# East End of Sheffield, June 1989



## HughieD (Jan 18, 2013)

OK, so there's been a bit of lead time in me sharing this explore (23 years to be exact). But hopefully people will find it interesting. Here's a bit of background.

Back in 1989 the East End of Sheffield, Attercliffe and Brightside, resembled something out of 'Apocolypse Now'. It was a very sad fall from grace for the area of a city that was once the powerhouse of the industrial revolution and home of Benjamin Huntsman who pioneered the crucible steel process back in 1740 and Harry Brearley who discovered stainless steel in 1912. The year of 1989 was a particularly grim one for Sheffield. The city, already reeling from the terminal decline of its once proud steel industry, then endured the horrors of the Hillsborough Disaster. You could almost taste the desolation in this part of the city.

In 1989 I was doing my "City and Guilds in Photography". For my Black and White Photography module I chose "Dereliction" hence took a number of pictures of the city's decaying steel industry. The thing that struck me when I went down the East End was the sheer scale of dereliction: factory after factory waiting to be knocked down. The other startling thing was the complete lack of people in this once prosperous part of the city. And it wasn't just industrial dereliction. All the pubs, cafes and shops that supported the armies of steel workers also slipped into a terminal decline. 

Anyhow, hope you like the pictures.




Eastend23_1 by HughieDW, on Flickr




Eastend01_1 by HughieDW, on Flickr




Eastend02_1 by HughieDW, on Flickr




Eastend03_1 by HughieDW, on Flickr




Eastend04_1 by HughieDW, on Flickr




Eastend05_1 by HughieDW, on Flickr




Eastend06_1 by HughieDW, on Flickr




Eastend07_1 by HughieDW, on Flickr




Eastend08_1 by HughieDW, on Flickr




Eastend09_1 by HughieDW, on Flickr




Eastend10_1 by HughieDW, on Flickr




Eastend11_1 by HughieDW, on Flickr




Eastend12_1 by HughieDW, on Flickr




Eastend14_1 by HughieDW, on Flickr




Eastend15_1 by HughieDW, on Flickr




Eastend16_1 by HughieDW, on Flickr




Eastend17_1 by HughieDW, on Flickr




Eastend18_1 by HughieDW, on Flickr




Eastend19_1 by HughieDW, on Flickr




Eastend20_1 by HughieDW, on Flickr




Eastend21_1 by HughieDW, on Flickr


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## wolseyone (Jan 18, 2013)

Awesome stuff


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## Silent Hill (Jan 18, 2013)

These are important images of the era, and would really benefit being shown in an exhibition of some sort to highlight the industrial decline in the area.

Beautifully captured mate. Stuff like this excites me, and thanks for putting them up


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## MCrosbie (Jan 18, 2013)

Very nice. do you have any more? shame about the Gents clock though


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## HughieD (Jan 18, 2013)

Silent Hill said:


> These are important images of the era, and would really benefit being shown in an exhibition of some sort to highlight the industrial decline in the area.
> 
> Beautifully captured mate. Stuff like this excites me, and thanks for putting them up



Cheers Silent Hill. You're right. Was trying to find exisitng pictures via Google picture search to try and help me identify individual factories etc but there is little up there to be honest.


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## shatners (Jan 18, 2013)

Really nice set Hughie.. good to see some nice old film shots


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## HughieD (Jan 18, 2013)

MCrosbie said:


> Very nice. do you have any more? shame about the Gents clock though



Thanks MCrosbie. There may be one or two others - will have a sift. All on negative of course so not as easy to find as digital images! If I find any more will add them to this thread.

We did shoot a video for my then band in the building shown in the first picture. Here's a link so you can see inside the building...

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaWslqSEiJ8"]Poisonous Little Creatures - Head[/ame]


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## Silent Hill (Jan 18, 2013)

Well that vid got my feet tapping  Cool


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## perjury saint (Jan 18, 2013)

*Very nice indeed! *


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## Ramsgatonian (Jan 18, 2013)

Certainly different, love seeing old urbex photographs!


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## Pen15 (Jan 18, 2013)

Very special batch of images, Hughie and agreed with Silent Hill. They should be displayed in an exhibition. Sheffield is now a very forward looking city and very proud of its heritage. I would think that you would have a great opportunity to show these fine works and they would be received well. 

Although I do have a strong bias about Sheffield 

Music wasn't bad either!


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## mookster (Jan 18, 2013)

Beautiful photos!


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## ajarb (Jan 18, 2013)

HughieD said:


> Back in 1989 the East End of Sheffield, Attercliffe and Brightside, resembled something out of 'Apocolypse Now'.
> 
> Some parts of Sheffield STILL resemble something out of 'Apocalypse Now'!


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## flyboys90 (Jan 18, 2013)

Those photos were superb,thanks for sharing.


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## krela (Jan 18, 2013)

That's some proper history right there! Fantastic stuff.

They might be giants AND Aztec Camera...


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## Wakey Lad (Jan 18, 2013)

Simply stunning - This is what its all about :yes:


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## HughieD (Jan 18, 2013)

Thank you all for your lovely comments. I only found Derelict Places a few weeks ago. I'm so pleased to find such a great bunch of like-minded people interested in exploring, photography, dereliction and architecture.

I've just found a few more pictures - including some rare colour pictures.




Eastend27_1 by HughieDW, on Flickr




Eastend26_1 by HughieDW, on Flickr




Eastend25_1 by HughieDW, on Flickr




Eastend28_1 by HughieDW, on Flickr

...and one last black and white one....




Eastend24_1 by HughieDW, on Flickr


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## Dexter24 (Jan 18, 2013)

Fantastic photos, especially the third colour one that's a cracker, Film certainly gives a new dimension to the images that you don't get with digital.


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## theoss (Jan 19, 2013)

HughieD said:


> OK, so there's been a bit of lead time in me sharing this explore (23 years to be exact). But hopefully people will find it interesting. Here's a bit of background.
> 
> Back in 1989 the East End of Sheffield, Attercliffe and Brightside, resembled something out of 'Apocolypse Now'. It was a very sad fall from grace for the area of a city that was once the powerhouse of the industrial revolution and home of Benjamin Huntsman who pioneered the crucible steel process back in 1740 and Harry Brearley who discovered stainless steel in 1912. The year of 1989 was a particularly grim one for Sheffield. The city, already reeling from the terminal decline of its once proud steel industry, then endured the horrors of the Hillsborough Disaster. You could almost taste the desolation in



I started an apprenticeship just outside Sheffield around the time these were taken. Used to walk accross the building site of Meadowhall every morning- have you any pictures of what that area looked like before the land was sold off for a quid? One of my first explores was after I deviated from the canal and into a site under the viaduct (hatields I think). I think the decline was just starting. I remember seeing the weekly job vacancies notices outside many industrial sites, you could literally walk out on one job Friday and start another Monday back in the day. My mum's dad was a foreman at forgemasters and the genorisity of people in thay day was incredible, if he was waiting a bus, he would pay the fare of everyone waiting, if he knew them or not.

I was up on Wincobank Hill looking across towards Tinsley sheds were just last Friday, and I saw the orange glow of steel being brought out. Last Summer, I was talking to security at Shepcote lane steelworks, and now the main plant has gone, he told me they cannot keep up with orders. 

I think the irony of meadowhall is when it was built, job creation was a major selling point to Sheffield as the process of industrial decline bit in, but now we see the same changes occuring in the retail sector. People finding cheaper and more convienient ways of doing what they need to do.

it's a whole new landscape now, still got the same level of council ineptitude we had that gave us a licensing officer (still employed by the council) that failed to ensure compliance at Hillsborough (Many agencies seemed to have slipped under the responsibility radar regarding that event) . Now the council want to close a range of facilities down including everything from respite centres to Don Valley Stadium.


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## wolseyone (Jan 19, 2013)

i find it quite sad seeing the decline of sheffields industrial past much the same as leicesters hosiery and northamptons shoe trade


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## Judderman62 (Jan 19, 2013)

Silent Hill said:


> These are important images of the era, and would really benefit being shown in an exhibition of some sort to highlight the industrial decline in the area.
> 
> Beautifully captured mate. Stuff like this excites me, and thanks for putting them up



what he said ^^^


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## Judderman62 (Jan 19, 2013)

all fabulous loving the samuel osborn - beutiful sign


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## Derelict-UK (Jan 19, 2013)

Fantastic! I have been photographing the changing streets of Birmingham over the last few years. I also recently saw a helicopter view of Birmingham from around 15 years ago and it took me about 15 minutes to put it down! Fascinating stuff.


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## mr_bones (Jan 19, 2013)

This entire report is incredible. A slice of history, captured so well. Thankyou for sharing.


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## mr_bones (Jan 19, 2013)

I was intrigued by this image and looked the company up







...to find out this building was listed and has been re-used!


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## Silent Hill (Jan 19, 2013)

Top stuff mate. Can't thank you enough


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## hnmisty (Jan 21, 2013)

Lovely 

That's what I thought Sheffield still looked like these days, then I moved here a year and a half ago and was completely amazed by the place, it's a very special city. Especially after Leeds, where I lived for 5 years. At least in Sheffield no 12 year olds are yet to shoot my window out or torch trees in my garden


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## HughieD (Jan 21, 2013)

mr_bones said:


> I was intrigued by this image and looked the company up
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Good researching Mr Bones! Yes - I've realised where this is now. Actually, it's not Brightside or Attercliffe, it's round the other side at Neepsend. Nice to see 'good news' stories like this when buildings are saved.


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## TeeJF (Jan 21, 2013)

Vintage urbex now? Cracking stuff!


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## Malcog (Jan 21, 2013)

The best bit for me was the poster for Aztec Camera and They Might be Giants ! 
Sad to see Sheffield becoming an industrial wasteland, Meadowhall may be a nice enough shopping mall, but it won't leave any sort of history of human endeavour behind when its demolished. 
I'm still not over the demolition of the Tinsley cooling towers.


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## HughieD (Jan 21, 2013)

Malcog said:


> The best bit for me was the poster for Aztec Camera and They Might be Giants !
> Sad to see Sheffield becoming an industrial wasteland, Meadowhall may be a nice enough shopping mall, but it won't leave any sort of history of human endeavour behind when its demolished.
> I'm still not over the demolition of the Tinsley cooling towers.



That really nails it down to the 80s doesn't it? Funnily enough like both those bands. I remember Meadowhall rising Pheonix-like out of the desolation. If you go down Attercliffe now there's still a bit of a melancholic feel to the place. Some of the shops and pubs that survived the decline of the steel industry meltdown have now fell victim to the recent recession which is rather sad.


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## MrDan (Jan 21, 2013)

Nice one mr_bones 

:notworthy: Hughie, truly great to see photos from so long ago! (While I was still a glint in my father's eye actually)
It's exactly how I imagined Sheffield to have been during that era.

Just had to search They Might Be Giants, as I'd not heard of them, I have to say I'm quite keen!


Wikipedia.org said:


> In December 2012, the band announced that their sixteenth adult studio album, Nanobots, will be released on their Idlewild Recordings label on March 5, 2013


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## HughieD (Jan 22, 2013)

MrDan said:


> Nice one mr_bones
> 
> :notworthy: Hughie, truly great to see photos from so long ago! (While I was still a glint in my father's eye actually)
> It's exactly how I imagined Sheffield to have been during that era.
> ...



Cheers Mr Dan  Check out "Birdhouse in my soul" and "Istanbul not Constantinople". Class tuneage.


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## the|td4 (Jan 22, 2013)

Lovely rich images in every sense of the word, many thanks for posting these.


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## Locksley (Mar 22, 2013)

Very cool pics, more like Threads than Apocalypse Now though  

Talking of which those derelict houses in the first post look very familiar, anyone know if they were used in the filming of Threads?


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