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German fans protests paid dividends


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44 minutes ago, Bronco said:

My point is about pride in a place. We aren't Nationwide/Aviva are we, to paraphrase a recent TV add. We were known all over the world because of what we made. You can't substitute that with insurance companies.

You know that was 40 years ago and we're not known all over the world for anything these days don't you...?

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19 hours ago, Hirstys 12th Pint said:

Smaller in size but Barnsley Centre is far superior to Sheffield after the Glassworks project.  

Sheffield as a shopping destination is a complete none entity..  Nightlife (or Saturday Afternoon / Early Evening Life is fairly decent and that is where most of the footfall will come from. 

I don't know about Barnsley but you're right about Sheffield.  There's some wonderful new buildings but the shopping has basically gone. M & S on Fargate now looks out of place in a slum with beggars. If (when) that goes, it leaves Atkinsons. That's it, when I can remember up to 8 department stores.

Multiple reasons: moving out to Meadowhall a massive one, (House of Fraser, etc.), Debenhams going bust nationally, the 2008 national financial crisis torpedoing the 'Heart of the City' redevelopment, with its current renaiscence being poisoned by the John Lewis cynical  screwing of Sheffield over the Cole Bros flagship store contract, made worse by lunatics having the buildings involved 'listed' so their empty hulks are left in the most important place in Sheffield - opposite the City Hall, including the car park, for gods sake!  A perfect storm. 

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8 minutes ago, Owling_Wolf said:

I don't know about Barnsley but you're right about Sheffield.  There's some wonderful new buildings but the shopping has basically gone. M & S on Fargate now looks out of place in a slum with beggars. If (when) that goes, it leaves Atkinsons. That's it, when I can remember up to 8 department stores.

Multiple reasons: moving out to Meadowhall a massive one, (House of Fraser, etc.), Debenhams going bust nationally, the 2008 national financial crisis torpedoing the 'Heart of the City' redevelopment, with its current renaiscence being poisoned by the John Lewis cynical  screwing of Sheffield over the Cole Bros flagship store contract, made worse by lunatics having the buildings involved 'listed' so their empty hulks are left in the most important place in Sheffield - opposite the City Hall, including the car park, for gods sake!  A perfect storm. 

That's a lot of words to say "Sheffield Council are fucking shit"

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28 minutes ago, Owling_Wolf said:

Amongst others, certainly.  For what it's worth, John Lewis will never get another penny off of me.  

The listing of the Cole Brothers Building is a shocker and an absoute millstone for the City Centre.  

The place needs flattening and a medium sized  entertainment / gig space building.   Could encompass bars / shops on the ground and lower ground floors and a concert venue above.  

With the demise of the already sh*t but now shut O2 Academy the City is now at risk of having reduced gig coverage.  So that is football, shopping and music that has declined over the years in the City. 

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For those who think that Leeds is a paradise, it isn't.

Many years ago, I was the Manager of one of the big retail units in this video.  The turnover was one of the highest in the country, such a busy busy shop, sad it see it boarded up now.  Leeds high street are like most other cities in the UK, although the nightlife does redeem it.

There again, some of the worst poverty you can witness is to be found in the outlying areas, eg Harehills, Gipton, Little London, Beeston...IMO worse than anything you'll see in Sheffield.

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38 minutes ago, Hirstys 12th Pint said:

The listing of the Cole Brothers Building is a shocker and an absoute millstone for the City Centre.  

The place needs flattening and a medium sized  entertainment / gig space building.   Could encompass bars / shops on the ground and lower ground floors and a concert venue above.  

The old Debenhams building in Nottingham has a similar listing but the developers have got a plan through that keeps the front but completely guts out the inside for a multi purpose venue. A similar plan has been approved for the old court house and police station that will now be a hotel. 

Why can't this be the same for Cole Brothers?

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22 minutes ago, Hirstys 12th Pint said:

The listing of the Cole Brothers Building is a shocker and an absoute millstone for the City Centre.  

The place needs flattening and a medium sized  entertainment / gig space building.   Could encompass bars / shops on the ground and lower ground floors and a concert venue above.  

With the demise of the already sh*t but now shut O2 Academy the City is now at risk of having reduced gig coverage.  So that is football, shopping and music that has declined over the years in the City. 

Our live music status is now shocking.  So many of the smaller, really iconic venues like the Mucky Duck have already gone. The Leadmill sounds like it won't be the same. The one down Union St seems to have vanished: Plug? The only one I seem to go to now is Corporation.  The spalling concrete problem at the 02 Academy is a disaster, gig wise, even though I don't love the place. 

90% of the indoor gigs I go to seem to be in Nottingham, Manchester or Holmfirth. We are (technically) the 4th biggest city in England, 5th in UK, (not counting Greater this or West that, etc), so what the hell is going on? 

Regarding big venues, we just don't get big names any more. (I don't know about pop, I go to rock and blues gigs.)  Major U.S. based acts usually skip Sheffield Arena, which used to get them all in the 1990s and later. The ones in other cities were often built later and built bigger.  So nowadays when the bands tour the sizeable venues they'll play L**ds, Manchester & Nottingham and skip Sheffield.  I've even been to Birmingham and Cardiff!    It really is getting like we don't exist. 

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27 minutes ago, Owling_Wolf said:

Our live music status is now shocking.  So many of the smaller, really iconic venues like the Mucky Duck have already gone. The Leadmill sounds like it won't be the same. The one down Union St seems to have vanished: Plug? The only one I seem to go to now is Corporation.  The spalling concrete problem at the 02 Academy is a disaster, gig wise, even though I don't love the place. 

90% of the indoor gigs I go to seem to be in Nottingham, Manchester or Holmfirth. We are (technically) the 4th biggest city in England, 5th in UK, (not counting Greater this or West that, etc), so what the hell is going on? 

Regarding big venues, we just don't get big names any more. (I don't know about pop, I go to rock and blues gigs.)  Major U.S. based acts usually skip Sheffield Arena, which used to get them all in the 1990s and later. The ones in other cities were often built later and built bigger.  So nowadays when the bands tour the sizeable venues they'll play L**ds, Manchester & Nottingham and skip Sheffield.  I've even been to Birmingham and Cardiff!    It really is getting like we don't exist. 

I know we are going off the original subject but interesting none the less. 

The problem with Sheffield before the O2 debacle was the gap in size between O2 Academy which is a garbage venue sound wise but bands seemed to like it, and the next level which is the Arena.   The Arena has been overtaken by other facilities in particularly Leeds and Nottingham.  I have have not been to Leeds but apparently it is a fantastic layout.  This needs replicating in Sheffield.   The Hull Bonus Arena is a great example of what could be built on the Cole Brothers site. 

Throw into the mix the criminally under used Octagon Centre and we are really low on venues.  

 

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2 minutes ago, Hirstys 12th Pint said:

I know we are going off the original subject but interesting none the less. 

The problem with Sheffield before the O2 debacle was the gap in size between O2 Academy which is a garbage venue sound wise but bands seemed to like it, and the next level which is the Arena.   The Arena has been overtaken by other facilities in particularly Leeds and Nottingham.  I have have not been to Leeds but apparently it is a fantastic layout.  This needs replicating in Sheffield.   The Hull Bonus Arena is a great example of what could be built on the Cole Brothers site. 

Throw into the mix the criminally under used Octagon Centre and we are really low on venues.  

 

I've been to L**ds Arena twice. What I liked about it - assuming you get a decent seat, not right round the side of the stage - is that the stage is set in the centre of one of the long sides. So many more seats have a fairly central view, nobody is miles away from the band and you don't get a crick in your neck turning your head sideways and paying more for the privilege, unlike Sheff Arena.  Their O2 Academy is better than ours too: it has a reasonable seated area upstairs. 

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14 minutes ago, Hirstys 12th Pint said:

I know we are going off the original subject but interesting none the less. 

The problem with Sheffield before the O2 debacle was the gap in size between O2 Academy which is a garbage venue sound wise but bands seemed to like it, and the next level which is the Arena.   The Arena has been overtaken by other facilities in particularly Leeds and Nottingham.  I have have not been to Leeds but apparently it is a fantastic layout.  This needs replicating in Sheffield.   The Hull Bonus Arena is a great example of what could be built on the Cole Brothers site. 

Throw into the mix the criminally under used Octagon Centre and we are really low on venues.  

 

Some gigs are being moved from O2 Academy whilst it's shut to the Octagon but that much reduces the ticket numbers. 

I went to a gig before Xmas at another venue next door to Octagon: Sheff University Students Union, which is down in a basement, standing only.  I really liked that place but again, not that big.  

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9 minutes ago, Owling_Wolf said:

Some gigs are being moved from O2 Academy whilst it's shut to the Octagon but that much reduces the ticket numbers. 

I went to a gig before Xmas at another venue next door to Octagon: Sheff University Students Union, which is down in a basement, standing only.  I really liked that place but again, not that big.  

That one is The Foundry - excellent venue.  Great sound and Bar was decent enough size to get served at.

Think the Octagon holds about 400 less than the O2 but is a fantastic venue.  Saw Paul Weller there a couple of years ago and the sound was awesome.  

I'm off to Leeds O2 next month to see The Mary Wallopers again.  Is it the old Town & Country ??

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23 minutes ago, Hirstys 12th Pint said:

I know we are going off the original subject but interesting none the less. 

The problem with Sheffield before the O2 debacle was the gap in size between O2 Academy which is a garbage venue sound wise but bands seemed to like it, and the next level which is the Arena.   The Arena has been overtaken by other facilities in particularly Leeds and Nottingham.  I have have not been to Leeds but apparently it is a fantastic layout.  This needs replicating in Sheffield.   The Hull Bonus Arena is a great example of what could be built on the Cole Brothers site. 

Throw into the mix the criminally under used Octagon Centre and we are really low on venues.  

 

Bradford Live opens at the end of this year, in the old Odeon building.  It's a beautiful building and it's being lovingly restored.  Once opened it'll be similar to the Hull Bonus arena in size and will get the mid size bands/legacy acts.  It'll also feed people really well into the areas of regeneration in the city centre, which tbf look pretty good.

If Bradford can do it, why can't Sheffield? Yes the Bradford Council have shown vision but there's no reason why Sheffield can't use some forward thinking.

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2 minutes ago, BraddersTim said:

Bradford Live opens at the end of this year, in the old Odeon building.  It's a beautiful building and it's being lovingly restored.  Once opened it'll be similar to the Hull Bonus arena in size and will get the mid size bands/legacy acts.  It'll also feed people really well into the areas of regeneration in the city centre, which tbf look pretty good.

If Bradford can do it, why can't Sheffield? Yes the Bradford Council have shown vision but there's no reason why Sheffield can't use some forward thinking.

I'm glad they've done something with that building, we were in Bradford just before the first lockdown and the state of that place really saddened me, as you said such a beautiful building. But then Bradford does have some lovely looking architecture. Saltaire is awesome to walk round (or at least it was 30 years ago...fuck I'm old)

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1 hour ago, Owling_Wolf said:

Our live music status is now shocking.  So many of the smaller, really iconic venues like the Mucky Duck have already gone. The Leadmill sounds like it won't be the same. The one down Union St seems to have vanished: Plug? The only one I seem to go to now is Corporation.  The spalling concrete problem at the 02 Academy is a disaster, gig wise, even though I don't love the place. 

90% of the indoor gigs I go to seem to be in Nottingham, Manchester or Holmfirth. We are (technically) the 4th biggest city in England, 5th in UK, (not counting Greater this or West that, etc), so what the hell is going on? 

Regarding big venues, we just don't get big names any more. (I don't know about pop, I go to rock and blues gigs.)  Major U.S. based acts usually skip Sheffield Arena, which used to get them all in the 1990s and later. The ones in other cities were often built later and built bigger.  So nowadays when the bands tour the sizeable venues they'll play L**ds, Manchester & Nottingham and skip Sheffield.  I've even been to Birmingham and Cardiff!    It really is getting like we don't exist. 

The reason is is that there are no decent hotels in Sheffield to accommodate the artist 

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But who's stayed  there?

We're talking about global stars and I can guarantee the reason none play Sheffield is the fact that yts 1hr plus to get back to a decent hotel post gig.

Where's Sheffield Lowry or Nobu?

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30 minutes ago, Andyben said:

But who's stayed  there?

We're talking about global stars and I can guarantee the reason none play Sheffield is the fact that yts 1hr plus to get back to a decent hotel post gig.

Where's Sheffield Lowry or Nobu?

You're confusing Sheffield with London, Paris, Amsterdam etc  It will never get global superstars who sell out 40k plus arenas because it doesn't have any.

The bands that play Motorpoint will quite happily stay at the hotel I've just quoted (& others like it) and they have.  It's not an issue.

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35 minutes ago, Andyben said:

But who's stayed  there?

We're talking about global stars and I can guarantee the reason none play Sheffield is the fact that yts 1hr plus to get back to a decent hotel post gig.

Where's Sheffield Lowry or Nobu?

Sure if they planned ahead would be able to book the Alara B and B.

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7 minutes ago, BraddersTim said:

You're confusing Sheffield with London, Paris, Amsterdam etc  It will never get global superstars who sell out 40k plus arenas because it doesn't have any.

The bands that play Motorpoint will quite happily stay at the hotel I've just quoted (& others like it) and they have.  It's not an issue.

manchester, birmingham, glasgow newcastle liverpool all manage it... Springsteen & Rolling Stones played sheffield not that long ago

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stones played sheffield at DVS, then....

 

Reports emerged in January 2013 that Labour Sheffield City Council were considering demolishing the stadium as part of a money-saving exercise. It was suggested that regional athletics competitions would move to the city's smaller Woodbourn Road Athletics Stadium, which closed in 2011.[18] The nearest major athletics stadium would then be the South Leeds Stadium in Leeds. The council confirmed the closure of Don Valley Stadium on 11 January 2013.[19] A final closure date of 30 September 2013 was set by Sheffield City Council in April of the same year[20] and despite a petition signed by 5,922 people campaigning against the closure, plans were announced by Labour Party Councillor Isobel Bowler to start the demolition of the stadium on 21 November 2013.[21] Demolition contractor Demex began the demolition on this date, estimating that the process would take approximately six months.[22][23][24]

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6 minutes ago, BraddersTim said:

The Stones were there in 1973 so i see your point. 

Where? They've played three time in Sheffield at DVS, as did Michale Jackson, Tina Turner, U2 etc

 

Add in the Eagles, RHCP, Spice Girls, Celne Dion - not many bigger worldwide artist during that period from early 1990's to mid 2000's

 

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17 hours ago, fOWLmouth said:

I think Bronco has a valid point re. industry we’ve lost.We still need a lot of the products we made but the goods from the far east aren’t fit for purpose by and large.They come half way across the world and end up in a landfill site within a short time. I’m not from Sheffield but lived there for a few years in the 70’s and started watching Wednesday then.I think you do your city a disservice,I always liked it and the people.I’ve worked in Leeds quite a few years and while the city centre might be vibrant overall it’s a dump and I would never live there. It’s also a nightmare driving into.

Came over here from the over site which was starting to get tiresome reading negativity all the time.This is much better.👍

Welcome @fOWLmouth

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More acts seem to choose the First Direct Arena over whatever Sheffield Arena is called these days. It's a fact, just look at the listings in the papers on a Friday.  Some do both but rarely do you see Sheffield without a Leeds gig as well.

Can't just be because it's newer.  I actually disagree with Owling, First Direct is too big - the artist is like an ant on stage if you're nowhere near the front, good job for the big screens behind.  There's no parking close by (well there is, but because of the loop and traffic lights, it takes 2 hours to exit after a concert - I know, I asked) and the one-way loop makes it hard work to get dropped off and so it's boom time for the taxi companies.

The City council probably does a better job of promoting Leeds I guess, perhaps they'd have made more of being the home of football if the oldest club in the world was Leeds FC.  Sheffield just looks and feels tired right now and there's absolutely no inspiration to want to venture into the centre anymore except to go to the City Hall - an oasis in the middle of shiteness 

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35 minutes ago, Andyben said:

Where? They've played three time in Sheffield at DVS, as did Michale Jackson, Tina Turner, U2 etc

 

Add in the Eagles, RHCP, Spice Girls, Celne Dion - not many bigger worldwide artist during that period from early 1990's to mid 2000's

 

Birmingham.

 

We're not actually disagreeing that much.  Yeah I'm saying Sheffield won't get global acts now, and it won't.  The infrastructure just isn't there for that and "Sheffield" doesn't have any cache on the global gig circuit, not in the way that the cities that you mention do (even chuffing Birmingham).  And Sheffield City Council doesn't have the will/means/ambition to change it, which is pretty much what you're saying.

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5 hours ago, Hirstys 12th Pint said:

The listing of the Cole Brothers Building is a shocker and an absoute millstone for the City Centre.  

The place needs flattening and a medium sized  entertainment / gig space building.   Could encompass bars / shops on the ground and lower ground floors and a concert venue above.  

With the demise of the already sh*t but now shut O2 Academy the City is now at risk of having reduced gig coverage.  So that is football, shopping and music that has declined over the years in the City. 

I'm sure I read at the time of listing that the main or only reason it qualified was some feature at the foot of the stairs or lifts: something like they featured marble.  The absolute killer for me was that the multi-story car park was included in the listing. Ironically in a city where the council has been strongly anti-car for decades and is now changing more city centre streets to pedestrian areas. 

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12 minutes ago, Owling_Wolf said:

Where did all the bands that used to play here stay then?

Different expectations now.

But Jackson stayed in Leeds IIRC 

 

Bunked up with Jimmy Savile 

Edited by Andyben
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4 hours ago, Hirstys 12th Pint said:

That one is The Foundry - excellent venue.  Great sound and Bar was decent enough size to get served at.

Think the Octagon holds about 400 less than the O2 but is a fantastic venue.  Saw Paul Weller there a couple of years ago and the sound was awesome.  

I'm off to Leeds O2 next month to see The Mary Wallopers again.  Is it the old Town & Country ??

I didn't know that venue, H12P. 

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1 hour ago, Owling_Wolf said:

Where did all the bands that used to play here stay then?

Back in the 90s and early 2000s most of them (and visiting football teams) used to stay at the Swallow/Holiday Inn just off jnc33. 

We kept the leisure club and bar open for nearly every band/artist that played Arena. I've had a drink or 3 with most of the E Street Band (but not Springsteen) Doobie Brothers, Eddie Van Halen, Joe Strummer, Meat Loaf (who didn't touch a drop) to name a few.  AC/DC booked the whole hotel out then didn't stop. Apparently took a helicopter to the sister hotel at Gateshead 

But the best nights of all were when Riverdance stopped for a week. Those girls were fucking insatiable

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