Sheffield

From MaxTravelz

Sheffield is a large metropolitan city in Yorkshire, England. The population of the city of Sheffield is 516,100 while around 1.5 million people live in the metropolitan area making it one of the United Kingdom's and Europe's biggest city's. It's situated in the north of England between the Peak District National Park and the M1 motorway.

Contents 1 Understand 2 Get in 2.1 By plane 2.2 By train 2.3 By car 2.4 By bus 2.5 By boat 3 Get around 4 See 5 Do 6 Learn 7 Work 8 Buy 9 Eat 10 Drink 11 Sleep 12 Contact 12.1 Phone 12.2 Mail 13 Stay safe 14 Cope 15 Get out

Understand

It used to be famous for its steel industry (see the film 'The Full Monty'). After years of neglect it is starting to get back on its feet. It has always had a good reputation for music (home of Pulp) and with a larger than average student population is always lively. Sheffield's proximity to the Peak District National Park makes it an ideal base for an outdoor orientated holiday.

Get in

By plane

Sheffield city airport is a small airport on the east of the city that now only serves private aircraft. http://www.sheffieldcityairport.com/

Sheffield's new international airport Robin Hood Airport Doncaster Sheffield is based at Finningley, approximatly 35 minutes drive away from Downtown Sheffield. The airport offers flights to many European business and tourism destinations as well as some North American torusit destinations. The majority of flights are operated by Thomsonfly, Ryanair and easyjet.

By train

Sheffield Station is on the south-east side of the city centre and has regular services that run to most major cities from Plymouth to Edinburgh.

• Manchester twice an hour.
• Leeds twice an hour.
• Nottingham three times an hour.
• London four times an hour (free tea/coffee if you travel with Midland Mainline!)

By car

The M1 is the main route into Sheffield as it runs down the east of the city. The M62 will bring you over from Manchester but for the more adventurous and those wanting a more pleasant trip try the Snake or Woodhead Passes A57 and A628 through the Peak District National Park. The Sheffield Parkway connects all the motorways with Sheffield City Centre.

By bus

There is a large bus station (Sheffield Interchange) by the railway, where most local buses and all National Express coaches call.

By boat

Canal boats can moor at Victoria Quays.

Get around

The city has a modern tram network that serves many but not all areas of the city. A dayrider ticket that allows you to use the network all day is worthwhile if you plan to make more than a single short journey on the tram.

Buses are cheaper and more comprehensive but also slower and less reliable than the tram. The bus network is centred on Sheffield Interchange which is opposite the railway station.

See

There are plenty of things to see and do in Sheffield. Below are just a few suggestions of what Sheffield has to offer:

• Peace Gardens, Winter Garden, and Millennium Galleries. Located next to the town hall in the centre of the city are the Peace Gardens, the fountains make this small piece of open space a popular place in summer. The Winter Garden is next door and is a glass and timber glass house in the city, again another nice place to sit particularly if the weather is not so nice. A stall in the Winter Garden is the place to find visitor information in Sheffield since the City Council decided it could no longer afford to run the tourist information office. Connected to the Winter Gardens are the Millennium Galleries, this plays host to a number of permanent exhibitions including one detailing the history of Sheffield's steel making as well as travelling exhibitions.

• Sheffield Botanical Gardens. Located just off the cosmopolitan Ecclesall Road, the recently restored Victorian gardens are a tranquil green oasis from the hustle of the city centre with grand conservatorys designed by the architect of the Crystal Palace.

• Sheffield General Cemetery. Historically important Victorian cemetery sited between Cemetery Road and Ecclesall Road. Last "home" of 87,000 people, including Sheffield's influential citizens such as steel manufacturer Mark Firth and Chartist Samuel Holberry. Many of the graves are unmarked pauper graves, some with 40 more burials. This is a beautiful and fascinating spot, where visitors can enjoy some wildness near the centre of town. For more information see the website http://www.gencem.org.

• Kelham Island Museum

• Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet

• Tudor Square. This pedestrianized square is home to Sheffield's main cultural attractions and the UK's second largest theatre complex. Noteworthy are the Lyceum Theatre built in Victorian times, Crucible Theatre home to the World Snooker Championships and the Central Libary and Graves Art gallery. The library is a grand 1930's building with an impressive volume of books while upstairs is the Graves Art Gallery home to Islamic, British and Chinese art.

• Devonshire Quarter. Sheffield's cultural quarter, the centre of this City Centre district is the West:One building home to designer boutiques and up scale resturants overlooking Devonshire Green. Running parralell to each other are West and Divison Street's home to Sheffield's exciting nightlife and alternative shopping.

• London Road. Sheffield's un-offical Chinatown, this buzzing road just outside the City Centre is home to Sheffield's vibrant Chinese community and there are many Oriental resturants, supermarkets and stores as well as the Sheffield Chinese community centre.

• Sheffield City Hall. The impressive 1930's City Hall was recently re-furbished and is home to many concerts, performances and travelling shows and is located in the elegant Barkers Pool in the city centre which is home to Sheffield's Centopath.

• Weston Park and Museum. This grand park located next to the University of Sheffield's main campus is home to the Weston Park (Sheffield) musuem due to be re-opened in late 2006 after an extensive re-furbishment. The park itself is also undergoing a £2million revamp.

• Sheffield Ski Village. Sheffield is well known as a key World sporting destination and is home to Europes largest outdoor artifical ski slope. The Sheffield ski village offers the chance to enjoy snow activities on the hills overlooking Sheffield. Due to under going extensive re-development.

Do

Sheffield is a vibrant, cosmopolitan city and boasts a large range of shopping. There are a large number of cinemas, pubs and night clubs.

Learn

There are two major universities in Sheffield:

• University of Sheffield. An older "red brick" university which specialises in Medicine and is attached to Hallamshire Hospital- the largest hospital in Europe.

• Sheffield Hallam University. A modern ex-polytechnic and focuses on Engineering, Management and Computing courses. It is also one of the largest universities in the country, with nearly 30,000 students.

• Sheffield College. The largest college in the country.

Work

Though Sheffield's past was largely based in the manufacturing sector, the emphasis has moved to services. A number of large businesses operate their headquarters or large regional quarters in Sheffield. These include Insight, Dixons Group and Freemans.

There is also a large number of call centres in the city, most notable amongst them being Ant Marketing.

Buy

Sheffield boasts a growing City Centre with both a traditional market and extensive range of high street names.

Fargate is a good example of the range of shops available in Sheffield.

Castle Market can be found just off the bottom of the hill of Commercial Street, and The Moor shopping street can be found close to the Town Hall and newly built Peace Gardens. It is worth noting however, that most of the city center closes at around 5pm, with only the clubs and bars of West Street remaining open.

However, it is also worth checking out the Meadowhall Shopping Centre which stays open till 8pm, along with the fast-food, restaurants and entertainment areas staying open till 10pm. Note though, during the Christmas holidays, all the shops stay open till 10pm, however the centre becomes very packed and is not recommended to the less sturdy shopper or those in large groups or families.

Meadowhall can be reached easily via the Supertram by taking the Yellow/Purple Route service to 'Meadowhall', via Bus or Train South Yorkshire Passenger Transport website or via car, Junction 34 of the M1.

Alternative to Meadowhall is the smaller Crystal Peaks shopping centre. While smaller, the centre does have close to it a good selection of 'out of town' superstores such as Comet and JD Sports. Crystal Peaks can be got to via the Blue Route tram to 'Halfway' along with Bus services. It can also be reached via car by taking Junction 30 of the M1.

Eat

There are a large number of good, cheap places to eat in and around Sheffield. The best sandwich shop is "Spoilt for choice" on Ecclesall Road in the South West of the city. For fresh, albeit expensive pub food try the ha-ha bar near the Peace Gardens in the town centre. All food is freshly prepared daily. If you venture out in the nearby Peak District there are many nice country pubs. I especially recommend the Poacher's Arms in the Hope Valley which has an excellent Sunday Carvery. BB's on division street does great italian food, it is a small family run business, is fairly cheap and bring your own beer and wine.

Drink

Sheffield is well known for its hundreds of pubs (Public Houses); with traditional and old, you can find a location to suite your mood.

West Street, in the center of Sheffield, plays host to many pubs and bars. During the week (in term time), they can seem a little over run with students.

However, moving out from the center allows the exploration of more tradition inn's serving local ales. Of note are the Frog & Parrot, boasting the strongest legal ale in the UK, and The Hallamshire House, the only pub in Sheffield still house a full sized snooker table.

Sleep

In recent years, the city centre has seen a number of hotel chains arrive. Within the centre, major chain hotels include: - Hotel Ibis - Novotel - Hotel Bristol - Holiday Inn - Premier Travel Inn

A new addition to the scene is the luxury Mcdonald hotel, being built by the Peace Gardens and will open in Autumn

Contact

Phone

• The area code for all Sheffield numbers is 0114 when dialled from within the UK or +44114 from outside.

Mail

• The post codes for Sheffield and the surrounding areas begin with "S" and take the form S9 9XX or S99 9XX where 9 is a number and X a letter.

Stay safe

The city has one of the lowest crime rates in the country; the town also boasts (rightly or wrongly) an extensive network of CCTV cameras offering protection for residents. However, there are certain areas in the city that are still undesirable. If going for a night out it is best to remain in the city centre, on West Street to the north or Arundel Gate to the south, as it is well lit and there are good police patrols at all times of the day.

Cope

Get out

Sheffield is the perfect base to explore the Peak District from. Take a bus or drive to the Fox House pub and go walking/running/climbing in some great terrain before having a nice meal on your return.

The Peak District is peppered with many small villages and towns, each with their own charm and history. Most also contain at least one food serving pub and various tea shops which serve drinks and snacks.

Most notable in the area are two villages:

• Eyam, a village with a fascinating history and dark past, chose to quarantine itself when plague struck. There is a museum detailing this and the rest of the village's history.

• Castleton is home to the only Blue John mine in the world as well as four major caves/caverns which tourists can take a tour of. Each has a very different feel, from the natural speandour of Peak Cavern to the disconcerting underground rivers of Speedwell.

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