City Guide: Sheffield Top Ten

1. Sheffield Winter Garden and Millennium Gardens

• One of the largest temperate glasshouses in the country

• Houses over 2,000 plants from around the world

• Landmark city-centre development

• Adjacent Sheffield galleries have hosted collections by the likes of Vivienne Westwood and John Martin

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2. The Crucible Theatre

• The home of World Snooker since 1977

• Showcases everything from Shakespeare to Chekhov

• Diversity of performers span comedians, musicians, poets, and choirs

• Part of the UK’s largest theatre complex outside London

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3. English Institute of Sport

• The EIS features a vast gym, 200m running track, as well as some of the country’s most advanced sports medicine facilities, making it a premier UK sports venue

• Used by athletes of all shapes and sizes, including the British Boxing Team

• Hosted the British Olympic Team in the run up to the London Olympics

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4. The Motorpoint Arena

• Top musical and sporting events – world title fights, Premier League darts, The Beach Boys, Elton John, Whitney Houston and the Arctic Monkeys

• Home to the city’s ice hockey team – The Sheffield Steelers

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5. Eco-friendliness

• Named the “Greenest City on the Planet” after sending the least amount of waste to landfill sites in 2013 – less than 1% of all household rubbish

• Sheffield boasts over 2 million trees – arguably Europe’s greenest urban area.

• 83 parks, 4 public gardens

• Borders England’s oldest National Park, the Peak District

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6. Sheffield Legends

• The Sheffield Walk of Fame, this collection of plaques lines up outside the city’s Town Hall in homage to its Hollywood cousin

• Sheffield’s most famous sons and daughters include Bond villain, Sharpe hero, Sean Bean, Heptathlete, Jessica Ennis, and Monty Python star, Michael Palin

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7. Green-fingered Hospitality

• The city centre is a 30 minute ride from the fringe of the Peak District – the UK’s oldest National Park

• Accommodation in Sheffield; The Sheffield Metropolitan Hotel (from £35.50 p/p B&B) offers visitors free bike storage, energy bars and route maps to prepare them as they set out for a day’s riding, or ramble amidst the 550 square miles of spectacular English terrain

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8. Cycle-friendliness

• Sheffield is acknowledged as a cycle-friendly destination

• It’s situated beside the Trans-Pennine Trail and numerous pathways winding up into the surrounding hills.

• Hosted stage one of Le Tour De France in 2014

• Tour route markers remain on display to allow more casual riders to echo their heroes from the Peloton

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9. Trams

• The city’s state of the art “SuperTram” system is a mere 15 years old

• Historically, horse-drawn trams patrolled the city as far back at 1873

• Visitors can follow the traditional routes and navigate the hills to the city’s suburbs

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10. Value for Money

• Voted the best value city-break in the UK

• Average spend is just £154 a night, less than half the average of Edinburgh

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Suggested Hotels

City centre: 4 Star, Novotel Centre, Sheffield – try and excuse their ugly website

Countryside: Whitley Hall, a 16th century ivy-clad mansion

Boutique: Leopold, contemporary chic with architectural character – formally a Grade II listed Boy’s Grammar School

Competitive: The Sheffield Metropolitan Hotel for visitors with a sense of adventure, who want to explore by bike / on foot

Note: there are no 5 star hotels in the city

Winter Garden

Sheffield’s famous Tram system

Institute of Sport

Moor Market

Motorpoint

The world famous Crucible arena

Trans Pennine

Sheffield ‘walk of fame’ Legends

Sheffield Town Hall’s distinct period architecture

Central Sheffield

Sheffield Cycle station