The creative Yorkshire city with Europe’s biggest food hall ...Middle East

As I walk around Sheffield, I sense a city that’s transforming. A £300m regeneration of the centre has seeded dozens of new businesses, many of them independent and plenty with a culinary focus.

While the Steel City’s deindustrialisation may have forced it into economic decline in the 1970s, there’s now renewed optimism in places like Leah’s Yard, an early 19th-century industrial workshop complex transformed into a lively hub for local makers.

Unusually, the South Yorkshire city has a high graduate retention – around 40 per cent – thanks to more affordable housing, a friendly outlook and its proximity to the Peak District. Creativity and an entrepreneurial spirit ensure that the city is fresh with brunch spots, colourful murals and lively food halls.

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Over the course of a long weekend, I plan to dive into the food scene, meeting some of the locals leading the charge of Sheffield’s transformation.

From chocolate makers and spirits enthusiasts to dough and dumpling aficionados, there’s a lot of good food tucked away in “Sheff”, as it’s affectionately referred to by its locals.

The north of England is home to some of the UK’s finest restaurants, from Tommy Banks’ Yorkshire empire and Simon Rogan’s hub in the Lake District to the Lancashire village of Aughton with its five Michelin stars. In Sheffield, Joro leads the New Nordic, small plates charge, but lower rents and unique spaces are attracting a new wave of entrepreneurs.

Coffee snobs will not be disappointed here. With my nose in the air, passing the 8am workers marching past Sheffield Town Hall, I am carried to Marmadukes, a charming café in a 19th-century townhouse on cobbled Norfolk Row. Husband and wife Clare and Tim Nye opened the doors in 2012 and now own three sites, with three out of their four children involved in the family business. I leave with a smooth, flat white in one hand and a flaky cardamom bun in the other.

Sheffield is a city of two halves. There’s the centre, where you’ll find the station, temperate Winter Garden, Town Hall and shopping district. Then, there’s Kelham Island: the nucleus of Sheffield’s industrial heritage.

A museum tells the story of steel, iron and manufacturing. Twice a day, the deafening roar of the 425-ton River Don Engine reminds visitors that it was once the most powerful working steam engine in Europe. The engine drove the armour plate rolling mill at Grimesthorpe Works, which produced steel for the shipbuilding industry.

Sheffield-born Arctic Monkeys are said to have been inspired by the once insalubrious district when writing their 2006 song “When the Sun Goes Down”.

Now, gentrification is sweeping through, bringing cool bars, pop-ups and a food hall inside a former cutlery works. It was here that Joro first opened, though it has recently moved to the village of Oughtibridge on the outskirts of the city.

A food tour of Kelham Island is a helpful introduction. I am mesmerised watching Sheff-born Pizzaiolos hand-stretching dough for the wood-fired Neapolitan pizzas at Brey’t Dough (a play on Yorkshire slang, meaning alright).

In a nearby former spring factory, mixologists showcase drip-infused spirits at the laboratory-style bar Factory Floor. Rum dripped with blackberry and allspice, paired with a ginger soda, is a fruity twist on a dark and stormy.

One Kelham Island superstar is Max Scotford from Bullion Chocolate. Sheffield born-and-bred; Max aspired to be the next Willy Wonka. He built his brand from home and proves that passion and determination pay off. His premium chocolate bars are rich and earthy, stocked by Harrods and used in the kitchens at Claridge’s.

Scotford hints at another reason for his success, “we dipped our toes into the local markets such as Nether Edge and Sharrow Vale and found people wanted to support us. Sheffield people love Sheffield things. It’s helped businesses like ours to thrive.”

Close to his chocolate factory, in a former tool manufacturing company, is a vegan bar called Church – Temple of Fun, a venture launched by Bring Me The Horizon frontman Oliver Sykes, who grew up in Sheffield.

Its interiors riff on religious iconography, but you’re more likely to worship the DJ or enjoy a spiritual experience of the alcoholic kind. The signature Bloody Mary contains local Henderson’s Relish (Sheffield’s rival to Worcestershire).

And then there are the food halls, of which Sheffield now has four: Cutlery Works, Department (formerly Kommune), Sheffield Plate and Cambridge Street Collective, which, at 20,000 square feet, is the largest purpose-built food hall in Europe. It has an associated culinary foundation with masterclass kitchens for hire that aims to alleviate food poverty and insecurity in the city.

Whether there’s an appetite for so many food halls, time will tell. However, they have encouraged the city’s food culture to flourish, entrepreneurs to launch in safe places with guaranteed footfall, and perhaps eventually expand into their own premises.

Roaming the counters of Cambridge Street is like a mini world food tour – Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese, Mexican, Indian, Palestinian and West African dishes are all on offer. I manage a few from Japanese vendor Edo, with each bite of sushi fresh and delicately crafted.

My final indulgence is a tuna carpaccio with basil velouté, followed by a rich prawn and nduja pasta at a popular Italian restaurant, Grazie. Restaurateur Vito Vernia has brought the flavours of his native Puglia to the city, and it’s all the better for it.

In search of a nightcap, I discover Public, a chic cocktail bar located in a former men’s toilet behind the Town Hall. My Below Ground cocktail blends smoky mezcal with shiitake mushroom vodka, prosecco and burnt toast oil. Like Sheff, it is unique, savoury and memorable.

How to get there

Sheffield is served by East Midlands Railway, Northern, TransPennine Express and CrossCountry trains from a range of UK stations.

Where to stay

Mercure Sheffield St Paul’s Hotel & Spa has rooms from £73.   

Leopold Hotel has rooms from £85.  

Radisson Blu Sheffield has rooms from £78.

Where to visit  

A Taste of Kelham Food Tour is £65pp  

 More information   

welcometosheffield.co.uk

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