Sheffield City Centre

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Sheffield City Centre—often just referred to as "town"—is a district of the City of Sheffield, and part of the Sheffield Central ward. It includes the area that is within a radius of roughly 1.2 mi) from Sheffield Cathedral, and is neatly encircled by the Inner Ring Road—a circular route started in the late 1960s and completed (apart from landscaping) in 2007. As well as the cathedral, notable buildings in the city centre include the Grade I listed Town Hall, the City Hall, and the Winter Gardens. Several areas of the city centre have been designated as "quarters". Of these, the Devonshire Quarter and Cultural Industries Quarter are the best known. It is home to the city's major business, transport, leisure and cultural attractions. The City centre is currently under going massive re-generation with every section of the City centre set to be re-developed. Plans and projects include the development of new squares and public spaces, new residential and office buildings including St. Pauls Tower, Velocity Living, and the under-construction Velocity Tower, the Sevenstone and Moor shopping areas, redevelopment of existing buildings such as the Crucible Theatre and better transport and shopping facilities and new cultural attractions such as museums and art galleries.

In late 2006, the "Connect Sheffield" scheme came into being. [cite web|url=http://www.sheffield.gov.uk/whats-new/connecting-sheffield/connect-sheffield|title=Sheffield City Council - Connect Sheffield] As part of this scheme, vehicle signage was improved by dividing the centre into four main areas (separate from the quarters) using electronic messaging panels with information about congestion and available parking, information about transport and visitor attractions, tens of pillars [http://www.sheffield.gov.uk/whats-new/connecting-sheffield/connect-sheffield/enlargement-of-the-information-panel] were erected in key places, varying from narrower pillars for bus and tram stops and the station, to much broarder pillars outside key attractions, each showing information on the immediate surroundings, a map and (in some cases) a clock, all junctions on the Inner Ring Road have been numbered and marked with a strong landmark feature, a new map of the city centre will be produced in print and online, travel information panels in bus interchanges have been made clearer and the yournextbus system was rolled out into LED boards telling passengers when the next bus is due at their stop using GPS technology.

Quarters

As part of the regeneration plan of the city centre, parts have been branded "quarters". These are, clockwise from north: [cite web|url=http://sccplugins.sheffield.gov.uk/urban_design/quarters_city_centre_map.htm|title=The City Centre Quarters]
*Kelham Island Quarter; not a true island but land formed from a goit, this is where much of Sheffield industrial heritage is located, including a Museum
*Riverside
*Castlegate
*Sheaf Valley
*Cultural Industries Quarter or CIQ; the first such quarter to be named, includes the live music venue the Leadmill, the Showroom Cinema, the former National Centre for Popular Music and the Red Tape Studios.
*The Moor
*Devonshire Quarter
*St George
*St Vincent
*Cathedral Quarter; the area around Sheffield Cathedral
*Heart of the City

Areas used in Connect Sheffield

The following are the four areas used on road signs as part of the Connect Sheffield scheme [cite web|url=http://www.sheffield.gov.uk/whats-new/connecting-sheffield/connect-sheffield/enlarged-map Connect Sheffield map|title=Connect Sheffield City Centre Map Enlarged|accessdate=2008-07-08|publisher=Sheffield City Council]
*Centre - covering the Cathedral Quarter, Heart of the City and the Moor
*Don Riverside - covering Castlegate, Riverside Quarter, Kelham Island and St. Vincent's Quarter
*Sheaf Valley - covering the Sheaf Valley Quarter and CIQ
*West End - covering St. George's Quarter, Devonshire Quarter and the University and Hospital Campus

Other areas

Other Areas in the city centre include:

*New Retail Quarter: Lying wholly in the Devonshire Quarter, and located between Devonshire Green, Division Street, Barker's Pool and The Moor and beginning construction in 2006, this is an attempt to overhaul Sheffield's retail sector.
*Castle Square: Built on the site of the original market on High Street.
*Fargate: a pedestrianised shopping street home to many high street chains including and H&M and River Island, located in Heart of the City
*Fitzalan Square: a public square in Heart of the City, noted for it's statue of King Edward VII
*High Street: linking West Street and Castlegate, and with the tram lines running through it, part of Heart of the City
*Victoria Quays: with units of higher-end retail, and hosting the Hilton Hotel and Ant Marketing, in Riverside Quarter
*Sheffield Station Gateway: the area and new public square around the Station, in Sheaf Valley
*West End: containing the university and Hospital's West Campus, it lies to the west of and partly within the St. George's Quarter.
*Pinstone Street: Leading from Fargate to the Moor, this is a vehicle and pedestrian throughfare. It contains shops such as Laura Ashley, Karen Millen, Streetwise Sports and runs close by several bars and cafes, including Casbah

Leisure and Business

*Fargate- Major pedestrianized shopping street.
*The Moor- Long pedestrianized shopping street. Home to many department stores.
*New Retail Quarter- New retail quarter set to be completed in 2010 with over 250 shops.

Sheffield's key business districts are scattered around the city centre but the vast majority of business are located in the West Bar district. Other districts include Castlegate, Victoria Quays and the Moorfoot, home to departments of the DWP, DCSF, DIUS, Home Office and the Inland Revenue.

Companies with a significant presence in Sheffield City centre include;
*HSBC
*Nabbaro Nathanson
*Home Office
*ZOO Digital Group
*PlusNet
*British Telecom
*Telewest Broadband
*Capita
*Jennic
*Parexel
*Dixons
*Royal Mail"see also List of companies in Sheffield "

Attractions

Some of the major attractions located in Sheffield City centre include:
*Sheffield Winter Gardens
*Sheffield Town Hall
*Sheffield City Hall
*Millennium Galleries
*Sheffield Central Library
*Lyceum Theatre
*Crucible Theatre
*Sheffield Peace Gardens
*Sheffield Hallam University
*St. Pauls Tower
*Victoria Quays
*Sheffield Cathedral

ee also

*Districts of Sheffield
*Sheffield city region

References

External links

* [http://www.sheffield.gov.uk City website]
* [http://www.creativesheffield.com Re-generation website]