THINGS TO DO IN SHEFFIELD DURING THE PANDEMIC

Sheffield has a lot of green space in the city and places to walk. The countryside around is also spectacular, some of which is accessible by foot if you don’t mind a bit of a walk…

Parks:

• Crookes Valley Park 

• The Bole Hills (great view!)

• Botanical gardens

• Endcliffe park

• Norfolk park

• Meersbrook park

• Graves park

Walks:

• Porter Valley

• Round Sheffield walk

• Rivelin Valley

• Loxley Valley

• Sheffield General Cemetery

• Sheffield Cathedral

• Sheffield street art, including works by Sheffield-based artists Pete McKee, Kid Acne and Phlegm

• Park Hill Flats might not look the part, but they are a listed historical building. Find out more here.

• Peddler Street Food Market events. 

• London Road is a good area for eating, with lots of variety and reasonable prices.

• The best donuts money can buy.

• For authentic Neapolitan style pizzas, Proove and Napoli Centro are excellent options - both deliver. 

• Forge Bakehouse on Abbeydale Road is justly famous for bread and other baked goods.

• Showroom independent cinema.

• Sheffield museums and art galleries.

• Very good second hand bookshop run by ex-student, with good selection of philosophy titles.

• For souvenirs, try The Famous Sheffield Shop on Ecclesall Road; or one of the museum shops.

• Sharrow Vale has a bunch of independent businesses, including food and drink shops, cafés, restaurants and antique stores. 

• For stuff made in Sheffield, try Sheffield Makers in Hunters Bar or the Winter Gardens.

• You cannot call yourself a true Sheffielder unless there is a bottle of Henderson’s Relish (Hendo’s) in your pantry. You can buy it at most supermarkets.

• For shopping on a large scale, Sheffield’s very own mall: https://www.meadowhall.co.uk.

Sheffield has a rich musical tradition. Sheffield was a major part of the birth of synthpop and electronic music, with The Human League, Heaven 17, ABC and Cabaret Voltaire emerging from the city. Warp Records was founded here. Heavy metal superstars Def Leppard are also from Sheffield. More recently, famous alt-rock/indie bands from Sheffield include Pulp and the Arctic Monkeys; in a similar genre, Richard Hawley’s song “Cole’s Corner” commemorates a much-loved Sheffield landmark. You can find out more about Pulp in the documentary ‘Pulp: A Film about Life, Death and Supermarkets’.

Foodhall Community Radio broadcasting at the weekends. 

Hilary Mantel is one of Britain’s most popular contemporary novelists (start with Wolf Hall); she studied at the University of Sheffield. Or if you fancy thrillers, Lee Child (of Jack Reacher fame) studied at the University as well. You could also read local author Johnny Pitts’ 2019 book Afropean: Notes from Black Europe and associated blog. And if you are into poetry, you could check out local poets Helen Mort, or Otis Mensah (Sheffield's poet laureate). 

The History Boys and The Full Monty are both set in Sheffield; as is the less well known 1984 post-nuclear apocalypse movie Threads. Many scenes in the cult classic ‘The Princess Bride’ were filmed nearby.  Much of the TV series ‘This is England’ was filmed in the city; as well as some scenes from 1988 TV drama A Very British Coup (in which a left-wing politician from Sheffield becomes Prime Minister). Warp Films recently finished filming Everybody’s Talking about Jamie in Sheffield, due for release in February 2021.

• Voluntary Action Sheffield is one place to look for opportunities.