"There used to be lines on the floor outside places like Park Hill and the Kelvin," says Airship's Dan Brookman. "You couldn't throw a telly past the red lines and the green lines meant it was safe to walk underneath."
Luckily that's all changed and Dan's hospitality business has taken flight in a ground floor space at Park Hill. Brutal no longer, the complex is now home to filmmakers, artists and digital innovators. We drank oatmilk lattes, but we could just as easily had a quinoa and beetroot salad from South Street Kitchen next door.
In this episode, Dan tells how Airship, far from being grounded during the pandemic, was able to soar to new heights, employing new Kickstarters and recruiting new hospitality businesses from Sheffield and beyond to its online platforms and track and trace app. We asked Dan about the future of hospitality in Sheffield and also what he thought about the future for the city centre and the closure of John Lewis.
And on a departmental store tip, our ambient architecture feature Building Of The Month focuses on a Fargate institution, showing that big names leaving the High Street is nothing new. Enjoy!