Remembering Sheffield's High Street of the 1970s including...

Sheffield’s retail hegemony in the 1970s served as the model for a new online retailer that aims to honour Britain’s

“long lost high street.”

The new company, which is scheduled to launch next month, aims to bring back memories of a time “before the

impersonal world of barcode scanners and corporate shopping malls.”

Longlosthighstreet.com chose to highlight Sheffield because, in addition to honouring its history, it hopes to serve as

an inspiration and spur further investment in “bricks and mortar stores with soul.”

In the early seventies, Sheffield city centre was dominated by sprawling independent department stores that had

been household names for decades.

Walsh’s, Cockaynes, Redgates, Robert Brothers and others were individual to Sheffield and offered a personal touch

rarely seen by the high street of the 21st century with the same corporate brands popping in every town or city.

The only remnants of the shops that originally dominated the skyline are Atkinsons; these establishments were

destroyed during the 1940 Blitz but were rebuilt with new structures in the early 1960s.

Many of the stores suffered a devastating blow during the 1980s recession. However, the main focus of

longlosthighstreet.com is commemorating and maintaining the memories.

Compared to many other UK towns and cities that were also flourishing during a prosperous period for the nation,

Sheffield’s retail experience from the 1970s may have left a greater legacy.

There is an entire section on shopping in the movie “City On The Move,” which was about Sheffield at the time

period that led to the front of The Full Monty twenty-five years later.

Retail played a major role in the 1971 “City On The Move” exhibition, which was not even opened in Sheffield;

instead, the ruling class rented out London’s Royal Exchange to host the event.

It was opened by Sir Peter Studd, the Lord Mayor of London at the time, with the intention of educating the populace

of the city about Sheffield.

However, the Sheffield roadshow didn’t end in London. They concluded that was just the beginning!

From May 5–14, 1972, a council-sponsored 500-meter stand travelled to Gothenburg, Sweden, for the International

Swedish Trade Fair.

Remembering Sheffield’s High Street of the 1970s including Atkinsons, Redgates and Walsh’s