Sheffield Debenhams: New food hall will be 150m from another new food hall on Cambridge Street

A new food hall that will open on the site of the former Sheffield Debenhams will be only 150m from a different new food hall that was approved only in May.

London firm MHA this week greenlit plans to renovate the former retail store, adding that work will go ahead “very quickly” and could start in as little as a month’s time.

It could be a new lease of life for the former department store following its closure in May 2021 – but some residents are less impressed.

Many Star readers have pointed out the decision comes less than a month after plans to build a different food hall were also approved on Cambridge Street – approximately two minute’s walk away.

The shop on The Moor will also partly open as a ‘maker’s market’ with room for craftspeople through concessions lasting as little as a week or up to a year, according to property agent Anthony Lorenz, representing owner, London firm MHA.

Meanwhile, the 27,000 sq ft ‘Cambridge Street Collective’ will feature rooftop bars and “some of the best independent food and drink companies Sheffield has to offer” and operated by the Blend Family, who are also behind the Cutlery Works food hall in Kelham Island. It will have 24 kitchens, a cookery school and bakery.

It comes in the same week a preferred bidder has come forward to reopen Sheffield’s John Lewis as a space for pop up shops and cafes – another 150m up the road from the Cambridge Street Collective.

All of this would be in rivalry with Sheffield Plate in Orchard Square (150m away from John Lewis), Kommune food hall on Angel Street, and to a lesser extent the eateries in the Moor Market and the restaurants outside The Light cinema.

Meanwhile, a decision is pending on opening a new food hall on Ecclesall Road.

"We’ll have more food halls than shops at this rate,” wrote Star reader Robbie Mark in response.

In response to the Debenhams announcement, reader Joanne Friend wrote: “There's supposedly going to be a big food hall in Leah's Yard [Cambridge Street] just up the road when it opens. Will there be enough footfall to warrant two so close together? Also the restaurants up by the Light cinema keep closing down, so that doesn't bode well.”

Reader Tony Callaghan’s opinion was all these developments will suffer without places to park or public transport into the city, comparing it to Liverpool which they called “fabulous".

Donna Marsden wrote: “There’s an indoor market and food hall – in the middle of the Moor, which is struggling. So why take away more of their trade by introducing a maker’s market?”

But amid calls to bring back department stores like Debenhams, reader Chris Callaghan wrote in contrast: “The amount of negativity in these comments is incredible. ‘Sheffield needs a good department store’. Debenhams went bust, John Lewis went bust, BHS went bust. All three sites are vacant. It's a miracle Atkinsons is still business. Yeah, Sheffield city doesn't need a new department store.”

Editor’s note: A previous version of this story said the Debenhams plan had been ‘greenlit by the Sheffield City Council’, when it has so far only been given the go ahead by the building’s owners, MHA. The story has been updated to correct this.