The first twelve years of my life were spent in and around 36 Lyons Street in Pitsmoor. Bizarrely, I remember more about my first twelve years than I do about the following thirty five. So in a moment of nostalgic fervour, I decided to the house and surrounding area. (Long moment this, it's lasted eight years so far!)

The area of Pitsmoor which includes Lyons Street was built up around the mid 1870's when a need arose  to supply housing for Sheffields' ever growing working class population.

Lyons Street stretched from the Junction of Ellesmere Road - Sutherland Road - Sedan Street with All Saints Church at the top to Carlisle Street at the bottom, cutting through Petre Street and passing  street after street of exactly the same sort of houses on its way down the hill. Two up two down terraced housing with cellars, attics and outside toilets. The front door led in off the street and the back door led into the communal yard. Shops and pubs on every cobbled street corner and huge steelworks within walking distance .

The 1881 census calls the street 'Lyon Street'. (Where the 's' went to or came from, I don't know).

Being listed as a 'shop' made it easier to track the previous occupants but as I found out, 36 Lyons Street didn't start out as a shop or indeed end up a shop.

In the beginning it was a normal family house. Then sometime during the early 1880’s  the front room was converted into a newsagents. It remained that way until around 1958 when it became a 'sweet shop'. It was taken over by my father in 1959 and when he ceased trading in 1963, he turned the 'shop' back into a living room.

We lived there until 1972 until the vast sprawling, greenery of Gleadless came a-calling. Indoor toilet, plumbed in bath, trees, grass without wartime debris. Luxury!

Within a few years of us moving, Lyons street and its neighbours were demolished.

The square of land that once stretched between Lyons Street -  Harleston Street and Petre Street – Edgar Street is now a community football pitch. Where once was brick and rubble is now grass and rubble.

The surrounding land and streets that supplied housing for hundreds of families is still derelict, over 30 years later.