After two years of working together, two of Sheffield’s most established digital communities are formally coming together. Here’s what that means, what’s changing, and a heartfelt thank you.
This isn’t a decision we’ve taken quickly, and it isn’t a surprise to anyone who’s been paying attention.
For the past two years, The Sheffield Guide and Sheffield Forum have been working closely together; most visibly last Christmas, when we collaborated on the Sheffield Gift Guide to help readers find the best Sheffield’s gifts for followers. That collaboration worked because both communities were built on the same foundations: independent, Sheffield-first, genuinely rooted in this city, and built by people who actually live here.
Today, that working relationship starts to become something more permanent. The Sheffield Guide is formally joining Sheffield Forum.
What this means, and what it doesn’t
This is the beginning of a gradual process, not an overnight change. The Sheffield Guide isn’t disappearing tomorrow. This website will continue to operate while the transition takes place — and that transition will happen over the coming months, not the coming days.
Gradually moving across will be The Sheffield Guide’s product range and content to a bigger platform, with more reach, and with the resources to expand and improve everything we’ve built here.
Sheffield Forum has been Sheffield’s online home since 2002; nearly a quarter of a century. To give you a sense of what that means in numbers:
- 210,000 registered members
- Over 10 million posts
- Over 50,000 social media followers
- Over 5 million video views in the past year
It is the UK’s oldest and largest city-specific online community, and an extraordinary living archive of Sheffield’s social history. That’s the platform The Sheffield Guide is joining.
The same team is behind both. The same commitment to quality — organic materials, vegan inks, plastic-free packaging, made to order in the UK — continues without compromise. Everything Sheffield Guide customers have valued carries across.
A brief history, for anyone who’s new here
The Sheffield Guide has been covering Sheffield for over a decade — articles, guides, recommendations, videos, and a genuine love of this city that has brought millions of readers through the door over the years.
The Sheffield Guide’s online ‘Sheffield Shop’ opened in 2020, and in the years since, thousands of Sheffield-themed products have been sold to thousands of happy customers across the UK and beyond. Over 100 five-star reviews. Real people, real Sheffield pride, real products that people genuinely wanted to own or give as gifts.
We’re proud of what’s been built. And joining Sheffield Forum is how we make it better.
What’s happening first: the Sheffield Forum Shop
The first part of this process launches today.
The Sheffield Forum Shop opens at shop.sheffieldforum.co.uk with the Made in Sheffield collection — the first of The Sheffield Guide’s ranges to make the move.
And this isn’t simply The Sheffield Guide’s existing range relocated to a new address. The collection has been genuinely redesigned, refined and expanded. The core of what made the original range popular — the design, the quality, the Sheffield identity — is all still here. But everything around it has been improved:
- The art print collection has been completely transformed — where a handful of formats existed through The Sheffield Guide, the Sheffield Forum Shop launches with a full multi-format range from A5 to A1 sizes, across seven new colourways. Giclée printed on 240gsm matte fine art paper. This is a proper expansion, not a copy-and-paste
- New home and lifestyle products have been added to the range for the first time — coaster sets, tea towels and ceramic fridge magnets, all carrying the same exclusive Yorkshire Rose badge design
- A complete baby, toddler and children’s range is now available — baby T-shirts and babygrows alongside the existing kids T-shirt
- Expanded colourways across every product, including Blades Red and Owls Blue throughout — because this collection is for all of Sheffield, both sides of the city
- Greeting cards from £4.50 — the most accessible product in the range, and a natural gift add-on
- The T-shirt, hoodie, mug and tote bag — the core of what Sheffield Guide customers loved — are all here in updated, improved versions with more colour options and extended size ranges than before
The design itself speaks to what this collection has always been about: a celebration of Sheffield, made for people who love this city — whether they live here, grew up here, or carry it with them wherever they ended up.
Why shopping here matters
Buying from the Sheffield Forum Shop does more than get you a great product. It directly supports Sheffield Forum to continue doing what it has done for 23 years; maintaining and growing what is genuinely a digital archive of Sheffield’s social history, nearly a quarter-century of conversations, memories, debates and community that exists nowhere else.
It also helps Sheffield Forum expand into new territory: the REYT. Independent Sheffield Podcast is coming, shining a light on the people, places and organisations that make Sheffield what it is. Exclusive REYT merchandise will be available from the shop in due course. And a growing programme of video content celebrating Sheffield — its history, its characters, its hidden corners — is already underway.
Every order is a vote for Sheffield’s independent digital future.
Your launch discount — a thank you to Sheffield Guide readers and customers
To mark the launch, we’re offering 10% off the Made in Sheffield collection at the Sheffield Forum Shop with code SHEFFIELD10 — valid until midnight, Sunday 26 April 2026.
This isn’t just for Sheffield Forum members. It’s for Sheffield Guide readers and customers too; every one of you who has ever read an article, bought a product, left a review, shared something, or simply passed through. This is our thank you.
One use per customer. Valid on Made in Sheffield products only. Not valid on gift cards.
Shop the Made in Sheffield collection →
What comes next
The Made in Sheffield collection is the first of many. Other Sheffield Guide ranges will move across to the Sheffield Forum Shop over the coming months — redesigned, refined and expanded as they go. The Sheffield Guide’s online ‘Sheffield Shop’ at sheffieldguide.blog/shop will remain open during this period; if a product you’re looking for isn’t yet on the Sheffield Forum Shop, you’ll find it there in the meantime.
Further down the line, exclusive REYT. Independent Sheffield Podcast merchandise will also be available from the shop. More on that when the time is right.
A note for Sheffield Guide shop customers
Your orders, your reviews and your relationship with us don’t change. If you have an outstanding order, it will be fulfilled as normal. If you have a question, we’re still here — same team, same commitment to getting it right.
Thank you
We mean this genuinely.
To everyone who has read a Sheffield Guide article over the years — thank you. To everyone who bought something from the shop, left a review, recommended us to a friend, shared something on social media, watched one of our videos, or simply passed by and found something useful — thank you.
The Sheffield Guide has always been a labour of love for this city. It still is. It’s just found a bigger home.
We hope to see you on Sheffield Forum.
![[SHF] Launches new Sheffield fashion collection](https://i0.wp.com/www.sheffieldguide.blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/SHF-Fashion-Collection-1.jpg?resize=100%2C100&ssl=1)
