Dear readers — Sheffield city centre is changing rapidly. There are new buildings, parks, roads and cycle lanes, sure. But these changes mask the most significant change of all: its population. Over the last 25 years the city centre’s population has increased from 5,000 to almost 30,000, but these residents don’t have a focal point for a neighbourhood that is now the same size as a small town. Changing Sheff, a body which represents people who live in Sheffield city centre, argues it now needs a village hall. Does it? That’s today’s big story.
As well as that we have news about another illegal waste dump in Sheffield, a talk about the history of the heavy spring industry, and a structurally unsound home in Stannington.
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On Thursday, we’ve got The Tribune hustings, one week before the local elections next week. So: what do you want to ask the leaders of Sheffield’s three biggest parties? Let us know via the form below — we’ll put the best questions to them.
Cheese so good it’ll cause a riot
Hayley Rage, founder of Sheffield business Cheese Riot, has one central ethos: big flavour, good music, no rules and no snobbery. Hayley founded Cheese Riot to offer a one-of-a-kind service – perfectly paired cheeses and drinks.
Her expertly-paired boxes invite you to riot at home, at a party, at a picnic. The box’s theme changes monthly, with up to four cheeses, four drinks and snacks. There’s also stories from the maker and even a perfectly paired playlist. May’s edition, The Picnic Box, is designed for sunshine, grass, hikes, festivals and gardens. To learn more about their offering – from one-off-boxes to event catering – click below.
In case you missed it
Over the weekend, Dan investigated Reform UK’s very strange campaign in Sheffield. While none of the 30 candidates Nigel Farage’s party is fielding in Sheffield were willing to speak to us, we learned a lot from their online campaign, featuring some disturbing tweets praising the Nazis as “visionaries” and plenty of AI slop. Matt Smith, Reform UK’s candidate Park and Arbourthorne, did contact us after the piece was published, to take issue with Dan’s piece. “You’ve shown your true colours again,” he told us. However, Mr Smith failed to respond to questions about whether he condemned his colleague's hateful online posts.
On Thursday, we published a story about major NHS staffing cuts taking place in South Yorkshire. The cuts are billed by the government as hacking away at "unnecessary NHS bureaucracy”, but insiders argue hundreds of people who play an important role in keeping the health service on track have been discarded. “It feels like no one really cares because we’re not doctors or nurses, so it’s easy to dismiss us as bureaucracy”, said one staffer.
And on Friday, we revealed that while 41 indie bookshops closed across the UK in 2025, the independent bookshop scene in Sheffield is thriving, with a new literary festival springing up in Kelham Island and the city playing host to a range of against-the-grain indie publishers. “I don’t think you really get into books I think because you're a cut-throat businessperson, you know what I mean?” Rosie May, co-owner of Juno Books, told us. “You get into it because you’re quite a gentle character that likes books.”
Like owning a bookshop, journalism is not an obvious career for someone looking to make heaps of money — we are instead motivated by things like a passion for our community (as in Dan’s case) or a talent for being a nuisance (as in Victoria’s). However, just like a bookshop, The Tribune does need to make money in order to keep the lights on and the articles fact-checked. If you love what we do, then please consider becoming a member today.
The big picture: Rhapsody in blue 🪻
Bluebell season is well and truly here and Sheffield is one of the best places in the entire country to see the most stunning displays. This beautiful shot was captured in Charnock Woods last week by Emma Bothamley. David Bocking’s 2024 piece about bluebells is here.
The big story: We’re England’s biggest village. Time for a “village hall” then?
Top line: When it comes to bold ideas to spruce up the high street there have been plenty. Shipping containers. Co-working spaces. Pop-up shops. But a prominent group of campaigners now thinks Sheffield needs to go retro — and get its very own village hall. We already have a City Hall and a Town Hall, so is it time to go one step… smaller?
Village people: The city centre is starting to boom, with the city ward population increasing sharply from 5,534 in 2001 to 28,000 by 2024. If these people want a double IPA or a pistachio latte, they’re spoilt for choice. But what if they want to stage an am dram production, set up a youth club, or just get together for a community chat?
Changing Sheff, the organisation that represents these people is arguing there’s a big gap here. According to chair Peter Sephton, the village hall would have two main purposes: one, to provide a place where city centre residents could meet up, and two, to be a central source of information about everything that is going on in the city centre. “There’s so much going on in the city centre — in the museums, theatres, venues and churches,” he says. “But there’s no central place where you can find out all this information.”
Changing Sheff: The campaign group has form. In 2023, they opened the popular musical pocket park in Charter Square, and have also been one of the driving forces behind fighting plans to open more night-time economy businesses in residential areas of the city centre.
That’s so village: If the proposal conjures up images of wobbly trestle tables and weak orange squash, think again. According to Changing Sheff, they are looking for a space within an existing building which could host coffee shop facilities, as well as being a place where city centre residents could book a meeting room and where young people could hang out.
- They say they have “support in principle” from a range of political and operational organisations and have also been discussing the project with an “enthusiastic” coffee shop operator.
- They have enquired about space in Event Central, the new community hub which is being built on Fargate, and have talked to Urban Splash about the Cole Brother’s building on Barker’s Pool.
- In order to take their idea off the drawing board and turn it into a reality, Changing Sheff are now hoping to access grant funding, sponsors, a coffee shop operator and a media partner.
Creating a community: While it doesn't currently have a focal point like a community hall, Sheffield city centre is already becoming more of a neighbourhood. As well as Changing Sheff, the city centre now has a dedicated friends group which has been responsible for the recent explosion in street art in the area.
“The city centre seems like a sizable town in itself,” said Changing Sheff chair Peter Sephton. “We want to encourage that to feel like a community and have a focal centre to support it.”
The Tribune says: We’re hitting our stride in Sheffield by doing a load of stuff that looks and feels different to everywhere else. Over in Manchester and Leeds it’s all systems go for big new tower blocks. So, given we’re reputedly England’s “biggest village”, why not buck the trend and chuck in a village hall? Pass the squash.
Do you have any ideas of where the new village hall could go? Could you offer any help to Changing Sheff in accessing grant funding, sponsors, or advice? If so, please get in touch with Changing Sheff on Hello@ChangingSheff.org.
Your Tribune briefing 🗞️
🔥 The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has launched a public appeal for information about a local business they suspect of a sophisticated conspiracy to defraud the government. JJ Crump and Sons, of Killamarsh, were awarded contracts under Energy Company Obligation 4 (ECO4), a scheme intended to help low-income, fuel-poor, and vulnerable households make their homes more energy efficient. However, the SFO says that in many cases, they suspect JJ Crump and Sons (and two other accused companies) did little more than submit false invoices for work they failed to carry out, securing at least £44 million in total.
🗑️ The owner of an illegal dump on the former Stanley Works site in Pitsmoor has been ordered to pay more than £20,000 in fines and legal costs after ignoring years of warnings. Austin Fitzgerald, the 65-year-old owner of Concept Investments Ltd on London Road, was first ordered to clear the site by the Environment Agency in 2022 but officers who inspected the following year found even more waste had been added. In late 2024 and early 2025, the council also received multiple complaints that trash on the site was being burned. Following the news that both Fitzgerald and his company had been fined, Ben Hocking from the Environment Agency said: "This should serve as a warning for landowners that if you allow illegal waste activity to take place on your land, we will take action."
🎒 A Sheffield school can boast the dubious honour of the second worst truancy rates in the whole of England, according to newly-released Department for Education figures for the 2024/25 school year. As reported by the Star, the rate of “unauthorised absences” at Fir Vale Academy is 13.27%, which equates to approximately 15,000 hours of lost learning time in a single year. The school, which is part of United Learning Trust, was also rated the worst performing secondary school in the city that year, after just one in five pupils earned at least a grade 5 in English and Maths. An Ofsted inspector who visited the school in early 2025 noted that the school “is working with families and pupils in a number of different ways to remove barriers to attending”.
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The weekly Whitworth ✍️
Cartoonist James Whitworth with his wry take on Sheffield’s increasing reputation as a literary city. Did you go to any of the Sheffield Independent Book Festival events over the weekend? Let us know what you thought in the comments.
Home of the week 🏡
A detached home in a “generously-sized plot” for under £400,000. Where’s the catch? Well, this three bedroomed dormer bungalow in Stannington “requires complete upgrading and rebuilding due to structural movement”, which sounds slightly worrying. Whether it can be saved or will need to be completely rebuilt isn't clear. If it’s the latter, it will be a terrible shame to lose that bathroom. It will go on sale at auction with a guide price of £375,000.
Things to do 📆
Talk 🏭 On Wednesday, join the Kelham Island Museum to find out more about the rise and fall of Sheffield’s heavy spring trade. For over a century, the city dominated the industry in the UK, at one time supplying over 70% of all the springs needed for the railways and road vehicles. It generated work for dozens of local companies and thousands of workers, yet its decline was rapid and comprehensive. The one-hour talk is totally free and begins at 2pm.
Food 🍛 Returning to Sheffield General Cemetery’s historic Samuel Worth Chapel on Wednesday evening is Ammi’s Kitchen. The Sheffield-based social enterprise brings together local women from different cultures to cook delicious, nutritious, seasonal dishes, sharing recipes that have been passed down through generations. This month’s theme is “A Taste of Bangladesh”. Tickets are priced £22 (plus booking fee) and the event starts at 6pm.
Theatre 🎭 To the Lantern Theatre for one night only on Thursday comes Pixiematosis. Featuring sqwonky puppets, odd-automata and a slew of charity shop rejects, the “unhinged puppetry for adults and older children” is not unlike watching a lost episode of Bagpuss, filmed by the Tales of the Unexpected crew...or witnessing Fingermouse being folded up and used to stop a pub table wobbling. Tickets are priced £7.50-£14 and doors open at 7.30pm.
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