City Guide 8 min read

Things to Do in Sheffield

Published Oct 5th 2020

Sheffield is one of the most popular cities in Yorkshire and is home to the world-famous Crucible Theatre and the world’s oldest football club, Sheffield United. It is also one of the most popular cities in the UK to study in.

In this guide, we will show you the location, transport, universities, history & culture, sport, who is from the city and most importantly of all, the various things to do in Sheffield.

Location

One of the jewels of South Yorkshire is the city of Sheffield. The city boasts a rough population figure of 563,749 according to the most recent data. The city is particularly well known for its two football teams too – Sheffield United who play at Bramall Lane and Sheffield Wednesday who play at Hillsborough Stadium.

Things to do in Sheffield

The joys of going to university can be to learn and to gain independence, but we’d be lying if we said that the nightlife and the possibility of experiencing it wasn’t a huge part of that too! Sheffield has a huge range of things to do, so we’ve compiled a list of three places that we think could be perfect for you.

First up, we have MODE – Corporation, which despite incorporating the poster design of Robert Rodriguez’ Planet Terror, this is the place to visit for live music and drinks galore! The venue has long been a favourite for fans of live music, and the enticing atmosphere and friendly staff will have you coming back if nothing else. Second up, we have The Viper Rooms. If you’re looking for the VIP experience, complete with the best in live music and alcohol then this the place for you. The place is always jumping and has people enjoying every aspect of the club and also offers you the added service of professional photography for you too! Thirdly, we have another live music venue in Plug. The venue has had an awful lot of good press because of its top-tiered musical events and some of their A-List performers too. The site hosts the newest of musical acts too, so if you feel you need somewhere to ply your trade, why not ask at the bar?

The city of Sheffield is also very well known for its history as well. The history of the city is immortalised in some of the city’s many museums, all of which are available and affordable to all members of the public. Whether it be Weston Park Museum, Millennium Gallery or Kelham Island Museum, everything you need to know about Sheffield is all available in here!

Sheffield has numerous cinemas in the city too; you might want to be heading on over to the cinema to see what is offered. Sheffield’s respective Odeon, Cineworld and Showroom have all got the best facilities for you to see these films. However, if you’re looking for more independent features, then we recommend one of the city’s many film societies.

If you’re a fan of your festivals, then Sheffield is the place to go to. Some of the festivals here are unbelievable, and the music festival known as Tramlines Festival is the main reason why! Featuring a wide array of different acts both past and present, you’re sure to want to get your tickets before the sell out which they most certainly will.

Transport

The city of Sheffield has a very efficient transportation system that runs throughout the city with everything that could need to be covered, including bus routes, trains and cycle routes too.

There are a number of buses that run throughout the city, with services provided by services like National Express, who offer services to a number of major cities. Megabus and Stagecoach also operate within the city as well, with more local links being provided by Metrolink, First South Yorkshire, TM Travel and Hulleys of Baslow among others.

The main train station in the city is Sheffield Railway Station. The city has a number of services to cities like Hull, Liverpool, London and Manchester. There are services in the city operated by CrossCountry, TransPennine Express and Northern.

The city used to have an airport called Sheffield City Airport, however, the airport was closed in 2008, leaving the closest airport in Doncaster, with Doncaster Sheffield Airport.

Universities in the City

There are two universities in the city, the University of Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam University.

The University of Sheffield was established in 1828 as Sheffield Medical School and eventually re-branded as the University of Sheffield in 1905. The university is also part of the prestigious Russell Group of Universities and the White Rose University Consortium.

The student body of the university is represented by the University of Sheffield Students' Union (USSU). The union also represents a number of the student media outlets as well such as Forge Radio, the student radio station, ForgeTV, the student TV station and the Forge Press, which is the student newspaper, all of which are under the umbrella of Forge Media.

The university has a friendly rivalry with the aforementioned Sheffield Hallam University, which dates back as far as 1996 and the two teams compete in a variety of varsity and non-varsity competitions.

Sheffield Hallam University was originally founded in 1843 as the City of Sheffield Training College and was eventually granted university status in 1992 and re-branded as Sheffield Hallam University.

History

The town of Sheffield was originally part of the Brittonic Kingdom of Elmet, however, after the departure of the Romans from the country, settlers began to push out West and combined two settlements, Wales (not the country) and Waleswood to form Sheffield.

After the Norman’s conquest of England, Sheffield Castle was erected as a way to protect the other local settlements and also to protect the town as well. After a while of steady growth, a small market town was established and industry led to an upsurge in the city’s fortunes, especially in the 14th century, when the city became prominently known for its manufacture of knives. The town’s knife manufacture was actually mentioned in Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales. In fact, the city’s cutlery manufacture was the biggest in the country outside of London.

One of Sheffield’s main innovations was the Sheffield Plate, which sparked a huge influx of industry and turned Sheffield into an industrial firepower, although a wave of cholera and the loss of certain export markets and avenues led to the city’s decline, though this didn’t prevent Sheffield receiving city status in 1893.

The city’s fortunes eventually turned around once more and factories were built in the city, though this did not please everyone as the chemicals in the city began to cause other inherent issues.

During World War II, the city was used as the main hub for steel, weapons and ammunition manufacture, this, unfortunately, placed Sheffield squarely on the Luftwaffe’s radar. Though the ensuing blitz was not as bad as other cities in the country, it did lead to over 600 deaths and many destroyed or damaged buildings. Sheffield was mainly saved as a result of a series of barrage balloons, which were managed by RAF Norton.

Sport

The city has a long and proud sporting tradition.

The main sport in the city is football, for which the city is represented by three clubs Sheffield United FC, the world’s first ever official football club, who play in the Premier League and Hallam FC being playing at the world’s oldest football ground, Sandygate and Sheffield Wednesday, who play at Hillsborough Stadium in the Championship. Both United and Wednesday were incredibly successful in their earlier years, winning a number of competitions and even playing in the UEFA Cup.

The city also has a professional Rugby League team, called the Sheffield Eagles RLFC, who play in the Championship at Owlerton Stadium. The team has won multiple titles in its time and has also won the Challenge Cup.

One of the main sports in the city is Snooker, with Sheffield having a long-standing Snooker-tradition, being as it is the home of the world-renowned Crucible Theatre, which regularly hosts the World Snooker Championships. The city has other, smaller Snooker venues around the city, but The Crucible is the most well-known.