Kelham Island: Why Sheffield ex-industrial area become so fashionable
Kelham Island: Why has former Sheffield industrial area now one of most fashionable places to live in the UK?
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00:00The famous River Don engine in Kelham Island Museum was probably once the most famous thing in Kelham Island.
00:12There was a time when if you thought of Kelham Island in Sheffield, you automatically thought of the famous Kelham Island Industrial Museum, which is behind me here.
00:21Perhaps also you would have thought of the famous pub, the Fat Cat, with its pioneering brewery.
00:29But times have changed and now Kelham Island is one of the most fashionable areas in Sheffield, to the extent that it was named as one of the 15 coolest neighbourhoods in the UK by the Daily Telegraph not many years ago.
00:45So we've come to Kelham Island and the broader district to find out what it is about this area that makes it so fashionable.
00:53Douglas Johnson, who represents the area on Sheffield Council, said it had a great community that was attracted by living in a post-industrial area that makes the most of its heritage.
01:0520 years ago we had Cornish Place that was developed here in Kelham Island. It's a fantastic old works of the James Dixon brand making Britannia metals.
01:16There's a fascinating history there and it was a really sensitive conversion of those flats and that led off a lot of the regeneration of this area and since then it's brought in a lot of people who want to live in that sort of place.
01:30There's also a large artistic community made up of people who both live and work in the area.
01:37There's the Kelham Island Arts Collective just around the corner that provides small studio space in an old industrial building for artists so people can actually get to practice their work there.
01:49And for instance over here we've got work by Joanna Whittle who's one of the artists who's produced these large scale pieces. They're very much on the theme of Kelham Island.
02:00There's also plenty to do with pubs, restaurants and plenty of cultural venues too.
02:07Some of the things that really attract people to Kelham Island are some really good quality food and drink here but above all it's such a pleasant and welcoming area to be in.
02:17And as you can see behind me it's now softening up from when we had these very hard edges of new buildings we've now got a lot more planting, greenery and things that really look like a really good place to sit out on a summer's day.
02:30It's actually a really beautiful and relaxing area.
02:34Nick Ward who works at the Yellow Arch Recording Studios feels that culture has had an important role in establishing Kelham Island to the fashionable place that it is.
02:46Now we're finding that people are moving down here to be near the studio and all the other surrounding studios that have since moved here.
02:58Are there any big name music connections with Yellow Arch and Kelham Island?
03:04Yeah, we have Richard Hawley and we have the Arctic Monkeys. They record here. Richard Hawley just a few months ago finished his latest album.
03:15One of the videos for that album was actually shot upstairs behind me.
03:21What's the appeal of the broader Kelham Island area?
03:25I think it's because it's been a disused, neglected area in Sheffield.
03:35And I think musicians and artists have realised that it's kind of cool down here with the river, the Bull Street Bridge and we're having new bars and new restaurants and places opening.
03:51It's just a cool place to live and now we've got the construction of the various blocks of flats nearby for students and young professionals.
04:00It really is a happening place to be, despite the fact that as you drive past it still actually looks like an industrial area.
04:08If you point your car up and actually walk around, you'll see there's all these hidden little gems that aren't actually visible from the road.
04:16But what's it actually like to live in Kelham Island?
04:20Well, we asked Lorna Pettifer, who's lived there for nearly 20 years.
04:25It's very busy, up and coming. It has been for a few years though.
04:32I moved in in 2005 and it's just progressed and progressed and progressed with the amount of spaces that are being utilised with regards to building of flats and restaurants and bars.
04:46And there is a community of people that work together to do litter picking and painting of stanchions and the Naomi's Corner, which is just up the hill here on the path.
05:01It's a very wide-ranging community, lots of different ages, whether it be young families, professionals or older couples.
05:13To be honest, everybody gels and clicks and gets on with each other.
05:18What are the best facilities? It seems to have an awful lot of pubs and bars.
05:23It has an awful lot of choice.
05:26So there's the Cutlery Works, which is really good because it's less casual.
05:31It's more where you can go, meet your friends, have a couple of beers and a bite to eat.
05:39And I think that's a lot of what's happening now is with food halls, because it gives people the opportunity to have what they want and not be forced down a certain path.
05:50The number of bars that are now in and around Callum Island, so there's Cayloo, the Tavern, Domo, all kinds of different places that will suit different people.
06:07It is mildly expensive compared to town, but it's a nicer atmosphere than town, so I would recommend people come down and check it out.