There are nearly 1,200 buildings around the city which are listed by Historic England due to their national importance, protecting them from being demolished or altered with no regard for their heritage.
Those range from the city's oldest buildings, like the Old Queens Head pub on Pond Hill, near Sheffield bus station, which reportedly dates back to 1475, to the former Cole Brothers and John Lewis building at Barker's Pool, which was only built in the 1960s and is not to everyone’s taste but was controversially awarded Grade II listed status in 2022.
Some buildings are not considered historic enough to merit national listing but still have fascinating stories to tell and are a treasured part of the communities in which they stand. That’s why the South Yorkshire Local Heritage List was created to help preserve such landmarks for future generations.
While this local listing doesn’t carry quite the same weight when it comes to protecting buildings from developers, it can help save them from demolition by showing how valued they are within the neighbourhood in which they are located. It doesn’t always work, as demonstrated when The Plough pub on Sandygate Road was recently demolished to make way for new homes despite having been locally listed.
In Sheffield, there are 34 locally listed buildings on the register, with a decision awaited on many more candidates, and anyone can nominate a building, monument, landscape or other ‘heritage asset’ for inclusion.
Below are some of the distinctive buildings which have already been recognised since August 2022, including an old cinema in Sheffield city centre which is now a bingo hall, some of the city's best-loved pubs, and the former swimming baths in Attercliffe, which date back to the reign of Queen Victoria.
To view the South Yorkshire Local Heritage List in full, visit: local-heritage-list.org.uk/south-yorkshire.
1. Unique buildings
Four of the buildings in Sheffield which have been locally listed Photo: National World/Picture Sheffield
2. Chantry Inn
The Chantry Inn on Handsworth Road, Sheffield, is believed to be one of only four pubs in the UK to be built on consecrated land. It stands virtually within the churchyard and there is a cemetery on the grounds of the pub. Originally a mid-13th century house for chaplains and then a schoolroom, according to the listing, it became a pub in the early part of the 19th century. Photo: Google
3. Old Tinsley Carnegie Library
This former Carnegie library on Bawtry Road in Tinsley, Sheffield, opened in June 1905 and served as a branch library until 1985. It was more recently used as the Roundabout Centre but has since been disused and boarded up. The land for the library was donated by the 7th Earl Fitzwilliam, with the American millionaire Andrew Carnegie giving Tinsley Parish Council £1,500 to build a new library there. Carnegie also funded the Walkley Public Library building, which is Grade II-listed. Photo: Picture Sheffield
4. Banners department store, Attercliffe
The old Banners department store building in Attercliffe, Sheffield, is described as having been 'by far the biggest retail business' in the suburb, which was celebrated for having the city's first escalators and a 'pneumatic capsule transportation system' – both of which have since been removed. The listing states: "Celebrated by two generations of Attercliffe shoppers and their children. Used by Rotherham people travelling by tram and bus who preferred not to continue to Sheffield city centre." Picture by Chris Lawton Photo: Chris Lawton