Sheffield is a city of real creative integrity. It never shouts about itself and doesn’t compromise. Look at its musical history. From cult acts (Cabaret Voltaire, Roisin Murphy) to crossover stars (Pulp, Arctic Monkeys), this city has consistently produced singular artists of significant influence. That is not a coincidence. Those acts are products of a culture that, across Sheffield’s tight-knit music, film and visual arts scenes, detests careerism and prizes individuality.
“The artistic community feels staunchly independent in a way that has a real intelligence,” says Liam O’Shea, who runs music venue Hope Works.
The reasons for Sheffield’s developing in this way – modest, principled, perverse, insular – are complex. Locals credit everything from Methodism and geography (the surrounding hills), to the left-wing politics of what was once dubbed the People’s Republic of South Yorkshire. Whatever the reason, Sheffield has its own ecology, where tiny scenes and nationally influential ones (such as the bassline movement around well-loved club Niche, which reopened at the end of January) can flourish in isolation.
Those scenes are often sustained by little more than the ingenuity of skint enthusiasts. “Sheffield was really badly hit in the 1980s. It had to rebuild and people had to get resourceful,” says O’Shea, who DJs and produces as Lo Shea. “It fostered a DIY ethic which is now hardwired in the city.”
A significant number of the city’s most interesting cultural nodes – Yellow Arch Studios, Site gallery, charitable ticket agency Party For The People, Tramlines festival, artisan-makers’ co-op Regather – started as small grassroots endeavours. From Black Beacon Sound to Off Me Nut, Parallax Unknown to Delicious Clam, Sheffield is likewise home to a remarkable number of specialist record labels (around 15).
“Loads of bands exist in their own bubble, putting out cassette releases of stuff that doesn’t fit in anywhere,” says Adrian Flanagan of the Eccentronic Research Council and the Moonlandingz. “The best stuff in Sheffield tends to be done by shy, almost anti-promoters, who are happy escaping from the day-to-day with a few mates in the back of a pub.”
Others are more conflicted about Sheffield’s reluctance to sell itself. There are interesting things happening in food and craft beer just outside central Sheffield (in Kelham Island, on Sharrow Vale Road or around Abbeydale Road’s so-called Antiques Quarter), but does anyone outside the city know?
“Sheffield is laid-back – that is part of its charm – but, equally, we want people to shout about it a bit more: to attract people to live, work and study here,” says Claire Thornley, editor of Sheffield guide ourfaveplaces.co.uk – another DIY project by Sheffield design studio Eleven.
There is a lot of affordable work space in Sheffield, and Creative Arts Development Space (CADS), which manages 162 studios over 13 sites, is seeing a trickle of people relocating from London. “We’re talking to fashion designers who are going from spending £3,000 a month on a room to £400 in Sheffield,” says operations manager Kiran Antcliffe. “If you’re working for yourself, living in Sheffield is a no-brainer.”
CULTURE
99 Mary Street
Thanks in part to the pioneering work of the Designers Republic and Universal Everything, Sheffield is a hotbed of creativity that fuses design and visual art. The design studio DED Associates also curates 99 Mary Street, a gallery/event space that has shown everyone from pop art legend Peter Blake to local cut-and-paste star Paul Carruthers. It is about to launch the appointment-only Viewing Room, a tiny shipping container gallery – “an espresso for the eyes” - at new Kelham Island creative hub Krynkl. Geographically, 99 Mary Street forms what Claire Thornley describes as an “art triangle” with Bloc Projects, APG Works’ gallery and ad hoc exhibition space B&B. “B&B recently curated Feature Walls, a great street art festival where 16 international artists created murals across Sheffield,” says Thornley.
• 99mary.st
Dina
A DIY arena for art markets and exhibitions, comedy and film nights, Dina also hosts club nights and gigs. “I saw Islam Chipsy one Sunday night,” recalls Adrian Flanagan. “It proper went off. Eighty Yorkshiremen and women full of Sunday dinner, losing their shit to an Egyptian keyboard warrior. This is one of the world’s most open-minded cities.”
• 32 Cambridge Street, on Facebook
S1 Artspace
In 2015, this collaborative artist-led studios and gallery relocated to Park Hill, the controversial brutalist housing estate that dominates the skyline behind Sheffield station. Urban Splash is slowly transforming the estate and – ahead of a planned permanent arts centre - S1 is developing an interim exhibition space and a sculpture garden (with five concrete plinths by artist Keith Wilson). Both projects should be completed by the summer, when S1 will return to staging exhibitions that Thornley describes as “Sheffield’s most interesting contemporary art shows”.
• 21-24 South Street, s1artspace.org
Theatre Deli
North London-based company Theatre Delicatessen takes empty commercial units around the country (in Sheffield it’s an old Woolworths), and turns them into platforms for experimental theatre. Its next festival of performance, Let’s Talk About Sex, happens in March. The wider building and its cafe act as a hub for numerous community events, from political seminars to Chella Quint’s #periodpositive project craft sessions, which challenge menstrual taboos.
• 17 The Moor, theatredelicatessen.co.uk
Handmade Cinema
Radical cinema has a strong lineage in Sheffield, manifest at the indie Showroom cinema or the globally renowned Doc/Fest (June 9-14). At grassroots level, Handmade throws cut-price, immersive family film events (food, music, crafts and more) and co-founded a riot grrrl-inspired events collective called Girl Gang. Similarly DIY, Sharrow Reels shows films in a Wesleyan chapel (on Facebook), while queer culture champions Andro & Eve stage ad hoc screenings across Sheffield.
MUSIC
The Night Kitchen
Dressed with artworks and sculptures, this late-night rabbit warren may close later this year. The whole site (an old factory run as creative space by CADS) is slated for redevelopment. But for now, Night Kitchen is one of Sheffield’s best underground venues. It usually opens one weekend a month and showcases international and local talent, such as Toddla T and Deadbeat UK. “They’ve had some great nights,” says musician David Boswell, who produces techno as Bozzwell and electro-pop with his band HiEM. “I played there with Daniel Avery and Xosar and it was full-on, one of those nights when you get in at 7am and sleep for 14 hours.”
• 7 Smithfield, on Facebook
The Harley
Owned by Dave Healy, co-founder of urban music festival Tramlines (21-23 July), the Harley is lots of things: pub, burger joint (twistedburger.co), hotel, tea room. It is also a 200-capacity venue which staged early XX and Arctic Monkeys gigs and facilitates credible club nights such as Banana Hill, Pretty Pretty Good and the free community-minded event Rite Trax, which fuses DJs, live acts, spoken word and graffiti. “Rite Trax runs workshops and holds down two radio shows, including one for Sheffield’s UK Mondo. Sheffield’s proud of them,” says Boswell.
• 334 Glossop Road, theharley.co.uk
Audacious Space
A DIY label and rehearsal rooms (home to left-field sonic explorers such as Blood Sport and Saif Mode), the Audacious Art Experiment’s HQ has, latterly, coalesced into a small BYOB venue that programmes Sheffield’s most exciting experimental shows. “I’ve seen twee folk there, weird performance art, pounding techno; you never know what to expect apart from good vibes,” says Kiran Antcliffe.
• 107a Harwood Street, theaudaciousartexperiment.com
Hope Works
Hope Works is a raw warehouse rave space. “No frills, minimal decor, top sound,” says Antcliffe. From Anthony Naples to the Zenker Brothers, its roll call of previous guests reads like an A to Z of cutting-edge European and US electronic music. In a city where heavyweight dub and black music is a significant influence (think Warp’s bass-busting bleep techno), Hope Works – particularly at its Gett Off parties – also embraces bass music, from grime to experimental dub.
• Unit 1A, Hope Works, Sussex Road, hope-works.co.uk
Record Junkee
Sheffield sustains a number of record shops such as Record Collector, Spinning Discs and Tonearm, but Record Junkee also doubles as a 150-capacity gig venue. “While dancing to your favourite jam, you can check out if they’ve got that new Seth Troxler 12-inch in,” says Boswell.
• 7 Earl Street, recordjunkee.co.uk
DRINK
Shakespeare’s
Something of a beer-vana, Sheffield has a solid network of watering holes pushing A1 craft ales. (One of its best, the Sheffield Tap is slap bang on the station.) Shakespeare’s is a plainly decorated former Georgian coaching inn with numerous cask and keg lines. It will please both pub purists and craft fanatics. “It’s laid-back, the beer’s superbly kept and you can grab a cheese and ham butty alongside the latest Cloudwater DIPA,” says Jules Gray from the bottle shop and tasting room, Hop Hideout (pint from £3.30).
• Pint from £2.50, 146-148 Gibraltar Street, shakespeares-sheffield.co.uk
Picture House Social
Once the billiard hall and ballroom in the 1920s Abbeydale Picture House, this basement bar is adored in Sheffield. It is just out of town in the Antiques Quarter, but people travel for its craft beers, free ping-pong, pizzas (“Outrageously good,” says Lauren Eve Hutchinson, who runs the gourmet doughnut cafe Eve Kitchen), and effervescent Saturday night sets from Plenty Vibes DJ Ashley Holmes. Says Adrian Flanagan: “There’s a live room which has hosted the Moonlandingz and a mini cinema where you can catch cool arthouse films and music documentaries put on by local promoter Sensoria.”
• Pint from £3.20, 383 Abbeydale Road, picture-house-social.com
Walkley Beer Co
This tiny suburban bottle shop opens for limited hours and has limited seating, but it is worth seeking out for its range of cask, keg and bottled beers from the likes of Wiper & True, Marble and Burning Sky. “It’s a friendly, cosy place to while away your Friday night,” says Gray. Similarly welcoming and diminutive is two-roomed micropub the Beer House (623 Ecclesall Road).
• Thurs to Sat only, pint from £3, 362 South Road, walkleybeer.co.uk
The Tramshed
On the southerly Meersbrook edge of the Antiques Quarter, the Tramshed is a small bar with a big rep thanks to its one-off decor (the bar was built from off-cuts of marble from bathroom showrooms), good choice of bottled craft beers (Vocation, Bad Seed, Tiny Rebel) and discerning music policy. “It has great DJ nights and a friendly vibe,” says Boswell. Antcliffe is another fan: “It feels like the owners are doing it for love not money.”
• Drinks from £3.30, 51 Chesterfield Road, (on Facebook)
Haggler’s Corner
“It’s an old works with an internal courtyard that has been converted into a community venue with a cafe, yoga room and artist studios. It’s great for parties,” says food and travel blogger Raif Collis , who has used Haggler’s for his pop-up restaurant ClandesDine. Haggler’s new bar will reflect this creative spirit, with DJs and live acoustic acts. Its beer range includes bottles from music-themed brewer Signature, and a cask line dispensing ales from locals such as Bradfield and Abbeydale.
• Pint from £3.20, 586 Queens Road, hagglerscorner.co.uk
FOOD
Street Food Chef
There is a lot of love in Sheffield for Street Food Chef’s fresh, zingy Mexican food, available at its three burrito bars and its cute Arundel Street canteen. “It does the best belly-busting pulled pork burrito,” says Collis. “If you want a quick, cheap feed, you can’t go wrong,” agrees Thornley. As the name suggests, Street Food Chef started on the streets. A mile north, just across the Don, is Sheffield’s popular Peddler Night Market (first Fri/Sat of the month), which also features live music and art.
• Dishes £4-6.90, 90 Arundel Street, streetfoodchef.co.uk
The Bhaji Shop
Down in Kelham Island, siblings Matthew and Melissa Holdsworth have created a fun, freewheeling diner famous for its bhajis (an old family recipe) and thali plates based on a variety of spicy global dishes, from Thai curries to North African tagines. These are complete meals, served with rice, flatbread, daal, jazzy salads and homemade pickles. “The food’s fresh and full of colour,” enthuses Hutchinson. For a lunch thali on the run, Collis also recommends the Nepalese Hungry Buddha in Moor Market (from £4).
• Evenings, thali from £11.95, 2A-2B Ball Street, on Facebook
Tamper
Busy slugging it out with the likes of Upshot Espresso for the title of Sheffield’s best coffee shop, the Kiwi-owned Tamper also serves terrific breakfasts and lunch dishes such as sweetcorn fritters with eggs, avocado and chilli sauce, or beef cheeks with hollandaise on toast, a New Zealand classic apparently. “My go-to breakfast destination,” says Hutchinson. “The food never disappoints.” As well as its Sellers Wheel site, Tamper also runs its original brew bar on Westfield Terrace.
• Mains £7-£14, 149 Arundel Street, tampercoffee.co.uk
Two Steps
Word on the street is that this historic chippy edges it as the city’s best and, as well as the usual cod and chips, chip butties and pickled eggs, it does regional specialities such as Yorkshire-style fishcakes, a battered, fish-filled potato sandwich. Two Steps is about a mile out of the centre on Sharrow Vale Road, which is known for its independent shops.
• Meals around £2.30-£6, 249 Sharrow Vale Road, twostepssheffield.co.uk
Forge Bakehouse
“Sheffield’s best artisan bakers,” acording to Collis. Naturally, the Forge cafe serves several dishes that showcase its breads: French toast; a posh grilled-cheese sandwich; and homemade baked beans on toast, spiked with Sheffield’s beloved Henderson’s Relish. There are also salads, stews and baked egg dishes such as huevos rancheros. Look out for the Forge pizza nights with neighbour Turner’s Bottle Shop.
• Dishes from £4, 302 Abbeydale Road, forgebakehouse.co.uk
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