Celebrating our changing neighbourhood

The neighbourhood around Harland Works has undergone quite a change since I first came here in 2010 ish.

Our neighbour, Portland Works, was bought from its developer landlord by 500 people and is now one of the biggest community benefit societies in the UK. Quite an achievement!

Local fixtures such as The Edge Climbing Centre and the Whichcraft shop have gone, and Go Outdoors took over CCC (although people still call it CCC).

Then JD Sports took over Go Outdoors and moved the national HQ from Arley Street to Bury - with big implications for the people working there, the small businesses that served them, and the buildings on Arley St which were empty for a long while.

But since then the huge New Era development has sprung up. Ozmen’s big international supermarket (Ozmen Extra) has opened, employing a huge number of different nationalities on its staff, and the conversion of former steel works opposite has brought more residential spaces to the street.

Sheffield charity CADS have done what they do so well and taken over the old Go Outdoors offices to create new spaces for businesses and charities - among them Theatre Deli who have just opened their studio theatre and bar. And Golf Fang arrived with its crazy graffiti bringing a new kind of buzz to the area.

Alongside these changes, new small business owners have been choosing to move into the area and - just now - it feels like we are having a ‘small business moment’ round here. It seems to be gaining momentum - and it’s certainly a lovely contrast to the horrible quiet of the lockdown times

Last year, in celebration of Small Business Saturday, I started an online directory of small businesses based both at Harland Works, and nearby. I wanted to raise the profile of how much is going on round here. As there are probably nearly 100 businesses, this is not a small project to take on in my ‘spare time’ - and last month I was delighted to hear that Sheffield University are going to ‘lend’ me two students to come and help get it done in the Summer.

The students are part of TAP a knowledge transfer project in which students are paired with organisations to co-create a project with the potential to ‘Transform and Activate a Place’. The Small Business Directory qualified for inclusion in the project - which I am delighted about. But it also led me to discover a whole host of other interesting place related projects the students have been working with over the past few years.

I look forward to learning more about these - and sharing progess by our TAP project - through the summer.