Sheffield’s historic high street will be receiving £15,817,001 in funding to restructure the city’s struggling retail economy.

Sheffield Fargate and High Street were one of only 15 areas across England that would be receiving the full amount of funding requested under the Future High Streets Fund from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

A new cultural hub called ‘Events Central’ will be opened to provide a space to host exhibitions and events, as well as a café and a co-working space. The council believes this would create an environment for an experience that would attract visitors to spend more time in the city centre.

The report claims the proposal can attract an additional “110,000 visitors to the City Centre, and create up to 505 jobs.”

The council will also be implementing a ‘Front Door Scheme’ to work with landowners through grant assistance and open-up new direct front door access to upper floors to enable their conversion for new uses.

Fargate and High Street account for one-tenth of city centre retail space, with 103 retail and leisure units. A year ago, vacancy rates stood at just under 25%, above national trends. However, vacancy numbers have increased due to closures under the impact of Covid-19.

Proposal for Fargate:

Proposal for High Street: