It is Wednesday, 4 March. It is currently 4°C and cloudy in Sheffield (might clear out later though, with a high of 12°C).

Yesterday, 8,500 people read Sheffield Loop on Reddit. 🎉 Welcome to everyone joining us today.

Today, we are looking at a £100 million school repairs backlog that has all 64 council-maintained schools needing work, a long-awaited council vote on the future of the empty John Lewis building, and a major bridge replacement that will affect rail travel this weekend. We also have the Leadmill frieze back in place ahead of the venue's new chapter, a new taproom coming to Abbeydale Road, and a book that finally tells the full story of Sheffield's musical history. And if you need something surreal for the days ahead, the Co-op freezers on Ecclesall Road have their own album now.

Sheffield City Council is sitting on a £100 million school repairs backlog, with a Freedom of Information request revealing that all 64 schools it maintains need some level of work.

Carterknowle Junior School is one of the starkest examples. Built in 1904 and Grade II listed, it was forced to evacuate last month after ceiling tiles came down in a classroom. A ceiling had already collapsed in the staffroom the previous September.

The headteacher told ITV that a single window repair cost over £5,000 because the listing requires handmade replacements. Large sections of the playground remain fenced off, with scaffolding on both sides of the building.

The school's vice-chair of governors told ITV the building "isn't a fit location for the education of children" and said a longer-term solution was needed.

The council said it had commissioned independent surveyors and acted on their recommendations, but acknowledged that current funding allows it to address only a small proportion of the identified need each year.

Development, Heritage, Council

Councillors vote on 10 March on plans to reopen the old Cole Brothers building on Barker's Pool as shops, cafés, offices, and a rooftop terrace. Developer Urban Splash—the team behind the Park Hill revival—wants to keep the Grade II-listed building as flexible as possible.

The headline act is a public rooftop garden and bar, opening up the 1960s plant room for the very first time. The ground floor will house shops and food outlets with entrances onto Cambridge Street and Barker's Pool, while the upper floors are set to host around 1,000 workers.

The building has stood empty since 2021, and planning officers warn it risks "long-term decay" if the project stalls. Urban Splash has already started the "Sheffield-ification" of the site, commissioning a mural by local artist Kid Acne for the car park. The historic William Mitchell frieze will also remain close to its original spot on Burgess Street.

Transport

Network Rail is replacing the bridge carrying the Sheffield to Chesterfield line over the River Sheaf at Beauchief this weekend, 7 and 8 March. The old steel structure is life-expired, and a 73-tonne replacement deck will be craned in. Engineers will also relay 60 metres of track, bed it in with 86 tonnes of ballast, and fit 90 new sleepers.

Northern trains between Sheffield and Chesterfield won't run at all over the two days, replaced by buses. East Midlands Railway will run a reduced service to London St Pancras, with slower times through the Sheffield to Chesterfield section. EMR trains between Sheffield and Nottingham will make extra stops at Alfreton, Ilkeston and Langley Mill due to separate engineering work on the Manchester Piccadilly route.

Preparatory work has been under way since January, with a site compound at Dore and Totley station. Parking there has changed, with an alternative available at Abbeydale Sports Club. Both platforms stay open.

The full project, including restoring the Dore and Totley car park, is due to wrap up by the end of April. Check with your operator before travelling this weekend.

Protest, Crime

Sheffield's HSBC offices on Wellington Street were vandalised at 2:13am on Monday, with windows smashed and red paint sprayed across the building's entrance.

Police say a group wearing face coverings carried out the attack before leaving on foot toward Pound's Park. Photos shared on social media show "Free Palestine" and "Drop Elbit" painted on the building. The Elbit reference appears to point to Elbit Systems UK, an Israeli-founded defence company based in Bristol.

HSBC said the attack threatened the safety of staff and customers, and that it is helping police with their investigation. Anyone with information is asked to get in touch with South Yorkshire Police.

Transport

Supertram passengers who didn't pay their fares cost the network nearly £90,000 in the past year, according to South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority.

About 1% of all passengers are behind the shortfall. Some deliberately avoid paying; others simply get off before a conductor reaches them on a busy tram.

The authority took over Supertram from Stagecoach in March 2024. Since then, it has introduced new handheld ticket machines so conductors can process payments faster and log deliberate non-payment on the spot.

The authority says the loss rate is low compared to other tram and train networks nationally. It's also looking at expanding mobile and online payment options.

Heritage, Community

The sandstone frieze above the main entrance to the former Leadmill building is back in place, six months after removal work was halted when Sheffield City Council confirmed no planning permission had been obtained.

The artwork, which has depicted two musicians above the door since 1989, was partially taken down in August 2025 by the venue's then-operators.

Electric Group, who took possession of the building on 15 August, commissioned Sheffield artist Andrew Vickers to replace the missing upper section. He worked from the surviving lower stones to match the figures, then brought his own interpretation to the top half.

Vickers, who is Sheffield born and bred, told the BBC he was proud to take on the commission in the centre of the city.

The new segments are made from sandstone and are expected to weather in over time. The venue, reopening as Electric Studios, holds its first events on 13 March.

Food & Drink

Abbeydale Brewery is opening a taproom on Abbeydale Road, taking over the unit that was previously Turner's Bottle Shop at number 298. The new space will be called Abbeydale Beerworks, sitting just around the corner from the brewery itself.

The plan is for it to serve as a destination for beer lovers, stocking the latest brews and small batch specials alongside hosting tasting events. Like the brewery and its pub the Rising Sun, it'll be fully employee owned.

An opening date in mid-April is the working target, though the brewery says it can't confirm that yet. The existing on-site shop on Aizlewood Road stays open Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm, in the meantime.

Community, Culture

It started with a Reddit post. Someone recorded the ambient drone coming from the freezers at the Ecclesall Road Co-op and uploaded it to SoundCloud, asking if anyone else had noticed how good it sounded.

People had. Debate broke out online over the exact tuning, with one user arguing the fans are humming a C# major chord. Others described it as an "electrical gong bath."

Then things escalated. A collective of musicians went into the store and performed a live set backed by the hum, sharing the recording on the Sheffield subreddit on 2 March.

Someone also took a clean field recording and turned it into a 10-hour YouTube loop, titled 'The Eccy Road Co-op Freezer Symphony,' described as good for "deep focus, sleep, or quiet contemplation."

One visitor, speaking to the BBC, said it almost feels choral, like standing in a cathedral listening to a choir.

Community, Education

Dexton, a pupil at Birley Academy, found a soft-shelled turtle on his route to school on 27 February and took action to get it help.

The turtle was taken to reptile rescue centre Snakes and Adders, then on to Springfields Vets for specialist care. Vets found she was suffering from advanced sepsis, and made the decision to put her to sleep.

Despite the outcome, staff at Birley Academy said they were proud of how Dexton handled it. Headteacher Victoria Hall told the school the response was "a wonderful reflection of the values we encourage in our students every day."

Arts

A new book pulling together Sheffield's musical history is available to pre-order now. Written by local music journalist Daniel Dylan Wray, Groovy, Laidback and Nasty spans seven decades of the city's contribution to British music and draws on more than 150 original interviews.

Names in the book include Richard Hawley, Arctic Monkeys, Self Esteem, Pulp, Def Leppard, The Human League, and Heaven 17. Publisher White Rabbit Books bills it as the first definitive history of Sheffield music.

Wray's writing has appeared in The Guardian, DJ Mag, and The Quietus. The book is due out in May, and pre-orders are open through White Rabbit Books now.

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