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Yorkshire's second city, and England's fourth-largest, SHEFFIELD remains inextricably linked with its steel industry, in particular the production of high-quality cutlery. As early as the fourteenth century, the carefully fashioned, hard-wearing knives of hard-working Sheffield enjoyed national repute. Technological advances in steel production later turned Sheffield into one of the country's foremost centres of heavy and specialist engineering, which meant the city suffered heavy bombing in World War II, yet several of its grand civic buildings emerged remarkably unscathed. More damaging than bombs to the city's pre-eminence was the steel industry's subsequent downturn, which by the 1980s had tipped parts of Sheffield into dispiriting decline. However, as with Leeds, the economic and cultural revival has been marked and rapid. The "Heart of the City" project is fast transforming the centre; a glut of sports facilities (including the Ski Village, Europe's largest artificial ski resort) backs Sheffield's claim to be considered "National City of Sport"; while the city that gave the world The Full Monty - the black comedy about five former steel workers carving out a new career as a striptease act - has made a tribute to the industry in the Magna centre, one of the country's most enterprising visitor attractions.
Your Tip for Sheffield
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