Sheffield city strategy 2010-2020

A vision for the next 10 years

Politicians and city leaders are meeting tomorrow to debate Sheffield’s future:

The Sheffield First Partnership Leadership Summit will take place on 3rd September at the city centre St Paul’s Mercure Hotel, and will be attended by a coalition government minister, Council Leader Paul Scriven and Chief Executive of Sheffield City Council, John Mothersole, and the Rt Hon David Blunkett MP.

A broad reaching public consultation undertaken earlier this year revealed how the people of Sheffield viewed their city and will directly inform the debate to determine the 2010-20 city strategy.

Early research into the findings suggests that improving public transport, the positive cultural diversity, maintaining the ‘green city’ reputation and continuing the ongoing regeneration are among the recurring topics and these will be the among the issues that will be discussed.

Does anyone remember taking part in the consultation?

It’ll be interesting to see what they’ve got in store for Sheffield and find out what the priorities are for improving the city over the next decade.

Fancie cupcakes: behind the scenes

Inside the Sheffield Fancie bakery

Chocolate Fancie cupcakes

Chocolate Fancie cupcakes

The other day I had the pleasure of an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at Sheffield’s favourite cupcake company, Fancie.

Fancie is only a young business. In just two years it has quickly become one of the city’s most recognisable and loved names in food.

Prior to Fancie, there wasn’t much in the way of gourmet cupcakes in Sheffield. They have created a market for their product and now bake over 4,000 cupcakes a week in their modest Sheffield 7 base.

A Sharrow vale road shop opened in April last year and an outlet in the Winter garden followed earlier in 2010. Two more stores are due to open this year, the first in Sheffield university’s refurbished student’s union just in time for fresher’s week.

So what is the Fancie bakery like? It you’re expecting it to be lavishly decked in the trademark pink then you’re wrong. The only clue from the outside that we’d arrived at the right place was the small www.fancie.co.uk in the window.

Fancie window

Fancie window

Inside there is a small office, the main preparation area and a store cupboard.

We meet the proprietor Amanda who ushers us in and starts to show us round. We’d arrived at 9:30am but the five or six people busily attending to various stages of the cupcake-making process have been working since five that morning.

The Fancie factory

The Fancie bakery

The Fancie team look as if they are nearing the end of the cooking process and the fruits of their labour are indeed on show.

Trays of cupcakes

Trays of cupcakes

Adjacent to these trays is a personalised order which is half way through being prepared. These special orders account for about 15% of the business, the rest being standard cupcakes sales.

Personalised cupcake order

Personalised cupcake order

We’re then left to explore the rest of the bakery and see how the Fancie cupcakes are made. Although the process is what you would expect, seeing the craft behind something you know well is still interesting.

First of all, the sponge mix is created and then pumped into the waiting bun cases.

Chocolate bun mix

Chocolate bun mix

There are plenty of flavours on offer, and each batch is labelled before it is baked in the oven.

Pumping and labelling the flavoured sponge mix

Pumping and labelling the flavoured sponge mix

Filled bun cases

Filled bun cases

A good cook always tests their recipes as they go along.

A cheeky test of the baked sponge

A cheeky test of the baked sponge

The cupcake filling is added: for example jam for the Victoria cupcakes or peanut butter for Snickerlicious, Fancie’s biggest seller.

The sponge filling is added

The sponge filling is added

The icing is then mixed and generously pumped onto the cupcakes to create the thick Fancie topping.

Pumping the icing

Pumping the icing

None of the icing is wasted. When all the lighter colours have been applied to cupcakes, the spare icing is mixed together and combined with cocoa to create  the chocolate icing.

The chocolate icing is made from unused light-coloured icing

The chocolate icing is made from unused light-coloured icing

The toppings are then put on. Judging by the contents of the store cupboard, they won’t be running out of coloured sprinkles soon.

Fancie store cupboard

Fancie store cupboard

Decorated cupcakes

Decorated cupcakes

The finished cupcakes are then stored in crates until the delivery van arrives to take them to outlets in Sheffield and Leeds.

Crated cupcakes

No prizes for guessing the whereabouts of the two missing cupcakes...

The hard work wasn’t quite finished there though…there was first the washing up to do.

Washing up

Washing up

After looking round we washed down our cupcakes with a cup of tea and had a chat with Amanda in the office.

I asked her about the background to Fancie and her setting up here. She was born in Cornwall and worked as a pastry chef in the Lake district before moving to Sheffield. An alarming fact was that the choice of city to move to was completely random; she literally stuck a pin in the map. So it would have been possible for another town or city to be the home of Fancie, which seems hard to imagine now.

However, Amanda’s passion for Sheffield is clearly evident and she would be the first to say that being based here is a big part of what makes Fancie the company it is.

The fast growth of her business and the numerous outlets that sell her cupcakes show that Amanda has ambitions for Fancie. But the PR trips to London to raise the company’s profile are not what motivates her and her dream isn’t to see Fancie cupcakes in every supermarket in the land.

Instead she is happy to build the company up so it doesn’t become another supplier both driven and bullied by the big supermarkets. The people enjoying her cupcakes are happy to pay for them knowing that they are made fresh, locally and by an independent producer, and she is in no hurry to ramp things up on an industrial scale.

Being considered a treat product obviously hasn’t done Fancie any harm in the current recession. And the occasional special flavours are giving people excuses to keep coming back for more: I can personally vouch for the goodness of the butterscotch one.

The success of the business hasn’t gone unnoticed, with at least two other gourmet cupcake companies springing up in Sheffield.

For now though Fancie is still the number one, and remains one of Sheffield’s culinary treasures.

Amanda in the Fancie office

Amanda in the Fancie office

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Weston party bank holiday Monday gig

Music in the sun (hopefully)

There’s a full post about this event over on counterfeitmag.co.uk so I won’t repeat it all here, but this looks like a good bet for a fun, free way to spend bank holiday Monday.

Billed as a post-Tramlines pick-me-up, this afternoon of music in Weston park features a line-up including Sarah Mac, Ian Brit, the Cartels, Orange 38, the Tivoli, Driftrun and Lords of flatbush.

The forecast says that the best of the weekend sun is going to be on Monday and you are invited to bring along your own picnic or barbecue.

Weston party, 30 August 2010

Lords of flatbush

Lords of flatbush

The Venns pub quiz zine

A spoof research paper on the workings of the average pub quiz team

If you enjoy a pub quiz then look out for what looks like a good new zine called the Venns.

Some previews of pages are below. You’ll see that they are packed with important diagrams, charts and graphs. These illustrate several concepts, including the complex model that any quiz writer worth his salt uses to write questions and why pub quizzes are better than trying to pull.

The zine will also include other articles including reviews of Sheffield pub quizzes.

Authors Quint and Jow will be offering one free copy per team at the pub quizzes they regularly attend around Sheffield, the first being tonight’s (Thursday 26 August) quiz at the Rutland arms pub on Brown street. Spare copies will also be available in exchange for a pint or the price of a pint.

It looks a good read. More information will no doubt follow at the Facebook page and blog.

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Sheffield on Twitter – August 2010 update

New this month

Here are this month’s additions to the list of Sheffield people and organisations of interest on Twitter. The full directory can be found on the Sheffield Twitter users page.

We’re now into our second Twitter list of people and organisations in Sheffield in Twitter. There is also the first Sheffield Twitter list, which contains the first 500 accounts.

Steel city kitchen – food blog
@steelcitykitchn

Crosspool forum – Crospool community group
@crosspoolforum

Dronfield online – community website for Dronfield
@DronfieldOnline

Sheffield politics blog
@SheffPolitics

Yee kwan ice cream
@YeeKwanIceCream

Northern soul – cupcakes
@NorthernSoulCC

Umptious muffins
@umptiousmuffins

Steel wine – wine blog
@steelwine

Hallam FC – the world’s second-oldest football club, playing at the oldest football ground in the world
@HallamFC

PJ taste – local food
@PJTaste

Wild star food – grocery store and home delivery
@WildStarFood

Rialto coffee – Sheffield coffee
@rialtocoffee

Coffee revolution – student’s union coffee shop
@CoffeeRevSUSU

Adam Oxley – BBC Sheffield sports reporter
@adam3oxley

Rob Staton – BBC Sheffield sports reporter
@robstaton

Ashoka – Indian food
@ashoka1967

65 days of static – band
@65dos

FNFN – fighting game community
@FNFNsheff

Ashleigh Armitage – graphic design
@200590

Wigs and warpaint – hairdresser
@WIGSANDWARPAINT

Kartica – band
@Karticamusic

Glenmill carpets
@GlenmillCarpets

Lemon tear gas – band
@Lemonteargas

Love death beach – band
@lovedeathbeach

Black flowers – band
@blkflowers

Party monster – Hallam club night
@P4RTYMONSTER

Risky heroes – band
@riskyheroes

Omnia – letting and property management
@omnialetting

Papas gong – mobile apps
@papasgong

Leopold hotel
@LeopoldHotel

Myyipee – retail website
@myyipee

James Bond training
@jamesbondtrain

South Yorkshire safety camera partnership
@S_Y_S_C_P

Size – shoe shop
@sizeSheffield

Cow – vintage shop
@CowSheffield

Exposed magazine
@ExposedMagSheff

This is comedy – comedy night
@thisiscomedy_

Whirlowbrook hall
@WhirlowbrookHal

The cafeteria – creative agency
@thecafeteria

Harrisons bar
@harrisonsbar

Brightstar creative
@sheffielddesign

ETTO – clothing boutique
@ETTOBoutique

Greentop circus
@GreentopCircus

Sheffield civic trust
@SheffCivicTrust

City lodgings
@Citylodgings

SGB electrical – electrical design and installation
@SGB_Electrical

withUS – university conference facility
@tweet_withUS

Parent lifeline
@ParentLifeline

Boutique paeony – florist
@boutiquepaeony

Wisewood sports centre
@WWSportsCentre

Stuff happening in Sheffield
@stuffinsheff

Veo design agency
@veodesign

Forget the hotel – managed apartments
@ForgetTheHotel

Cordwell group – property developers
@Cordwellgroup

If you want to be listed on it then follow @sheffieldblog, get in touch or comment below.

Made in Sheffield shop

11 August, 2010 Sheffield blog 6 comments

Another idea for empty retail spaces in town

Many people are rightly proud of what a creative city Sheffield is. It is certainly home to plenty of creative people: 7.2% of the workforce is employed in the creative and digital industries* and an uncited claim on Wikipedia says that outside of London, Sheffield has the largest population of amateur, working and professional visual artists in the UK.

Could we do more help promote our creative excellence? The bigger manufacturers pay to use the Made in Sheffield mark to help sell and authenticate their products, but this is less useful for smaller artists trying to sell their wares.

As the recession has hit, shops have gone bust and retail units in towns up and down the country have been left empty. Sheffield city centre hasn’t escaped this, with the delay of Sevenstone resulting in many of our retail spaces being caught in a black hole between compulsory purchase orders and postponed building work.

We’ve already seen some other ideas for ways to make use of these spaces in Sheffield and some bars and shops are even reopening in the empty units.

At least three other cities have now come up with another use for them which is helping local artists and creative people. In the last few months, ‘Made in…’ or ‘Created in…’ shops have opened in Newcastle and Birmingham. It looks like Nottingham is also home to a similar type of  shop.

The concept is simple, although it has varied from city to city. Broadly, they are pop-up shops occupying empty retail units that showcase and sell locally-made products. They can also incorporate meeting places, small workshop spaces and exhibition areas. A group of volunteers run the shops, sometimes with a committee or main organiser heading things up.

Could this work in Sheffield? We already have a pool of creative artists, plenty of empty units in town and and regular craft fairs run by the Sheffield craft mafia.

Running the shops is hard work, as the Created in Birmingham people discovered, so it isn’t something to take on lightly. And I think some thought would need to be given as to how such a project would work alongside existing rent-paying outlets like the Famous Sheffield Shop and Sheffield Scene, and also existing art-selling galleries.

On the whole, it sounds like these pop-up shops have been very well received. After a successful three-month trial, the Birmingham shop closed due to their prestigious unit in the Bullring shopping centre being let to paying tenants, but it is expected to return for Christmas.

Has this idea had been considered for Sheffield? If not, is anyone interested in seeing whether there is an appetite to get a Made in Sheffield shop up and running in time for the Christmas shopping season?

*I’ve no idea how an occupation is classed as creative or otherwise

New Made in Newcastle shop front by championmonkeyface

New Made in Newcastle shop front by championmonkeyface, used with permission

Sheffield food box

5 August, 2010 Sheffield blog 4 comments

A box of Sheffield food delights

Some relatives are moving back up to Sheffield so we decided to make them a little welcome home present:

Sheffield food box

Sheffield food box

They are into their food so we wanted to show them some of the best food and drink brands in the city. After crowdsourcing the best Sheffield food products on Twitter a couple of weeks ago, we had plenty of suggestions for what to include. This is what made it into the box:

We also threw in a copy of Our favourite places guide to Sheffield and wrapped the box in postcode wrapping paper from the Museums Sheffield shop. The present was given last weekend and went down very well.

Some Bassett’s allsorts would have also fitted in there nicely, as well as perhaps some fresher items like Fancie cupcakes. Were there any other Sheffield goodies that we missed?

Sheffield food box

Sheffield food box

Looking back on Tramlines 2010

2 August, 2010 Sheffield blog 1 comment

Sheffield’s urban music festival returns for a second year

So once again the hordes descended on the city centre for the second year of the Tramlines festival. This time it was much bigger than 2009, with an estimated 125,000 people creating an amazing atmosphere around town.

Following feedback from last year, there were some changes for 2010. The problematic ticketing system for the main stage was scrapped in favour of a one-in, one-out policy. This meant that there was queuing down Devonshire street, particularly on the Saturday, but on the whole I think it worked much better and led to the main arena being much fuller for more of the day.

Devonshire street queues

Devonshire street queues

The capacity for Devonshire green was increased to around 8,000, with a bigger area fenced off.  This meant that the spontaneous barbecues and gatherings that took place along the Rare’n'racy stretch of Devonshire street didn’t occur, which was a shame. Most of the businesses along there were inside the enclosure. I understand that the intention was for there to be public access to it via the side gates, but this didn’t seem to happen.

It was good that you were allowed to drink anywhere inside the main stage area, Food wise, I think there is room for more outlets offering a bigger variety of cuisine than we saw this year.

If you wanted to see a particular band then you needed to get there early, allowing time to queue to get in the different venues. Some people seemed annoyed at this but as it is a free festival, I don’t think that much can be done about it. I found that when one band finished playing there was the opportunity to move inside and get a good spot for the next one.

It was possible to avoid the queues if you chose your venues carefully. Drifting between the new music stage in Barker’s pool and also the world stage in the Peace gardens was easy. And I had no problem walking straight in to the Leadmill, Frog and parrot and Soyo at various times over the weekend.

If you didn’t go on the Busker line bus, then you missed out. As well as a practical means of getting around, it became a venue in itself. I overheard one old couple sat behind me on there discussing whether they should go round again. It sounds like they had been on it a while.

Buskerline bus

Buskerline bus

The organisers have said they’d like to make Tramlines even bigger if it returns in 2011. It will be interesting to see how they go about this. I can’t see how the main stage can increase its capacity, although they could also open it on the Friday night.

I also get the feeling that there is a limit on the size of the headliner that Tramlines can accommodate on Devonshire green. Echo and the bunnymen was a perfect fit: an established band that appeals to different generations and has at least a few songs that most people will recognise. If the main band was were really big then although that in some ways would be brilliant, it would also bring with it a whole new level of logistical and security issues.

Echo and the bunnymen

Echo and the bunnymen

There isn’t another obvious city centre location for a bigger stage than Devonshire green. They could look to using the Don valley bowl, but part of the appeal of the festival is its compactness and the atmosphere that is generated in town because of this.

Also, at the moment I don’t think Tramlines is just about getting big names to play. Although having very well known bands playing where you know the songs is great, the festival is as much for me about soaking up the atmosphere around town, checking out some new music and supporting local artists and businesses at the same time.

The organisers have acknowledged that some elements of this year’s festival could have been run better and are still looking for feedback (they have over 500 points on the list already). You can get in touch via Facebook.

And if you want to increase the chances of Tramlines happening again next year, they have also set up a voluntary donation scheme.

All in all it was another great weekend, I think the most exciting of the year to be hanging out in the city centre.

Flickr photos

Tramlines TV videos

Shake aletti Activity Sheffield dancers

Shake aletti Activity Sheffield dancers

Solar disco

Solar disco, Devonshire green

Live art in Soyo

Live art in Soyo

UK sound map project in Sheffield

Archiving the sound of the city

Sheffield is at the heart of the pilot area for the British Library’s UK sound map project.

The UK sound map aims to build a sound portrait of Britain. Anyone with a smartphone can make a recording and add it to the map.

This post from Sheffield blogger @markuos explains how he has already contributed to the project:

I spent my lunchtime recording some soundscapes in town, geo tagging and uploading them. By the time I got back to my desk they had already made it onto the British Library Sound Map.

View the map and listen to the sounds

Read more about how you can contribute to the UK sound map project

@markuos on recording sounds in Sheffield for the project

Busk Sheffield 2010

Your post-Tramlines hangover cure

If you’re pining for more live music in town then why not check out Busk Sheffield on Saturday:

On the 31st of July Devonshire Green and other surrounding locations will see Sheffield’s best musicians and performers come together in a fantastic busking event in support of the housing and homelessness charity Shelter.

This event will tread new ground in city entertainment, with Devonshire Green hosting a mass busking event as musicians take… up their unamplified instruments and play for money from the giving public. There will even be a Free-Busk space where any old joe can come and pick up a guitar and play for their pennies. This is blended with live entertainers and non-profit food and charity stalls.

Bush Sheffield Facebook event

@busksheffield on Twitter