2 weeks Ago By [email protected] (Dave Himelfield)
Whether Hillsborough is ‘hip’ depends on who you ask and where on Middlewood Road they shop. Middlewood Road – this Sheffield suburb’s main shopping street – is a street of two halves. Actually, it’s more a street of seven-eighths and another eighth.
The bottom seven-eighths of Middlewood Road looks largely typical of an inner-city neighbourhood. It’s rundown and lined with takeaways, betting shops, pawnbrokers, charity shops, pound shops and vape shops. Ask at the bottom seven-eighths whether Hillsborough is becoming ‘cool’ and you’re likely to hear a ‘no’.
Uphill of Dykes Hall Road, where the type of shop changes markedly, it’ll almost certainly be a ‘yes’. Indeed it is kind of ‘cool’. But what does that mean, anyway? ‘Cool’ or ‘hip’ are among the most subjective and fluid adjectives in English.
Perhaps ‘arty’ or ‘alternative’ are more suitable and they influence my highly subjective ‘cool’ neighbourhood checklist below. A ‘cool’ neighbourhood has: 1) a substantial proportion of young adults working in creative industries, new media and tech; 2) independent shops selling unique, ethical products. These can be anything from candles to coffee; 3) regular events with cutting-edge artists, authors and bands; 4) progressive politics; 5) an ‘edge’.
So does Hillsborough meet these criteria? It’s certainly starting to. 1) This is hard to confirm although anecdotally, I spot a fair number of arty-looking young adults, yummy mummies and hip-looking students. In one coffee shop, a stone’s throw from Hillsborough Park, I spot young adults bashing away at their laptops.
That said, they could be working for ExxonMobil – but they probably aren’t. 2) Yes, absolutely. There’s craft store Annie Jude’s, Luke Horton’s art gallery and shop, and indie bookshop Hillsborough Bookshop.
Then there’s The Pangolin craft beer pub, Molly’s Cafe and Deli, which does an awesome smoked sausage and scrambled egg sandwich, and the Orange Bird which describes itself as a ‘modern South African/international’ restaurant. 3) It appears there are. Hillsborough Bookshop and The Pangolin both host book launches and recitals.
In shop windows and on noticeboards you see flyers for cool, cooperative events. 4) Hillsborough has had a Labour MP since 1935. That’s mainly because it’s a predominantly working-class area but centre-left Labour has long been the party of choice for artists, musicians and creative types.
Interestingly, in this year’s general election, the left-wing Green Party finished second. Right-wing populist party Reform UK didn’t field a candidate. 5) An ‘edgy’ area is a place at the vanguard of new trends.
For example, Venice, California, was edgy in the mid-1970s because it birthed the style of skateboarding that developed into what is now an Olympic sport. Hillsborough feels like it’s on the edge of something, even if that ‘edge’ just means a young professional contingent, art galleries and better beer. Jaden Claymore works at Annie Jude’s where he sells his scented candles.
The shop’s motto is ‘shop small, support local’. You would think people in the 2020s seldom go further than Aldi or Amazon for their shopping. People, however, still see the value of small, independent, physical shops, especially when they offer something the above mega-businesses can’t.
“We get a lot of people here because they like small businesses...
They’re coming to support local businesses,” says Jaden, 28. Jaden adds the appeal of Hillsborough lies in it’s villagey feel, even though it’s a couple of miles from Sheffield city centre. Most of Middlewood Road is still ‘gritty’ but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
That imbalance keeps things authentic and above all, affordable. Creative jobs don’t usually pay as well as their corporate equivalents. Such a demographic still needs affordable rents or mortgages and reasonably-priced groceries and clothes.
All of these are still in abundance on Middlewood Road. Sophie Rowe, 28, opened Hillsborough Bookshop in September 2023 although she moved to the area four years earlier. “It was a very different high street to what you see now.
I feel very lucky having bought at that time. House prices have gone up,” says Sophie who previously worked in marketing. Sophie says the area now feels more vibrant.
“There’s a hustle and bustle. It’s lovely.” But once the affordable stuff disappears then-edgy areas became sanitised, saturated and unaffordable.
They inevitably gentrify and the creative types and the generational residents are priced out. Thankfully, Hillsborough is years, hopefully decades, from that. Sophie says: “It still feels like a community.
It still feels like people know each other.” It’s just getting started in Hillsborough. Let’s enjoy it while we can.
You can find the latest events news in Yorkshire and nearby by visiting our What's On homepage . There you can also find days out guides for things to do across the region. Yorkshire Live has launched Explore Yorkshire, which will look at Yorkshire's unique identity and destinations and celebrate God's Own County for what it is - the best place in the world.
Whether you are looking for a day out, a weekend away or to try somewhere new, Explore Yorkshire is here to help. Our brilliant new newsletter will bring all of this content together for you in one place - sign up here to get it direct to your inbox ..
