Sheffield: Why It's Time To Reconsider The Steel City
Originally appeared on Esquire UK
Sheffield doesn’t seem to get much national coverage. It’s that city in South Yorkshire, isn’t it? Used to make steel, two decent football teams, pretty hilly. Not much to see here.
For most Sheffielders, that’s fine with them. Sheffield is comfortable being itself, cheerfully under-hyped. From sport - it’s the home of modern football (the original rules were written here in 1858) and hosts snooker’s World Championship - to music (Arctic Monkeys, Pulp and The Human League, anyone?), Sheffield has plenty to brag about, yet gets on with life, letting other local cities vie for the limelight.
It still has parochial elements, but Britain’s biggest village isn’t all greasy chip butties and old men supping a warm ale with their whippets (although we’ll hear nothing against that). The Steel City has another side that it would be remiss not to experience, a creative, independent and dynamic underbelly that locals and privileged outsiders know all about. For a weekend away, Sheffield should be near the top of the list. Just don’t tell too many people.
To stay: Brocco on the Park
This beautiful Edwardian boutique hotel overlooking Endcliffe Park is perfectly placed for wherever your mood takes you. From here it’s a ten minute walk into the city centre (and probably about twenty back, courtesy of one of Sheffield’s hills / that last Old Fashioned you had “for the road”). For a day surrounded by nature, grab one of Brocco’s Big Five super smoothies and head only ten minutes by car into the Peak District. You might think this is an exaggeration, but the city is deeply connected to the countryside, and has the most trees per person in Europe - it’s come some way since its industrial days.
Breakfast: Marmadukes
This independent café in the heart of Sheffield has been serving a greedy city from three floors of an old Georgian townhouse since 2012, its eccentric, winding layout lending it a conspiratorial atmosphere. Almost everything is made in-house each morning, the artisan bread coming from nearby Worksop and the milk from Our Cow Molly, only three miles away. If you’re feeling ambitious, go for the gut-busting Duke’s Breakfast. If this is too much for your morning sensitivities, don’t worry - their avocado toast is just as good.
Coffee: Take your pick
The people of Sheffield love coffee. Maybe it’s all the walking everyone seems to do, or maybe the nightlife is too tempting, but a morning pick-me-up is vital to the vast majority. Luckily, the city has its fair share of quality coffeehouses, especially around busy West Street.
Tamper Coffee is run by Kiwis and brings the best of New Zealand coffee culture to the city, while Steam Yard is in a great little courtyard that feels miles away from the centre. A few minutes down the road is Sheffield’s most design-led coffeeshop - Ink & Water serves premium coffee and local treats, but is also a graphic design and animation studio, with a real Bauhaus vibe throughout.
Dinner: Jöro
Shipping container restaurants are definitely a thing, at least at Krynkl, a collection of containers housing start-ups, a rooftop bar and Jöro, a restaurant offering “a meal built of many small plates”. It was awarded a Bib Gourmand in the Michelin Guide 2019, and head chef Luke French cooks his “New Nordic” dishes with hyper-seasonal and sustainable ingredients. The barbecued Moss Valley pork belly with Hoisin is a highlight. As are the other seven dishes you’ll invariably have.
Cocktails: Public
Public was recently awarded the best place to drink in the country by Observer Food Monthly, which is a far cry from the underground building’s original use as a public toilet. Underneath the Town Hall, the owners weren’t even allowed to install card machines at first due to the building’s protected status. Somehow they’ve sweet-talked the council, so no need to walk across the road to the cash machines.
The brass-and-leather-soaked bar serves cocktails from a menu split into four sections: Public Awareness (sustainable), Public Footpath (locally sourced), Public Liability (extra strength), and Public Health (alcohol free). Many focus on sustainability and locality, with regular forage sessions in the nearby Peak District and agreements with coffeeshops to take in their used grounds. Public also collaborates with other local businesses, such as vinyl store Bear Street Records and potter Grey Suit Clay. It’s small, it’s cool and it serves (probably) the best hedgerow negroni in the world.
Pub: Kelham Island Quarter
If you like beer, you might never leave. Sheffield has a huge range of pubs, but nowhere is the ale-to-person ratio more skewed to the amber liquid than Kelham Island. Formerly the industrial heartland of the city, the Quarter is regularly voted one of the coolest areas to live in the UK, and with good reason: plenty of start-ups have moved into the attractive Edwardian-era buildings, thirsty for emerging business and a good pint. There’s also the monthly Peddler Night Market, an open-plan food truck paradise with live music and a pop-up gin bar.
Art: Millennium Gallery
A visit to the central gallery offers an intriguing insight into Sheffield’s industrial and artistic pasts, and art, craft and design installations share the modernist space with permanent exhibitions detailing the city’s past - and current - expertise in steel. The gallery shares a wall with the Winter Garden, a huge temperate glasshouse and botanical garden open to the public that also serves as the BBC studio during the snooker World Championship.
Theatre: The Crucible
The Crucible is much more than the home of snooker, putting on world class theatre, music and ballet year-round. Sir Ian McKellen has regularly performed there through the years, and recently said “I shall always be proud that, with Edward Petherbridge, I was in the first play ever at the Crucible in 1971. Chekov’s Swansong was part of the concert which opened the now iconic open stage.” He’s back this year with a solo show. If it’s good enough for Gandalf, it’s good enough for you.
