21 exciting photos showing how Sheffield city centre could look soon, including new food halls and shops

The city centre looks like a big building site right now but a number of big projects are nearing completion, with new food halls on the way, along with a fancy hotel, a live music venue, a new riverside park and much more. We’ve put together a gallery showing how areas from Fargate to Castlegate could look in a little over 12 months.

The biggest project is the £480 million Heart of the City II regeneration project, which has already seen a new home created for HSBC, with the highly-rated Furnace restaurant opening just next door.

Work is well underway at various other sites, including the Cambridge Street Collective, which is now due to open in early 2024 and will boast 24 kitchens set over three floors, with a cookery school, bakery and rooftop bars; Bethel Chapel, which is being turned into a live entertainment venue; and Leah’s Yard, where the collection of historic workshops are being restored to house a mixture of shops, businesses and events, with the artist Pete McKee recently announcing he is moving his gallery there.

The Radisson Blu Hotel on Pinstone Street, with a rooftop bar and restaurant overlooking the Peace Gardens, is expected to open in early 2024.

In addition, work is well underway on Fargate, where new flowerbeds are being planted and an events hub created; work is set to start in early 2024 on a new riverside park at the old Sheffield Castle site, where Castle Market more recently stood; and there are plans to breathe new life into the old John Lewis and Cole Brothers store, with pop-up shops and cafes opening on the ground floor in 2024.

It is hoped too that the old Debenhams department store at the top of The Moor will open soon, with the owner recently unveiling plans for a huge second-hand market there, with space for stalls selling crafts, along with niche retailers and food.

And there are even plans for a new shipping container attraction at Arundel Gate, between the O2 Academy and Odeon Cinema, hosting live music and events, along with bars and street food vendors.

James O’Hara, who runs the celebrated city centre cocktail bar Public and is involved in transforming the historic Leah’s Yard workshops, tweeted earlier this year: “Tell ya what, in a year’s time Cambridge Street will be one of the best streets in any city centre in the country. You can hold me to that.”

Adam Murray, owner of the planning consultancy Urbana, shares his sense of optimism, tweeting: “A new city is pending… In a year people will be saying very different things about our city centre than what they have for 30+ years. This will be the place to be.”

And Sheffield Council leader Tom Hunt said it was ‘time to talk Sheffield up’.

Take a look at these photos and let us know you think about the future of Sheffield city centre.