint?
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Oh, I'm not implying a deliberate ripping-off or anything, I just mean the traditional sparkler on the beer pump nozzle giving rise to the massive foamy head (and its replusive simulacrum, the 'smoothflow' pump :mad:).
 
M

Martin Dust

Techno Zen Master
Mr. Tea said:
Oh, I'm not implying a deliberate ripping-off or anything, I just mean the traditional sparkler on the beer pump nozzle giving rise to the massive foamy head (and its replusive simulacrum, the 'smoothflow' pump :mad:).
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That's why we use oversized pots, it's not a pint without a head on it.
 
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