The
Unofficial Website
Rotherham Town Centre
The centre of Rotherham is a compact, hilly area which doesn't take you long to walk
around. The outdoor and indoor markets were moved from their old traditional site not far from Rotherham Minster on Domine Lane and Market Street about thirty years ago and the focus of
the town moved north eastwards too. For many years Rotherham was your traditional busy market town with department stores and a wide variety of shops selling just about anyhting. Sadly
within the last twenty to thirty years this has changed. The virtual death of the coal industry in the 1970s combined with the decline in the traditional heavy industries which had been
the mainstay of the town left much unemployment and poverty in their wake. This period also saw the closure of the Co-op, Muntus' and John Speed's Department stores and innumerable
other long standing traditional businesses. The centre of Rotherham today is only a pale shadow of a once thriving town. Pedestrianisation, anti–car policies, the development of Retail
World at Parkgate and the huge shopping mall at Meadowhall have all contributed to its decline, as have the changes in people's shopping habits.
I am sorry to say that despite much rhetoric on the part of our civic leaders the decline seems to be continuing. Every time you go into town another shop has closed although some of them are reopened by another hopeful trader. There are many plans for the future of Rotherham but these are long term and seem to take some getting off the ground.
So besides the charity shops, hairdressers, building societies, mobile phone shops and card shops what is there in Rotherham in the Twentyfirst Century? The only 'BIG' names left in town are Woolworths, Wilkinson, Boots, WH Smith and out on Forge Island Tesco.
Food Shops
Most of the bakers seem to keep going but I suspect that this is on the back of the sandwich trade. Except for two shops, butchers are confined to the Market Hall and most supply the sort of pre-packaged meat customers are used to picking up in the supermarket and who can blame them! There's one cheese stall in the market but the French would flinch at it, one fish stall with a very limited range of fresh fish, one wine and spirits merchant and one chocolate shop. If you are looking for something special in any of these lines you won't get them here. If you stroll up Wellgate there is a Polish shop but I haven't tried it. There may be more, its a while since I've strolled that way. Enough of food!
Music Shops
The musical life of Rotherham is very healthy indeed and the town still manages to maintain a few specialist music shops. Street Life Musical Retail Limited in The Guardian Centre (balcony level above the market), Stringstocks on Wellgate who sell and repair guitars and The Piano & Drum Centre which is in an old chapel right out on Westgate/Canklow Road which is stretching a point. Guitar Bazaar is on the part of Effingham Street on the far side of the flyover which is stretching another point.
Clothes Shops
There are all sorts of cheap clothing shops in town, Ethel Austin, Primark, MarkOne. There is an Alexon Sales shop for the more discerning lady and up Wellgate you can find a much better and much, much more expensive class of clothing shop. I think that there is still a gents' outfitter and tailor here too.
Shoe Shops
Hambys at the top of High Street is the only class shoe retailer in town, otherwise it's Broughton at Parkgate or a trip to Wickersley.
The section Rotherham Businesses on the Web contains links to some of the shops and commercial firms in Rotherham who have websites.