Sheffield Street Art: Back of Niche

From the main kitchen window at work, I get to see a front seat view of this old and derelict building, only one of the many, that are still around Sheffield, allowed to rot and decay, while the city waits for its share of the rumoured strong economic growth that is already happening in London, just two hours away by train but it might as well be in another country. Not that we are complaining.

This particular building is a favourite amongst the youth, bored with the long summer holidays at home, that they would commence here and turn it into a party place complete with loud music and dancing, in the middle of the day that it can be heard from our desks just across the road. It's a perfect spot too, inside is a graffiti gallery of some of Sheffield's more renowned artists mixed in with just plain vandalism work.

Despite the close proximity to my workplace, that orange building with a church tower at the back (yes we are in an rather arty and possibly dodgy district in Sheffield), I have never been close enough to appreciate the splashes of colours along the walls but on our July holiday, we managed to tick it off our "To Do List in Sheffield".

Care and caution is of course suggested when you plan on going inside a rundown building as your insurance will not pay up for self-inflicted incidents so John was very watchful of my every move that I didn't really manage to take as much photos as I would have hoped for. But the image of a building collapsing in my mind was enough to get me out of there quickly, but not quick enough for a few snaps!

Then on the street at the back of the old Niche night club, along a street called Sylvester Gardens (which doesn't look like one but could be for the sort of people who are most likely to frequent it), there are more artworks.

There is an artwork by Phlegm amongst these colours and John's favourite is just below it. It is in reference of course to his line of work (as a nurse who treats people who occasionally finds themselves with an unwanted infection!).

Few street arts carry with it political messages, unlike the ones we've seen in other European cities, but occasionally these messages do pop-up and political figures (like Dave below) become part of the street art scene.