Sheffield’s Information-Free Buses And Trams
I chose the Leopold Hotel, as it was in the centre by a tram stop, which made it easy to get to and from the match at Hillsborough. It also meant that to get to the hotel from the train, I just went to the tram stop and used my Freedom Pass to go a few stops up the hill.
But when I arrived at the stop, all it had was details on the tram route. But there was no sign of any local map. As I’d spotted the hotel from the tram before it stopped, I just walked a few metres down the hill and round the corner.
I had planned to have an early supper with an old friend, at the new Carluccio’s on Ecclesall Road. He’d said I’d needed to get an eighty-something. So I walked and found this bus stop.
The World’s Most Useless Bus Stop
Note that is says “Buses Do Not Stop Here on the sign. It didn’t have any information that a visitor might like to use to get to the Ecclesall Road. There was no information and nobody around to answer my question.
I eventually walked a couple of hundred metres the other way and found a guy, who told me that any bus from a particular stop went down the Ecclesall Road. The queues incidentally at the stop was manic, mainly because the ticketing system required many to give money to the driver. As usual I had to put my Freedom Pass down and pick up a printed ticket.
And when I did get on a bus, there was no way, I could tell where I was, as it was a silent bus. Luckily, I knew roughly, where I was going and I knew there was a Waitrose on the corner of Ecclesall Road. But I still ended up walking further than I wanted.
At least I could read the name on the bus stops, but how do the visually-impaired manage?
The bus wasn’t that full for the rush hour and that helped me look out. But I still had to fight my way to the front to get out.
If ever a city needed London’s bus spider maps and cash free buses it is Sheffield. How many more passengers would they get, if the buses and trams were organised with the same objectives as London in mind?
But the worst thing about the buses, was coming back from Ecclesall Road was that the buses seemed to have stopped running.
In the end I had to pay £6 for a taxi.
How visitor-friendly is that?
At least when I need to go to Sheffield in the future, I now know that unless I’m going to somewhere near a tram stop, the best course of action will be to stay at home.
A Well-Designed City Centre Hotel
On my trip to Sheffield to see Ipswich at Hillsborough, I had to stay overnight, as there is no return train after the match.
So I booked into the Leopold Hotel, mainly because it was in the city centre and by a tram stop. I booked the room without breakfast for just £85.50 on Late Rooms.
It is one of the best designed hotels, I’ve stayed in ever.
The bath and shower didn’t need a Master’s Degree in plumbing and your glasses to understand, the tea and coffee making in the room was one of the best and the bed was comfortable.
My only niggles, were that the TV wasn’t a Freeview one giving radio as well and they could do better and remove some of the clutter, like magazines and the radio/alarm, from the room.
Wi-fi was free, as it should be.
I would certainly stay in the hotel again, but I doubt I’ll get it at £85.50 again.
On Trip Advisor, people are complaining that it is a ten minute walk to get your car.
They are missing the point.
This hotel is one of those city centre hotels, where you come by train and use public ytransport for your stay. If you want car parking, stay on the M1 in a Premier Inn.
At the present time, that will be more expensive!
Every city needs at least one hotel like the Leopold or the Hope Street in Liverpool.
Liverpool Gets Another Event
This morning Liverpool is hosting the start of the Tour of Britain.
It seems to me, that since being European Capital of Culture in 2008, Liverpool has received more of the large events, than it should have on the law of averages.
Perhaps, it’s just that the City is more efficient in attracting them!
On the other hand the Sea Odyssey of 2012, brought 800,000 people into the centre and had an economic impact of £32million.
So they know that events work.
It’ll be interesting to see the figures for the Tour de Yorkshire in Leeds and Sheffield.
Vive Le Tour!
That is the headline on the wrap around The Times today.
Vive Le Tour!
I do think that Yorkshire has shown how to do a Grand Depart. I suspect that Utrecht next year, will follow Yorkshire’s lead.
In some ways it’s all a bit sad, as there aren’t many events like the Tour de France, that can be used to build a great event around.
Yorkshire is apparently starting the Tour de Yorkshire, London has the Marathon, Liverpool the Grand National and Newcastle the Great North Run, so perhaps we ought to get our thinking caps on, to create some more iconic events.
Sheffield’s Wayfinding Liths
Sheffield seems to have put up better maps since I was last there.
There’s more here on Connect Sheffield.
It does at least seem that other places are jumping on Legible London’s bandwagon.
Are East Midlands Trains Serious About Running Trains?
Although, I’m an Ipswich Town supporter, I live in London, a short bus or Underground ride from Kings Cross and St. Pancras stations. So as this week, Ipswich are playing at Derby and Sheffield Wednesday, you’d think it would logical that tomorrow, I go to Derby and on Saturday I go to Sheffield from St. Pancras.
You would be wrong!
As there is no direct return train from Derby back to St. Pancras, I decided to go via Preston and Manchester to Derby, as I have things I want to see for this blog and someone to meet in Manchester. The latter solves my supper problem, as we’re meeting in Carluccio’s in Piccadilly. I can also get an excellent gluten-free breakfast on Virgin trains on the way up.
I did think about staying overnight in the Travelodge by Derby station, but after trying to buy a ticket to get back on Wednesday morning, I decided that the prices on offer, were just too steep. Other similar distance journeys, early in the morning to London, were certainly cheaper than those on offer from East Midland Trains.
So I decided to get home via Birmingham and Virgin Trains for £22.00 after the match. And that includes First Class from Birmingham to Euston. But I do get into London at 01:30 on Wednesday morning.
On Saturday, I’m going to Sheffield via Lincoln, as I have an old friend I want to see and can get a train from Lincoln to Sheffield. It’s not as roundabout as you’d think.
But I’ve done this before, as last time, I went to Sheffield Wednesday, I went via Doncaster, as the First Class on East Coast, is so much better than that on East Midland Trains.
Next Season Is Starting To Take Shape
After yesterday, the matches that Ipswich Town will play next season are starting to come into line.
I can start to work out, which matches will be a bit more than an Eat-Travel-Watch-Return trip.
Looking at Championship promotion and relegation, it looks like the following.
Cardiff are definitely up and although I’ve never been to see Ipswich there, it’ll be one I’m happy to miss. Although, I quite like going to the Welsh capital on the best diesel trains in the world. I must go again to Cardiff or Swansea before the trains are retired from that route.
It looks like the others to go up are one or both from Hull and Watford, and possibly one from Brighton, Crystal Palace, Bolton, Nottingham Forest and Leicester. I would be sad to miss out on the trips to Hull, Watford, Brighton and Nottingham and I’d love to get rid of Leicester, as the ground is so far from the station. I think on balance, I’m prepared to put up with the dump that is Selhurst Park, to see an easy away match. It’s just a pity, that the two to go up can’t be Bolton and Leicester.
Sadly at the other end of the table, three of my favourite away places; Barnsley, Bristol City and Wolves are in line for relegation, along with Peterborough. The only one I’m not bothered about is the latter, as although the ground is one of the worst in the Championship, the city is worth a visit. After my last trip to Wolves, I think that I’ll miss that trip the most.
I’ll deal with who’s coming up first. Doncaster and Bournemouth are definitely up and although, I like Doncaster’s new ground, you have to get a taxi from the station and I would suspect, that Doncaster isn’t the most coeliac-friendly town. But as you go there from Kings Cross, it’s an Eat-Travel-Watch-Return trip. Bournemouth is an easy trip, the ground is very good and I’d probably fortify myself with a good breakfast at Carluccio’s in Waterloo.
Of the other candidates to possibly come up; Brentford, Yeovil, Sheffield United and Swindon, I’m really only against Yeovil, as that is an almost impossible trip. Brentford would be a low-cost bonus and Sheffield United and Swindon are more easy trips. Although, after my last trip back from Sheffield, I’d prefer one of the others.
The big question is who’s coming down from the Premier League, with Reading and QPR, who seem to me certain to get relegated. It’ll either be Aston Villa, Newcastle or Wigan. I hope it’s not Wigan, as that is a bad ground to travel to. I think I’d prefer Aston Villa to Newcastle, solely on the distance involved.
The team I’m annoyed about, who are coming down is QPR, as they have the worst ground for away supporters, where I’ve ever seen a match. Hopefully, they’ll get promoted or relegated quickly, or perhaps their rich owners, will walk away from their toy and the club will do a Portsmouth.
Since I wrote this post, we’ve seen Reading and QPR commit mutual suicide in a monochrome match. So I’ll just have to put on my strongest underwear and brave a trip to Loftus Road for a season or two.
The Return From Sheffield
I had decided to come back directly from Sheffield station to St. Pancras International.
Partly, this was because it was without a change and also it would enable me to compare the two companies; East Coast and East Midlands. But mainly, it was because the journey up cost £33.00 and I was able to get back for £19.80, by the simpler route.
It started well enough in that I was able to get easily by the Supertram to the station, with a change at Fitzalan Square. My only query, would be to ask if Sheffield have enough trams, as the tram was crowded both ways and there was a long delay waiting to get one at Meadowhall? I also find it strange, that we have six modern tram systems in the UK; London, Edinburgh, West Midlands, Manchester, Nottingham and Sheffield, and all seem to have different trams and different ticketing systems. For instance, other than London, the only tram system I can use without paying is Sheffield.
If we had a standard UK tram and infrastructure, then anywhere that wanted a system, would be able to cost it very easily. Surely too, a common tram, would reduce inventories for spare parts and reduce costs for staff training.
I have had quite a bit of experience of East Midlands First Class this year, so I took the precaution of going to the usually excellent Marks and Spencer in the station to get a drink. As I’d only had the sandwiches I bought at Meadowhall all day, I thought something to eat might be an idea. But Marks and Spencer were out of gluten-free sandwiches and I couldn’t find any salads at all. There of course, is no restaurant in the station, where anything gluten-free is available. So I would have to wait until St. Pancras.
I did check out the toilets and despite being pretty new, they weren’t in the best of states.
Vandalised Toilets At Sheffield Station
Especially, if you compare them with the exquisite ones I used at Doncaster on the way up. Doncaster’s toilets were also free.
So obviously you don’t pay for what you get!
After the toilets, I thought, I’d check out the First Class Lounge.
First Class Lounge At Sheffield Station
It was shut, just like it was at Derby a couple of weeks ago.
The train left Derby on time and I had a table for four to myself. By the time we got to Leicester, I’d had a cup of instant coffee in a cardboard cup, as opposed to the china cups from a pot on East Coast.
Then disaster struck, as we held at Leicester for forty minutes or so, after staff told us that the overhead lines had been brought down in the Elstree area. To be delayed on an electric train by overhead wire problems is to be expected, but when you’re in an operational Class 222 diesel train, it’s somewhat ironic.
We continued untroubled until Kettering, where we stopped for another twenty minutes, before being ordered off the train and onto another Class 222 heading for St. Pancras. I could just about find enough space to stand up. Luckily the crush didn’t last long, as staff told us that at the next stop at Wellingborough, if we got out and walked to the back of what was two trains coupled together there would be more space.
It now was obvious what East Midlands Trains had done. As to get a single train through the damaged knitting at Elstree, would be much easier than getting two trains through, they coupled two six coach trains together to make a twelve coach one.
Before I had moved to the comfort of the second train, I was talking to someone who worked for Network Rail. He blamed Dr. Beeching for all of the delays, as there hadn’t been any investment in the 1960s and 1970s. As I think the electrification that caused all the trouble was installed in the 1980s, that is quite an amazing conclusion.
As all of the electrification of that era seems to cause trouble, no matter where it is installed, I would think that there must be something wrong with the basic design. I did read something about how the Regional Eurostars used to bash hell out of the wires on the East Coast Main Line and cause failures. So perhaps the new Thameslink Class 377 trains are the problem. But I doubt it, as they’ve been around for some years.
In the end we arrived in London at 22:30, after a four hour journey. Marks and Spencer in St. Pancras was devoid of any suitable food, so I went home in a taxi and had cheese on toast.
I wish I’d gone home the other way via Meadowhall and Doncaster, despite it being twenty minutes slower. After all, I was two hours late into St. Pancras. At least, if there’d had been an overhead line failure, I suspect that I’d have been kept going by all that glorious East Coast tea in First Class.
South Yorkshire Police Have Another Coloured Horse
It wasn’t a bad day for a ride and as they did at Barnsley, the Police gave the horses some exercise.
Police Horses At Hillsborough
it’s nice to see that the South Yorkshire Police doesn’t seem to mind what colours their horses are. This one doesn’t appear to be the one I saw earlier in the season. Incidentally, I can’t remember seeing a grey police horse for many years. But then to groom a grey so that it looks good, is a lot of hard work.
Hillsborough
Hillsborough is not one of my favourite stadia, although I’ve no reason to dislike it. I’ve been three times, twice recently including yesterday and once in the 1960s, when I was at Liverpool University, where I did visit quite a few grounds in the North.
The West Stand At Hillsborough
Perhaps, I dislike Hillsborough because visiting supporters sit in the West or Leppings Lane Stand, which featured so grimly in the Hillsborough disaster.
It certainly isn’t because of over-officious stewarding or policing, as it was a very painless and friendly process to get inside. Perhaps not as friendly as last time, where a tout knocked down an unsellable Senior ticket to me for less than cost price. What he was doing with the ticket I do not know, but at the time he seemed pleased I gave him a tenner for it.
Inside Hillsborough
I think it must be because the stadium shows its age, although it doesn’t in the picture. But, there are still roof supports obstructing some views and the facilities are in a severe need of an update. They’re not as bad as some, but when you look at places like Hull, Brighton, Ipswich, Derby, Wolverhampton and others, you realise that the toilets and food outlets at Hillsborough, are not of the standard most supporters expect.
I think that some innovative thinking is needed in this area, which would benefit supports and clubs alike. As an example, last Tuesday at the Crystal Palace game, I desperately needed a drink of water, so I went to the catering outlet a few minutes before half-time. I found Ipswich Town were selling a new East Anglian brand of water called Iceni. Perhaps, if there is one, clubs might benefit from selling local water.
The Anonymous Widower 