Sam Sharp –
Shopping Centre Manager
Packhorse Shopping Centre
I was born in Nottingham and the first person I ever met in person with a Yorkshire accent was my step- dad Derrick, who sounded like someone from Emmerdale Farm to me. Yorkshire seemed like a different country, let alone county, with the “bread cake/cob/Bap” issue, a recurring conversation in our house. However, 17 years of living in Yorkshire has given me a love of the all it has to offer from the people, accents, colloquialisms , countryside, scenery, food, nightlife and culture.
I have lived all over the UK and I can honestly say, I would not want to live anywhere else, other than Yorkshire. Each town is different, it has its own character, cuisine, accent, and personality. My journey to The North has been via Nottingham, Newark, Somerset, Buckingham and Northampton, where I will hopefully stay firmly in Yorkshire.
My favorite places to visit in Yorkshire are Hunmanby Gap beach, The Piece Hall in Halifax, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Trippets Jazz Bar in Sheffield, Saltaire after walking the Armley to Bingley Canal for charity years ago and Castle Hill in Huddersfield. The views are amazing and you feel part of something bigger when you are up there.
I work in Huddersfield but live in Sheffield South Yorkshire, a city which has changed dramatically over the years. Huddersfield is going through a rebirth and should continue to do so over the coming years, much the same as Halifax has through the reopening of the Piece Hall. Yorkshires “forgotten” towns have to show the world, not just the UK, how brilliant they are and what they stand for.
Huddersfield is a town full of independent traders who have been brave enough to go out there, develop a business and say to the people “ this is me, this is what I am good at, please come and see what I have to offer” and I love Huddersfield for that.
Huddersfield might not have a Harvey Nichols, Selfridges or an M&S but we have lots of independent traders who are all able to satisfy the needs of most customer desires.
Huddersfield has some excellent places to eat or just pick up a good quality coffee and bit of lunch, which I am discovering each week. My favourite haunts are the Arcade Café and Green Island for fabulous lunches or breakfast butties, sometimes Savina at Green Island cooks up some Mauritian food , which is a lunchtime winner. Espresso Corner for a pretty decent flat white and Rivers Chinese Restaurant on Cross Churn Street, for the best Chinese food I have ever eaten. Another favourite is the Thai food stall in the open market, where the owner prepares the food in front of you, in the tiniest of units but produces tasty, fresh Thai food.
My favourite arrival into Huddersfield, has to be from the train station. I get on at Sheffield and pass the towns and villages leading up to Huddersfield to then arrive at the beautiful station… yes railway stations can be beautiful. When you make your way through the station and out onto St Georges Square, with its wide open space surrounded by the handsome buildings build by more brave men and women who had a vision to make the town great.
I cannot wait for some of the changes which are happening around Huddersfield because some of the ones already happening have been so positive and promising. We have a new Huddersfield BID, and their team have worked tirelessly since beginning to raise the profile of Huddersfield, bring business and people together and help to create a town which people will look forward to visiting, want to live and work in and wish to return to.
