Welcome to
Sheff Herd.
We are a community magazine, bringing you the best of Sheffield.
Herd Hangouts - Venue Spotlights
Scene and Herd - News & Reviews
Herd the Word - A Celebration of Steel City's Peak Creative Writing.
🐘🐘🐘🐘🐘
Scene and Herd
EVENT OF THE WEEK
w/c 21st September 2026
Sheffield’s folk community comes together for a good cause on Sunday 27th September as Folk Against Cancer takes over Yellow Arch Studios, raising funds for Cancer Research UK. Billed as a celebration of music, community and resilience, the day-long event ventures well beyond conventional acoustic folk, promising everything from traditional melodies and haunting pagan harmonies to murder ballads and full-blooded folk metal.
The line up features ThunarWülf, formed from musicians with roots in local folk favourites Treebeard and The Kraken, who combine traditional melodies and stories of ancient myths with heavy riffs, drawing on folk, Celtic, Viking and pirate metal. Treebeard themselves also appear, alongside The Midsommars, ElvenDale, The Imposters and duo Sister Chain & Brother John, giving the festival a line-up that moves between the atmospheric, traditional, theatrical and decidedly heavier fringes of folk.
Folk Against Cancer takes place at Yellow Arch Studios on Sunday 27th September, from 2.30pm. The event is for ages 14 and over ticket sales support Cancer Research UK. Folk Against Cancer promises to turn one of Sheffield’s best-known independent music spaces into a miniature folk festival while raising money for an incredibly good cause.
SEPTEMBER 2026
TOP 4
🐘🐘🐘🐘
Your guide to the month ahead.
Check out our weekly event recommendations every Monday.
01
🐘
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.
02
🐘
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.
03
🐘
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.
04
🐘
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