{"id":413387,"date":"2025-09-10T14:54:21","date_gmt":"2025-09-10T14:54:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/413387\/"},"modified":"2025-09-10T14:54:21","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T14:54:21","slug":"meadowhall-shopping-centre-celebrates-35-years-open-for-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/413387\/","title":{"rendered":"Meadowhall shopping centre celebrates 35 years open for business"},"content":{"rendered":"

For some it’s retail paradise, while for others dragged along to carry the bags it can feel like a form of purgatory – but after 35 years Meadowhall continues to draw in shoppers.<\/b><\/p>\n

The mega mall – the region’s largest shopping complex – welcomes millions of visitors a year and its distinctive design is a recognisable part of South Yorkshire’s skyline.<\/p>\n

Built on the site of a former steelworks, the centre, which opened on 4 September, 1990 employs thousands of people and, a decade ago, was said to contribute almost a fifth of the business rates collected by Sheffield City Council.<\/p>\n

Aside from the financial benefit, it represents a landmark with decades of personal memories for shoppers and staff alike – including singer Self Esteem who sported a version of the site’s distinctive domes<\/a> as part of a Glastonbury outfit.<\/p>\n

Centre manager Darren Pearce has worked there for more than three decades.<\/p>\n

He started out in 1994 as a “young chartered accountant” and recalled being “absolutely blown away by the place”.<\/p>\n

He said: “I’ve been here 31 years, which is quite incredible. I never thought I would stay that long.”<\/p>\n

The shopping environment back then was very different – it was an era of no Sunday trading with the centre only opening late one day a week. <\/p>\n

Over the years, Mr Pearce said the transformation in retail had been “incredible to see” with the centre undergoing major refurbishment as well as adapting to changing shopping habits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For some it’s retail paradise, while for others dragged along to carry the bags it can feel like…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":413388,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8817],"tags":[748,393,4884,1620,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-413387","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sheffield","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-sheffield","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115180579440335704","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=413387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413387\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/413388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=413387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=413387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=413387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}