Digital · Photography

On Cleethorpes Beach

I’ve posted pictures of this location on plenty of previous occasions. Today seemed apt for another as the local branch of Papa’s, which closed almost a year ago, seemingly for good (another branch in Sheffield closed not long afterwards) has announced that it’s re-opening this week.

The local branch is next to a shopping mall, rather than on a pier beside the North Sea, but beggars can’t be choosers.

Tomorrow they have a special offer of takeaway fish and chips for £1 all day. I’m going to be enjoying the fruits of an Indian restaurant tomorrow evening, so no fish and chips for me, but my wife and sons might be able to take advantage of the offer.

On the beach near Papa's

Ricoh GRIII

Taken on 10 May 2025

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Abbeydale Picture House

Originally opened in 1920, the Abbeydale Picture House served as a cinema for fifty-five years until it closed in 1975. The building, which achieved listed status in 1989, has performed a number of functions in the intervening years, including a furniture store, a ballroom, a snooker hall, a bar, and a performing arts centre. Recently the building was acquired by a brewery and hospitality company who intend to re-open the building as a premier entertainment venue.

Abbeydale Picturehouse

Nikon F80 & Tamron 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD. Ilford HP5+ (@800), Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°

Taken on 22 February 2025

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Rossi’s

Back in the 1990s, Rossi’s Italian restaurant, which occupied a former bank building just off London Road near the end of Sharrow Lane, felt like a regular destination for a night out with the people I worked with at the time. In reality it was probably only a handful of visits, but the memories persist and make it feel like more. I remember that Ann, one of the women I worked with, would always order the same dish: pollo a la crema. Except she always called it chicken pollo a la crema, which we would jokingly call her out about for adding the unnecessary English word. The food in the restaurant was good, the the tables were fancy marble affairs, and there was a statue of Michaelangelo’s David in the centre of the restaurant, if I remember correctly.

Rossi’s closed recently due to family circumstances (according to an article in a local newspaper) and has been up for sale. I’m not sure if a new owner has been found, or indeed what the new business will be (I would expect another restaurant though).

I’ve not visited for over twenty years, since the members of that team drifted apart and the night’s out fell away, and I don’t think I’ve seen any of those people I worked with back then for just as long (it’s quite possible that some of the older members of the team are no longer with us!), but the memories persist. And I still always think of pollo a la crema as chicken pollo a la crema.

Rossi's

Nikon F80 & Tamron 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD. Ilford HP5+ (@800), Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°

Taken on 22 February 2025

Digital · Photography

Leah’s Yard

Leah’s Yard dates back to the early 1800s where it was a hub for the manufacture of shears and other hand tools. The place hosted a number of small workshops producing a wide range of goods – in Sheffield, these are known as “little mesters”, a local dialect version of “little masters” denoting the master craftspeople who worked and produced goods in such places. There were eighteen such little mesters in Leah’s Yard by 1905.

Leah's Yard

The workshops feature external staircases allowing access to the upper floors, and large windows are a feature to maximise the amount of daylight illuminating the workshops.

Over time these small industries gradually went away and Leah’s Yard, as with multiple other such sites in the city, fell into disuse and disrepair, and had stood empty for a couple of decades (although the little mesters workshops had been vacated of those trades long before).

Leah's Yard-2

Recently, plans were enacted to renovate the location as part of Sheffield’s “Heart of the City” development and the site re-opened recently. providing homes to a number of small independent businesses and retailers.

Yesterday was my first visit to the renovated Leah’s Yard, and it’s a charming location that I hope will thrive.

Leah's Yard-3

Ricoh GRIII

Taken on 10 May 2025

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Looking up a curving path

Sheffield is a hilly city. It’s said to be built on seven hills, like Rome, although I’ve never quite worked out which hills count in that number, or where the statement originates.

While other parts of the world have infrastructure and housing built on much more precipitous slopes, Sheffield has its fair share of steep streets and homes built on hillsides.

In many places streets of differing altitude are connected by footpaths such as one shown below. There might be a germ of an idea for a photo project lurking in that thought…

Curving path

Nikon F80 & Tamron 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD. Ilford HP5+ (@800), Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°

Taken on 22 February 2025

35mm · Film photography · Photography

From beer to bikes

This curiously shaped building on Queen’s Road has been a bicycle repair shop for a number of years now, but it’s original purpose, until 2012, was as a public house – The Earl of Arundel and Surrey Hotel.

The building has a small date plaque on the front denoting that the building dates from1879 and also used to have a sign affixed which read:

“These premises have a unique claim to fame as the only remaining official pound house in Sheffield. It was built in the late 1880’s on land belonging to the Duke of Norfolk who was also the Earl of Arundel and Surrey and Lord of what was then still the Manor of Sheffield. These premises inherited the manorial rights of being a pound house. The Landlord was known as the Pinder and he had the right to round up and hold any stray animals-horses, cows, sheep-until their owners collected them. He could charge a fee for their return. The stables are still used to this day, to house two percherons belonging to Vaux Brewery in Sunderland, when they visit Sheffield for their processions and other person appearances. They are to be found at the rear of the building.”

Bicycle shop

Nikon F80 & Tamron 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD. Ilford HP5+ (@800), Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°

Taken on 22 February 2025