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Sheffield was still an industrial powerhouse when George Orwell suggested that it “could justly claim to be called the ugliest town in the Old World” – adding that “its inhabitants, who want it to be pre-eminent in everything, very likely do make that claim for it”.
The steel mills and smog that he loathed disappeared, but much of the city’s confidence dissipated with its heavy industry. Though one of the country’s largest cities, it has punched below its economic and cultural weight. Manchester remains the northern colossus; Leeds proclaims itself the unofficial capital of Yorkshire. Last week’s announcement that the world snooker championships would remain at Sheffield’s Crucible theatre until 2045 was not just a surprise after heavy hints that it could move to Saudi Arabia or China: it was a major relief for a neglected northern giant.
In an age of sportwashing, the decision sent a welcome message that sport is about communities, not just profits. Sheffield has hosted the tournament since 1977 and the former champion Jimmy White compared it to tennis at Wimbledon: “Certain things can’t be moved.” But while Barry Hearn, president of the World Snooker Tour, said that “sentiment plays a part”, the £45m of funding extracted by the threat of a move surely had a greater role – paying for 500 extra seats and a glow-up for the 1970s theatre.
The news comes amid tentative optimism that Sheffield and South Yorkshire have turned a corner. Manufacturing still has a role: grimly, the rising tide of war is boosting the sector. In culture, there is a somewhat happier story. Salford and Leeds got the BBC and Channel 4. The beloved music venue The Leadmill has gone. But the Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning drama Adolescence was made by Warp Films (“We are Yorkshire and we are proud!”). Sheffield hosts the UK’s biggest podcast festival, Crossed Wires, and its leading documentary gathering.
The South Yorkshire devolution deal in 2020 finally unlocked sorely needed funding, and since 2022 the region has had a full-time metro mayor, Oliver Coppard. While central government and private sources are contributing substantially to the Crucible deal, the remaining £25m comes from the combined authority. It is almost a year’s worth of its total funding, and could have been well spent elsewhere. But beyond the estimated £4.5m that the event generates for Sheffield annually is its contribution to morale and identity.
There is a mismatch between recent enthusiasm for the city’s liveability – it is the greenest city in the UK, with more trees than people – and its struggle to attract visitors. The Centre for Cities thinktank says that Sheffield’s centre has the worst vacancy rate and lowest visitor spend of any large UK city. On productivity, new economy jobs and wages, it lags behind peers – so relatively few of its many graduates stay. In contrast, Doncaster and Barnsley have seen marked economic improvements, with disposable incomes rising twice as fast as the national average. Plans for a new Don Valley corridor project between Sheffield and Rotherham aim to bring together industry, housing and infrastructure, and Mr Coppard has vowed to improve substandard transport links; bus services, once widely envied, are poor.
The city and region’s revival will ultimately rest more on steady, unglamorous progress than keystone events. But keeping snooker in Sheffield highlights the importance of local champions and central government support.
