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Sheff Herd.
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Scene and Herd
EVENT OF THE WEEK
w/c 7th September 2026
Nether Edge Festival returns for its 12th year from Saturday 12th to Sunday 20th September, bringing nine days of music, film, comedy, food, art, walks, talks and community events to venues across the neighbourhood.
The opening Saturday kicks off with Sheffield’s 20ft Squid Blues Band at Café No9 at 7.30pm, promising a fast-paced mix of Chicago-style blues, harmonica and intricate rhythms.
Over at the atmospheric Samuel Worth Chapel, punk veteran TV Smith takes to the stage at 8pm. Best known as the founder, singer and songwriter of first-wave punk band The Adverts, Smith remains a prolific performer and makes for a suitably energetic start to the festival.
Sunday 13th September offers plenty for families. There is the famous Nether Edge farmers market which is always an exciting way to sample local food, drink and buy handmade goods. There's also a pop up craft fair at On the Brink at 10:30-5:30. Meanwhile, St Andrew’s Psalter Lane Church hosts a relaxed family screening of Pixar’s Hoppers from 1.30pm, with craft activities.
Sunday evening brings several very different events. Sheffield performance poet John Hobson appears as Funny Onion at the Samuel Worth Chapel at 7.30pm, combining original poetry and comedy in a show performed entirely from memory. At the same time, The Living Line LIVE! at On the Brink reunites a local group of women poets for a free evening of readings, while Bringing Democracy to Nether Edge runs from 7pm to 9pm at Common Ground. Led by Kate West of Family Voice and Simon Duffy of Citizen Network, the workshop invites residents to explore practical ways of giving local people a greater voice in decisions affecting their community.Finally, for relaxation there is a free evening yoga class 6-7:30pm at Sharrow Performing Arts Space
The programme continues throughout the following week, with highlights including alternative folk from Summerisle, Alastair Gordon and Robyn Gair on Monday 14th. Visit one of the hidden gems of Sheffield's theatre scene The Lantern for a production of Shakespeare's The Tempest which begins this same day. On Tuesday, local award winning poet Helen Mort presents 'Difficult Women' at Nether Edge Bowling Club. Later in the week there’s a mindfulness walk and Friday 18th brings artist Lynne Chapman’s Nether Edge Sketchcrawl and live soul, funk and jazz from Barefoot & Fly. Shirle Hill Living History Day is among Saturday’s attractions, before the festival reaches its final day on Sunday 20th with events including music at Chelsea Park, Spectrum Theatre at Kenwood Hall and the free Sevenby7 open-decks session at The Gin Bar.
Netheredge Festival is an event not to miss, celebratig the history and creativity of one of our city's most vibrant communities.
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Herd the Word EVENT OF THE WEEK
w/c 14th September 2026
Fifty years after punk detonated across Britain, Mark Sloper’s new documentary 50 Years of Punk returns to the streets of London where a cultural upheaval took shape.
Screening at Sheffield’s Showroom Cinema on Wednesday 16th September, the film captures not simply the music but the chaos, energy and furious creativity of a movement whose influence has proved remarkably enduring.
Sloper, director of Sid! By Those Who Really Knew Him and The Story of The Skids, combines new interviews with rare archive footage from 1976 and beyond, allowing the people who created punk to tell much of the story themselves. Among those appearing are Sex Pistols bassist Glen Matlock, The Stranglers’ Hugh Cornwell, The Damned’s Dave Vanian and Rat Scabies, Gaye Advert of The Adverts and many more.
Archive material also brings back some of punk’s defining figures who are no longer here, including X-Ray Spex frontwoman Poly Styrene and Vivienne Westwood, punk’s queen of fashion, whose provocative designs and partnership with Malcolm McLaren on the King’s Road helped create the movement’s unmistakable visual language. Styrene, meanwhile, brought something entirely her own to punk with X-Ray Spex: a startling voice, sharp intelligence and songs that attacked consumerism, conformity and expectations of women.
It is in the collision of these voices and images that 50 Years of Punk most vividly articulates the glorious disorder of the period. This was a moment when music, fashion, art, politics and teenage frustration crashed into one another, overturning ideas about who could form a band, make clothes, publish a fanzine or simply demand to be heard.
Half a century later, Sloper’s film suggests that punk matters not because it can be preserved neatly as nostalgia, but because its challenge to get up and do something for yourself remains potent.
50 Years of Punk screens at the Showroom Cinema as part of Sheffield Film Festival at 8pm on Wednesday 16th September, ahead of its UK cinema release on 18th September. The special preview is followed by a live Q&A with director Mark Sloper.
SEPTEMBER 2026
TOP 4
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Your guide to the month ahead.
Check out our weekly event recommendations every Monday.
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Art in the Gardens
Sheffield Botanical Gardens will once again be transformed into a huge open-air gallery when Art in the Gardens returns on Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th September.
The event brings together artists and craft makers from Sheffield and across the UK, with thousands of original works displayed throughout the gardens. Visitors can browse paintings, prints and handmade crafts in the marquees and pavilions, discover sculptures dotted across the lawns and see work entered into the Open Art Exhibition and Sheffield Young Artists display.
The setting is in the Grade II-listed Sheffield Botanical Gardens providing a particularly picturesque backdrop
Alongside the art there will be live demonstrations, a Home and Gardens showcase and locally sourced food and drink, while visitors can meet many of the artists and buy work directly from them.
The event runs from 10.30am to 5.30pm on both days, with advance tickets costing £8.50 and admission free for under-16s accompanied by an adult.
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Sheffield Heritage Open Days
Some of Sheffield’s most fascinating buildings and stories take centre stage from 11th–20th September 2026, when Sheffield Heritage Open Days returns as part of England’s nationwide celebration of history and culture.
The festival offers the chance to look behind doors that aren’t ordinarily open to the public, discover overlooked pieces of local history and experience the city through tours, talks and special activities. Crucially, many of Heritage Open Days events are free, making the festival an excellent excuse to explore somewhere in Sheffield you’ve walked past countless times but never ventured inside.
The programme ranges from architecture and industrial heritage to the people and events that have shaped modern Sheffield. Among the 2026 offerings are guided tours inside the Grade I-listed Sheffield Town Hall, alongside talks exploring subjects including the Sheffield Blitz and the story of Jewish immigrants who helped shape the city’s politics, commerce and industry. Some tours require advance booking.
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Float Along Festival
Sheffield’s multi-venue Float Along Festival returns on Saturday 26th September 2026, bringing a packed day of alternative music to The Octagon, Sidney & Matilda and Corporation.
Leading this year’s bill are indie favourites White Lies, joined by Dublin punk band Sprints, genre-bending South London outfit Warmduscher and the theatrical Opus Kink. The line-up runs deep, with TTSSFU,
Man/Woman/Chainsaw, Grandmas House, Nuha Ruby Ra, Gia Ford, PleasureInc., Shaking Hand, Cowboyy, Cucamaras, Your Mate’s Ex, Oslo Twins, Little Grandad, Faint Paint, Maximilian Tanner and Spanish Horses also heading to Sheffield for the festival.
Float Along has built its identity around discovering emerging artists alongside bigger alternative names, and this year’s programme continues that theme. A BBC Introducing selection adds April Tapes, Vehicle, recently Sheff Herd spotlighted local artists Hard As Nails, Cinder Path and Nature Kids to the bill.
The festival format gives gig-goers the chance to move between three of Sheffield’s best-known independent music venues throughout the day. Once the live sets are finished, the celebrations will continue with an official after-party featuring Flowdan, rounding off a festival that spans indie and post-punk through to experimental sounds and grime.
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Sheffield Half Pint Marathon
Sheffield’s Half Pint Marathon returns from 1–30 September 2026, offering a rather more sociable take on the traditional marathon.
Instead of running 13.1 miles, participants make their way around some of Sheffield’s best independent pubs, bars and taprooms, collecting stickers in a Half Pint Passport as they go.
This year’s route stretches right across the city and includes Hop Hideout, Dog & Partridge, Kapital, Three Tuns, Triple Point Taproom, Head of Steam, Forum, The Stags Head, The Botanical Arms, The Blind Monkey, The Punch Bowl, The Hallamshire House, The Harlequin, Gardeners Rest, Alder Bar, Riverside Kelham, Neepsend Social Club, The Beer House S6, The Broadfield, Waggon & Horses, Abbeydale Beer Works and The Rising Sun, among others. There’s no need to attempt them all at once either – participants have the whole of September to work their way around the route.
Getting involved is simple: pick up a passport at a participating venue, order one of the official Half Pint Marathon beers and collect a sticker for your card. Visit 15 venues to complete a half marathon or all 30 to complete the full marathon, with finishers able to claim a limited-edition illustrated print.
The event is also raising money for Sheffield Mind, with 25p from every official Half Pint Marathon beer sold donated to the charity; those choosing another drink can contribute 25p to the collection instead.
For more information, follow the Instagram page here