Vibrant city centre - Welcome to Sheffield

SheffieldDestination Management Planfor a vibrant city2012 - 2015Marketing SheffieldFirst FloorThe Fountain PrecinctBalm GreenSheffieldS1 2JAwww.welcometosheffield.co.uk

Destination Management PlanIntroductionThis Destination Management Plan is designed as a strategic guide, to be adopted by allpartnership organisations involved in developing Sheffield as an internationally importanttourism destination.It is a key instrument to identify the actions and strategic relationships that will deliver atourism strategy which will transcend into the Sheffield City Region.Marketing Sheffield is key to delivering this Destination Management Plan as cross-sector &partnership working is embedded in its ethos; led by private sector views and aligned to localand national strategies. Marketing Sheffield will provide the lead in delivering positiveoutcomes.The Plan concentrates on a single area - the need to deliver a ‘vibrant city centre’ - the areawith the highest concentration of visitor related facilities and services, and the area which willdeliver the highest impact on improving the experience for visitors and residents alike.The planned outcomes for Sheffield are ambitious and transformational. Everyone benefits,and everyone must contribute. By creating a vibrant city centre, we create a visitordestination which presents Sheffield as a Competitive City, as an attractive and successfulplace to live, work and invest.The DMP is important because it provides a framework and rationale for investment intourism, which is one of the sectors specified in the Sheffield City Region – Local EnterprisePartnership Business Plan.Executive SummarySheffield suffers a comparatively low spend from those who visit and use the City Centre.City centre footfall is erratic resulting in a lack of the consistent volume demanded byinvestors.Physical disconnections exist between areas of the City Centre, particularly the hotels inVictoria Quays being separate from the main retail and leisure areas of the city centre.The city’s hotel stock has grown in recent years, but the proliferation of 3 star and budgethotels is saturating this section of the market, resulting in surplus rooms that in turndepresses room rates and prohibits investment from higher value brands.The city’s cultural offer is threatened by reductions in local and national funding, and thecity’s extensive festival programme, including Tramlines and Doc/Fest face fundingchallenges. Independent leisure in the city centre is relatively strong, linked to venues like theShowroom, but we need a higher quality mainstream offer.1

The retail offer, particularly for fashion is not of sufficient quality and this is translating intolow transaction values in current retailers. This offer is dependent on planned developments,including the proposed New Retail Quarter: Sevenstone.Access to the city from out of the local area is a strength, and should improve withelectrification of the Midland mainline and High Speed Rail 2. Anecdotally this accessibilityalso makes it easy for people to limit their visit to a day trip, raising questions whether theoffer in the city centre does not always entice people to stay overnight.Locally, parking is often cited as a key reason for people not visiting the city centre; howeverour car parking average rates are below those of most other core cities, with only Newcastlebeing noticeably cheaper.Retaining a distinctive ‘content’ offer by being authentic and independent is important todifferentiate Sheffield from other destinations, but we must do this in tandem with sizeableinvestment from major retail and leisure brands that will give the city centre critical mass.The Economic Strategy, City Centre Masterplan and Major Events Strategy, coupled withnew or previously under-utilised instruments such as the New Development Deal, BusinessImprovement Districts and Tourism Business Improvement Districts, if harnessedappropriately, can start to facilitate growth and change this picture.‘We’ (the City) have a very real opportunity to address these significant challenges byaligning these strategies in a cohesive way, driven by the unifying vision of a dynamic andvibrant city centre.To do this ‘we’ must also embrace a key theme of the Corporate Plan, ‘Business Friendly’, byworking closely with the private sector to support business and ensure Marketing Sheffield &its partners create the right environment to encourage business investment and growth.PurposeWe shouldn’t accept that the city centre will operate at a lower level than before therecession.The purpose of this paper is to;1) Set out the current position2) Clearly define vibrancy,3) Describe why this is important to the City,4) To articulate what we believe the issues to be, and5) Set out our plan for Sheffield and the opportunities.Our plan will be a clear picture for our city-centre, focused on what we believe to be asustainable solution. As such, this cannot be wholly reliant on specific interventions, eitherlarge scale development projects or major events, but also must look at the incrementalchanges we can make to our services or the influence we can have with others to makeSheffield City Centre a more vibrant place.Current PositionOver the last 15 years Sheffield's City Centre has experienced a dramatic transformation.However, the over-whelming impact of the recession has been to reduce the confidence and2

capacity for investment and regeneration, stalling a number of planned public realmdevelopments. Whilst some are now progressing this has inevitably had an impact on thevibrancy in Sheffield City Centre.As well as long-term mainstream projects we must be open to short term or experimentalinitiatives. Some may have only a short term impact, but others may turn out to be valuableseedbeds for the next generation of new ideas and talent.The City Centre remains a key driver of the City Region economy and we need to re-focusour vision for the future.Major development and public realm projects will continue to contribute to vibrancy, but wealso need a more holistic approach and to take action to make the City Centre a place witha well-rounded offer which people choose to come and enjoy using. This includesvisitors, businesses and local residents.New financial tools for growthThe Government is beginning to devolve more powers and finance for delivery and greaterflexibilities at city and city-region level. A number of new financial instruments to supportgrowth in the economy are emerging, such as New Development Deal’s (NDDs) and TourismBusiness Improvement Districts (TBIDs).We need to become more entrepreneurial and commercially smart as a city to look at howwe can use these tools to benefit the city for more than just large-scale physicalinfrastructure projects.Many of the conditions for vibrancy rely on a competitive offer in the city centre. We need towork proactively with the private sector to address these challenges, but also ensure we getthe basics right and fulfil our commitment to being a ‘Business Friendly City’.What do we mean when we talk about vibrancy?Vibrancy is about people using and enjoying the City Centre. This means:! people are coming to the city centre,! people are staying in the city centre, and! people are spending money in the city centre.A vibrant City Centre provides the services and facilities that businesses, customers,residents and visitors demand. It creates jobs, attracts investment, generates income and isa key contributor towards economic growth.Sheffield needs to be competitive with neighbouring towns and, importantly, other core cities.We think this relies on:! Culture and leisure – the scale and breadth of opportunities and things to do includingevents and animation and a quality evening/ night-time offer! Hospitality – by this we mean quality hotels and great restaurants! Retail – with a wide range of shopping opportunities from the big brands to smallindependent shops catering for niche markets! Public realm – including venues that people travel to visit, a modern and well-connectedurban landscape and a well maintained and safe place.3

! Accessibility – people being able to get into and out of the city centre, including parkingAs such there is no single answer to increase vibrancy. Instead there are a number ofconditions that need to be right to attract visitors, businesses and residents to use the citycentre.Proposed framework for defining vibrancy:People!coming!to!the!city!centre!People!staying!in!the!city!centre!People!spending!in!the!city!centre!Conditions for vibrancyBrandCulture!and!Leisure!!Range!of!cultural!&!leisure!venues!with!a!strong!events!programme!and!ongoing!‘animation’!Public!realmAn!attractive,!well"managed!physical!environment!HospitalityA!diverse!hotel!and!restaurant!offer!Retail!A!strong!retail!offer!which!appeals!to!different!market!segments!AccessA!city!centre!that!is!easy!to!get!to,!from!within!and!beyond!Sheffield!MarketingWhat’s the impact?A vibrant City Centre offer is key to our economic success. The experience of the City Centreis vital as this is often the first part of the city that people encounter and is likely to influencetheir decision about whether to invest, work, study or live here.We need an offer which both attracts people to the City Centre, encourages them to spendtime here and to spend money during their visit.Many of the conditions for vibrancy rely on a competitive offer in the city centre. We need towork proactively with the private sector to address these challenges, but also ensure we getthe basics right and fulfil our commitment to being a ‘Business Friendly City’.What is vibrancy like at the moment?Are people coming to Sheffield?Footfall is a good indicator that people are using the city centre. This captures people usingthe main thoroughfares and indicates they are able to access the wider offer in the city centreif they choose to. Without this movement of people in key areas, this would be a barrier tothe other measures of vibrancy (i.e. staying and spending money in the city centre).4

Footfall is holding fairly steady in recent years, although this has dropped significantly from2008 (pre-recession) levels.A key concern is the inconsistency of footfall that is driven by the over reliance on eventsheld within the city centre (this is looked at in more detail within the Culture and Leisuresection). To us, this indicates our core offer is not good enough to attract consistent numbersof people that could use our city centre more frequently if they chose to.NB: Footfall figures include the main thoroughfares of Fargate and Pinstone Street and arenot a representation of total numbers, but a useful guide on trends over the last 5 years.Are people staying in Sheffield?The number of overnight visitors increased significantly in 2011, following a number of yearswhere this was in decline. Compared to other core cities 1 Sheffield still ranks lowest forovernight visitors from the UK 2 . We are broadly similar to our nearest comparator, NewcastleGateshead which has an equivalent number of overnight visitors.Are people spending money in Sheffield?Whilst we are comparable to Newcastle in numbers of visitors, the conversion of visits intospend is poor. Newcastle had only 0.7% more visitors than Sheffield in 2011, but generatedover 116% more spend from overnight visitors (equivalent to £113 million):1Core Cities – Birmingham; Bristol; Leeds; Liverpool; Manchester; Newcastle; Sheffield2Combined Leisure and Business Visitors – UK Tourism Survey5

Sheffield City Centre's retail position is also below that of the other eight English Core Cities,ranked 20th in the CACI Retail Footprint and substantially below Meadowhall which is ranked14th.Many of the reasons for the above underperformance are amplified by current economicconditions and the stalling of major retail and leisure schemes.What are the conditions to support city centre vibrancy like at themoment?Cultural and LeisureCulture is a vital part of the city’s identity and a central element of the city’s national andinternational reputation. Sheffield’s cultural credentials are impressive but to ensure wesuccessfully compete with other major cities as a hub for culture and creativity, we need tounlock the potential of the city’s creative and cultural assets.We are developing an ambitious plan for major cultural development of the Central Library asone of final pieces in the 'Heart of City' strategy. Built around a 21st century library, thedevelopment will see a fusing of cultural experiences, knowledge, public space, digitalinnovation and information.There is potential major redevelopment within the city's cultural quarter. We aim to create anenhanced contemporary gallery and exhibition space at the Site Gallery with improved publicrealm to enable regular creative producer markets, extended public and educationprogrammes and new commercial opportunities, as the focus for creative production andeducation for the City Region.6

There is also the opportunity of a national and regional role for The Showroom as one of thenew British Film Institute (BFI) Hubs. This would bring a major boost to public and educationprogrammes plus development of enterprise and skills projects supported by CreativeEngland.The strategy is to work in partnership with the city’s newly formed Cultural Consortium toleverage external investment from Arts Council England, Heritage Lottery Fund, BFI /Creative England etc, to maintain a viable, independent cultural sector that commissions andproduces authentic and independent content. We also need to offer quality mainstreamleisure activities,Night-timeHotels in the city report relatively strong weekend occupancy, which correlates with a strongnight-time offer as people come to the centre to go out on Friday and Saturday nights. Thisoffer has also been boosted with new investment from Genting that provides a broader offerin the evenings.Sheffield is the first city in Yorkshire to receive the Purple Flag award. This recognises greatentertainment and hospitality along with a positive experience to night-time visitors and users(between 5pm and 6am).Sheffield is one of six core cities to have achieved Purple Flag status alongside Bristol,Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Nottingham.Events and animationThe chart below shows the projected impact of our current events programme.Whilst this demonstrates the impact of our key events, it also raises concerns because of thelack of future funding available. Without these events increasing footfall, there is the potentialfor footfall to drop and become a barrier to vibrancy.7

City Centre ManagementWithout holistic place management the solid foundations of Sheffield’s built physical environment would deteriorate. Customer Satisfaction levels for City Centre Management continue to improve around safety (82%),cleanliness (96%), management (96%) and general enjoyment (98%).City Centre businesses have come to expect the service as free whilst other cities (notably Birmingham) operate much of their City Centre Management on a series of Business Improvement Districts (BID’s) supported byannual levies on business.One possibility is to launch a new City Centre Business Improvement District in association with the investment of City Development funds. Such a levy could contribute to the high quality management of the city centre and tothe events programme as in other cities.Whilst businesses see the double incentive of public capital investment in new infrastructure and an improved service to look after it; any levy via a BID cannot replace existing services, instead they add value and return oninvestment for the levy payer.We need to develop our funding model to maintain the standards and events that attract visitors and business to the city centre.AccessAccess to the city from out of the local area is a strength, and should improve with electrification of the Midland mainline and High Speed Rail 2. Anecdotally this accessibility also makes it easy for people to limit their visit to aday trip, raising questions whether the offer in the city centre does not always entice people to stay overnight.10

The City Centre needs to be accessible to local residents as well as visitors and parking availability and charges are often cited as a key concern. An initial look at the parking offered in the core cities shows that the pricing ofcar parks within 10 minutes of Sheffield City Centre is lower than most other core cities:Average car park chargeper hour within 10 minutesdrive of the City CentreLeeds £2.35Manchester £2.03Bristol £1.96Birmingham £1.89Nottingham £1.76Sheffield £1.59Liverpool £1.54Newcastle £1.44Core CitiesAverage £1.80Source: http://en.parkopedia.co.ukFiltered on short-term/day parking, car parks and street parkingGiven the relative charges, the issue of expensive parking is likely to be one of perception and knowledge of places to park and their charges. It is also worth recognising that the Council operates 9% ofparking and therefore has limited ability to change average price of parking in the City Centre.What’s already in place?A vibrant City Centre is integral to achieving our ambitions to be a Competitive City. Our vision for Competitive City is:‘Sheffield will be a sustainable city which stimulates and incentivises business opportunity in order to attract investment and growth, creating a competitive advantage that will provide more and better jobs,enhancing the quality of life and reputation to attract people to live, work and visit; a city of independence, authenticity and distinction.’To achieve a Vibrant City, we will make choices that stimulate and promote:! Business and leisure tourism,! An improved reputation for the city,! Opportunities for talent and creativity development and! Cultural, sporting excellence offering! A vibrant retail offerThe issue of Vibrancy is shared across a number of services within the Council. Additionally, the private sector has a significant role to play in ensuring the vibrancy and in turn, economic success of the city.There are multiple delivery plans that set out our aspirations and planned activity in detail; these document and the key aspects that will improve City Centre vibrancy:11

CorporateoutcomesA Strong, CompetitiveEconomyA Competitive CityA Vibrant CityAn Environmentally,Responsible CityEconomic MasterplanStrategicinitiativesCity CentreMasterplanCity Centre VibrancyCapital andMajorProjectsCulturalStrategyMajorEventsExamples ofoperationalinitiativesLicensingCity CentreManagementAmbassadorsPurple FlagIt is essential that these approaches and strategies work in a joined-up way to ensure maximum impact from our investment and efforts.12

Our ApproachTwo approaches which will help to resolve the issues – ‘Hardware’ and ‘Software’.By hardware we mean large scale physical infrastructure and the plans we will put in place to shape this. By software we mean how we will use this infrastructure in the short to medium term.Hardware:! City Centre Masterplan – reducing the size of the retail offer in the City Centre by a third and connecting the different areas within our City Centre! New Retail Quarter, Sevenstone! Moor development and the Market! Cultural Industries QuarterSoftware:! Chapel Walk – High St Innovation Fund! Pop-up shops! Engaging new, creative talent! Purple Flag for the night time economy! Festivals that support the brand values and alignment of University funding of festivals (Sheffield Food Festival etc)The ability of the Council to ‘deliver’ a better high-end offer that would promote spend is limited and will be linked to the market and whether Sheffield is seen as a city that could sustain such an offer.13

SummaryThe following page sets out a summary position of where we are for each of the conditions for vibrancy described in this Destination Management Plan, with a brief description on why this element is important to key city centreusers.A draft action plan setting out the current and proposed actions to address the issues identified in this DMP then follows.nditions forvibrancyFurther explanationWhat are different customers' perspectives and what do they need?Sheffield (and cityVisitorsBusiness-peopleregion) residentsRelevance of the Sheffield 'brand'[authentic, independent, distinctive]Assessment of our positionHow strong is our offer forthis 'condition'?Culture andleisureDo we have a range ofleisure and culturalvenues and providers;along with a strongprogramme of eventsand ongoing 'animation'?Important - we needheadline cultural andleisure providers, andstrong events programmeto attract visitors toSheffieldImportant - a programmeof events, and 'animation'will encourage Sheffieldresidents to visit andhopefully use what’s onoffer in the city centreModerately important -may help to 'lodge'Sheffield as a venue inbusiness visitors' mindsImportant to ensure that our cultural andleisure offer is distinctive as it has potentialto be used as a distinguishing featurebetween Sheffield and other citiesWhile we have a good culturaloffer; we have a less compellingleisure offer. We also need toensure sustainable fundingmodels, particularly for eventsHospitalityDo we have a diversehotel and restaurantoffer?Important - a range ofhotels and restaurantsneeded to attract a rangeof visitors to the cityModerately important -while having a strongrestaurant offer isimportant; less so forhotelsImportant - particularlyhaving a strong hotel offerWe need to boost theindependent/authentic elements of ourhotel offer -this needn't be independenthotels per se, but could be chains with an'independent' brand themselves, e.g.,Malmaison, Hotel du Vin, etc.Too uniform, and budget-priced(e.g. £48 per hotel room)discouraging more luxurybrands from entering themarket.RetailPublic realmAccessDo we have a strongretail offer which appealsto different marketsegments?Do we have an attractivephysical environment,which is well-managed;potentially with one totwo iconic venues?How easy is it to accessthe city centre - frombeyond and withinSheffield?Moderately important -although other visitorsoften perceive 'Sheffield'to have a strong retailoffer, because ofMeadowhallImportant - the city centreneeds to look attractiveand be well-maintained:people need to want tocome and spend time inthe city centreModerately important -domestic visitors need tobe able to reach and usethe city centreImportant - a strong retailoffer is a major driver oflocal residents visiting andspending in the city centre.Important - the city centreneeds to look attractiveand be well-maintained:people need to want tocome and spend time inthe city centreImportant - easy ways toaccess the city centre bypublic transport (bus,tram), and/or affordableparking options for driversRelatively unimportant tovisiting business people(although relativelyimportant for people whowork in the city centre)Important - the city centreneeds to look attractive forbusinesses to locate or puton events and meetinghereImportant - particularlygood access to majortransport links (however,other elements of our offerneed to be strong toencourage businessvisitors to stay)Our independent/authentic retail offer isrelatively strong; we are weak in terms ofmajor, 'conventional' high-street retailersThe style of the newer areas of the publicrealm are a particular style to SheffieldThe application of authentic/independent toaccess points and routes to the city isunimportantOur city centre retail offer is notstrong enough and overfocussedon the relatively lowbudget retailers. Ambitiousplans in place for Moor Market,NRQ, etc.Significant progress made inrecent years, with an ambitiousplan for continuing developmentin this area (Markets, NRQ, etc.)Good road and rail access fromoutside of Sheffield; parkingcharges look to be lower thanmany other core cities14

Next Steps / Action PlanWhat’s theissue?MoredynamicCultural OfferImproveQuality andBreadth ofLeisureConsistentprogrammeof Festivalsand EventsImproveQuality andBreadth ofHospitalityImproveQuality andBreadth ofRetailMaintainquality publicrealmWhat are we doing aboutit?Develop Culture ConsortiumFurther Develop CulturalIndustries Quarter / CentralLibraryAttract Quality Bar (Slug andLettuce etc), Cinemaoperators to the cityModel to move to is from‘Provider 2 Beneficiary’(P2B), i.e. the beneficiary ofthe event provides fundingAttract Brand Hotels –Malmaison , Hotel Du Vin etcAttract Restaurant –Carluccios, Jamies, YoSushi, Pret a Manger, EatNew Retail QuarterThe MoorExisting actionlinked tostrategy/programme?Culture Strategy/ SCRIFCity CentreMasterplanCity CentreMasterplanMajor EventsStrategy /Culture StrategyCity CentreMasterplanCity CentreMasterplanHave wealreadystarted?Whenwill it bedoneby?Hardware/SoftwareYes 13/14 SoftwareNoHardwareSoftwarePriorityrating?What impact do wewant to have?Re-invigorated CulturalOfferTo deliver an‘attraction’ to increasevisitors and spendYes 2013 Software Increased visitorsYesYesSoftwareSoftwareHardwareHardwareShowcase Yes Ongoing SoftwareHigh Street Innovation Fund Yes Ongoing SoftwareContinue to maintain highstandards of cleanliness andmaintenance of the citycentre public realmExisting action Yes Ongoing SoftwareTo deliver a high-endhotel and restaurantoffer to encourage anew clientele to the cityfor overnight staysIncreased visitor,increased spend andincreased averagetransaction valueTo maintain awelcoming, safe andattractive environmentto attract visitors15

Appendix One – City Centre Vibrancy Position Statement on OverallPerformanceThis report has considered a wider range of ways to measure how vibrant our City Centre isincluding:! Night Time Economy (value / turnover £ millions)! City Centre Footfall! CACI Retail Ranking! Number of overnight visitors to Sheffield and spend (£ millions)! Hotel Offer [Standard; Occupancy; Yield]! Restaurant Offer [based on Prices]! Access [Parking charges]! University Popularity and Student NumbersOvernight VisitorsThis data is based on the number of trips by domestic overnight visitors.Source – UK Tourism Survey (UKTS)Since 2010, the survey has also collected information on spend by visitors. However neitheryear has shown Sheffield in the top 20 towns for visitor spend16

Domestic Overnight Stays 2012 (GBTS)Trips Spend(‘000s) £ (Millions)1.London 11093 23982.Manchester 2613 5233.Birmingham 2251 3444.Bristol 1828 2645.Scarborough 1645 3086.York 1615 3317.Leeds 1493 2428.Blackpool 1478 2639.Liverpool 1428 25110.Newcastle 1303 24711.Sheffield 1293 114Source – UK Tourism Survey (UKTS)2011 saw a 58% increase on 2010, mostly attributed to hosting of major sports events andtraining camps pre Olympics 2012. Future performance is projected on average trend data,plus a 5% uplift. The sustainable and realistic expectation is that overall performance in 2012will be lower than 2011 but still a 5% increase on the 3 year average.Whilst the data indicates that more visitors came to Sheffield over the last year, this still isn’ttranslating into spend.17

Culture and Leisure:Night-time EconomyNight-time economy: turnover and growthTurnover (2009)£MillionTurnover growth 2006-2009%Source: MAKE, TBRData on the night-time economy is relatively old, but shows that we compared well withinCore Cities and up to 2009 was an area of growth in Sheffield.This information above is part of a research product called the Night-Mix Index (NMI). Thechart shows the financial turnover of businesses in the night time economy and the leveltrend in turnover between 2006 and 2009. An update on this data is being sought.The wider night-time index includes other factors over above business turnover listed below:! The mix and size of businesses in the night time economy! How many businesses are associated with alcohol and/or food consumption! Business births and deaths! How the recession has affected the NTE! People employed by the NTE! The relative strength of your own and your competitors' NTEsPurple FlagThe city has also been awarded a Purple Flag over the last twelve months. The Purple Flagaward scheme aims to raise the standard and broaden the appeal of centres between 1700and 0600. The award recognises great entertainment and hospitality areas at night.Places that achieve the standard are judged by the ATCM, working alongside the PurpleFlag Advisory Board (a partnership of key stakeholder groups, including central and localgovernment, police, business and consumers) are judged to offer a positive experience tonight time visitors and users.18

Sheffield is one of six core cities to have achieved Purple Flag status alongside Bristol,Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Nottingham.Events and Animations - FootfallThe blue line shows actual footfall which is inconsistent and fluctuates significantly betweenmonths. The red line estimates the residual footfall if no events took place over the lastcalendar year.The peaks that coincide with events are shown on the chart and show the extent to whichfootfall is driven by events. This indicates our core offer is not sufficient to sustain levels offootfall to key areas of the City Centre.For most months removing the impact of events effectively removes the peaks that we see infootfall, showing the City Centre operating at a steadier, but lower baseline. This analysis hasfactored in seasonally significant events such as School, University and Bank Holidays, butdoes not factor in the impact of weather.The months that show a peak in footfall, seemingly unaffected by events, such as March2012, coincided with unseasonably good weather, with temperatures in the mid-teensfollowing a cold February.HospitalityHotel OccupancyDate2012Occupancy% Change from2011Average Daily Room Rate2012% Change from2011January – March 63.5% -4.4% £47.35 -1.0%April – June 68.9% -2.6% £48.24 2.3%July – September 68.4% -3.2% £48.17 6.7%October 70.5% -0.9% £49.45 4.3%2012 Year to Date 67.3% -3.2% £48.1 2.9%Source: PFK Sheffield city wide stats Year to Date 2012,19

Occupancy rates are steady, having been in the mid 60%’s for a number of years, even withthe recent growth in supply of rooms. However, whilst average daily room rates in Sheffieldare growing year an on year but the change is small.To be more comparable with other Core Cities we would need our room rate to increase by16%, based on the Hotel Price Index (shown on the next page):City 2012 2011 % changeBristol £75 £74 1%Liverpool £73 £77 -6%Manchester £73 £78 -5%Newcastle-upon-Tyne £72 £81 -11%Leeds £66 £66 0%Birmingham £63 £61 3%Sheffield £61 £63 -3%Nottingham £59 £62 -5%Source: Hotels.com Hotel Price Index TMThe Hotel Price Index review of global hotel prices: Jan-Jun 2012Source: Tripadvisor (October 2012)20

The number of 3, 4 and 5 star hotels (as listed on Tripadvisor) remained the same since2011 in Sheffield. We were the only Core City to remain unchanged, with all other citiesexcept Leeds showing increases in the total hotel numbers.This means our offer is static at a time when most other cities are increasing numbers,meaning a key driver for spend in the city is not improving and becoming comparativelyworse.On the review ratings given by members of the public, Sheffield showed a substantialincrease in the number of people who rated their stay at 4 out of 5 or more, putting us in thetop three on this measure and the second highest city for stays ranked 4.5 or above.Restaurant Offer:Source: Tripadvisor (October 2012)All Core Cities showed an increase in the number of restaurants reviewed by people onTripadvisor.The proportion of our restaurants at the higher-end of the price scale has increased sincelast year. However, this is true for all other places reviewed and therefore we still have thelowest proportion of high-end restaurants of all the Core Cities.21

This measure (and a number of others being used) are for Sheffield as a whole, rather thanjust the City Centre. We know if we looked at restaurants in particular within the S1 postcode,our offer would look significantly reduced.Again, this is a key driver of spend that needs to attract affluent people to use the city centrealong with a higher level of spend to ensure the economic contribution of the city.RetailRetail ranking comparison:Source: CACI’s Retail FootprintThis from the CACI Retail Footprint, which is calculated based on the number and value ofcredit and debit card transactions recorded from a major high street bank. It is updatedannually and analyses current and future shopping patterns, classifying retail centres intoover 50 different types according to retail mix, market positioning and evolving shopping role.Five of the eight core cities are in the top-eight retail centres in the UK, whereas Sheffieldcurrently ranks 20 th and has dropped one place from the year before. Approximately half ofthe top twenty retail centres saw spend drop between 2010 & 2011, included Sheffield, whichalso dropped to a rank of 20 from 19 the year before. Only one of the Core Cities(Manchester) saw a growth in retail spend over this period.Although this comparison sees Meadowhall fall two places in the ranking for 2011, they sawa small growth over the 12 months shown. Even combining retail spend of Meadowhall andSheffield sees us significantly behind Manchester (excluding the Trafford Centre).All of the city centres above Sheffield in the CACI Ranking have benefited from retailinvestment of the scale of NRQ over the last ten to fifteen years for instance;22

Glasgow - Buchanan St Galleries, St Enochs,Birmingham - Bull Ring,Manchester - Arndale renewal,Liverpool - Liverpool One,Leeds- Victoria Qtr,Trinity etc,Nottingham - Broadmarsh, Victoria, ExchangeNewcastle - Eldon Sq extension,Norwich - Castle Mall and Chapelfield,Leicester - High Cross,Bristol - Cabot Circus,Reading - the Oratory,Milton Keynes - MK Centre,Retail turnover by category of goods – Meadowhall and Sheffield City CentreTotal Clothing/ Audio Chemists Misc Total AllHomeware Footwear visual GoodsCity Centre £193.5m £243.7m £103.63m £68.53m £221.04m £830.41mMeadowhall £34.9m £309.05m £20.99m £34.86m £271.15m £670.95mSource: Retail Analysis done by GVA in 2012, using the 2010 Cushman and Wakefield Sheffield Retail StudyUniversity Popularity:Universities play a key role in talent attraction, particularly in Sheffield where spend bystudents is likely to contribute significantly to the economy of the city.23

Applications to Universities in Sheffield have decreased at a slightly faster rate than otherCore Cities, leading to a drop in the ratio of applications per acceptances (shown below).Although the number of university acceptances have also declined in Sheffield, this is at acomparable rate to others.24

This is based on all Universities and Colleges within the Core Cities. Overall, we are the onlyCore City who saw the ratio of applicants per place reduce between 2010 and 2011.Sheffield also saw the biggest drop in total applicant numbers over the same periodcompared to other cities.We continue to be one of two Core Cities in the top ten for student experience:25