Two shots of Kangaroo Works in Sheffield, pictured in shadow on a sunny day in 2007. I knew the building was potentially under threat so I didn’t want to wait for a better day to take a couple of snaps. By this time the old works was just being rented out to independent businesses. There was a gym and boxing down in the basement, then up above Juma Print, who handled a few jobs for me and also did the fab Martin Lilleker books on the history of Sheffield rock and pop. As I designed the cover for Volume 2, I popped in a couple of time to check proofs, etc.
The arched works entrance looked amazing, with a stone carved pediment showing a Kangaroo and the words Trade Mark. This dated from the days of a tool factory here; all the steel businesses had often long established trade marks (we are talking 400 years old in some cases) which they protected fiercely to prevent other firms copying their products and passing them off.
Next door was JB Office Supplies, who were also printers. I used them for years for stationary but also for printing, they did a magazine here for me for some time. Knowing the site was under threat they eventually moved to a small industrial estate elsewhere, but the building was left standing empty for several years (Juma also managed to relocate but I don’t know if they’re still going, they don’t have a website).
The factory – seen above in better days – dated back to the 1890s and housed Robert Sorby’s edge tool business, and was an important building as it was purpose built for the job with special big windows to let lots of light in. None of this stopped the council approving it’s demolition for yet another block of cheap student flats – they want the rates too much. Thanks to the work of Ken Hawley, the museum managed to get the arch taken down and saved. Which is fine as far as it goes, but a building like this which could readily have been repurposed deserved much better. As I type, the entire street has now been redeveloped and nothing at all remains of the industrial streetscape beyond the pub at the end. But that’s Sheffield for you, screw history.
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