The real story behind Sheffield city centre’s ‘hidden’ underground fish tank in giant ‘Hole in the Road’

It’s one of Sheffield’s most famous – and most missed – landmarks. The “hole in the road” came about after Castle Square was hit by a bomb in World War II and was later turned into an underground shopping center.

Underground shoppers could find a shoe repair shop, a tobacconist and a sandwich shop, however there was something more unique down there – the city’s own underground fish tank.

Dubbed ‘oyle in’t road’ by locals, the underground attraction is fondly remembered three decades on since it was completed in 1994. But how did it come to be? Why was there an aquarium? And what is now in place of Hole in the Road?

Read more: The hidden seaside community that is a ‘magnet’ for the people of Yorkshire

Hole in the Road was the first attraction of its kind in Yorkshire and featured branches of underpasses located beneath an open motorized roundabout in Castle Square. The underground network of walkways was built around Castle Square and from above it looked exactly as the name suggests – a hole in the middle of the road.

After much of Sheffield’s city center was destroyed in the 1940s by heavy bombing during the Second World War, there were many plans for how that area of ​​the city would begin to rebuild.

The council focused on roads due to the increased number of cars in the center and by 1967 much of the area had been cleared to make way for the new Arundel Gate dual carriageway and thence the Hole In. The road began its life. The new junction would filter traffic to and from High Street, Angel Street and Commercial Street.

Get all the latest and breaking Sheffield news straight to your inbox Sign up for our newsletter here.

Underground malls are typical in Japan’s big cities and this is where the inspiration for Hole In The Road was created. The ambitious plan worked, and two decades later, the famous landmark was opened to the public in 1967.

Underpasses were designed as a way for pedestrians to navigate on foot and escalators were also installed for easy access to the lower level where you could find a multitude of shops there from GT News to Thornton’s Chocolates and a tobacco. There was also a shoeshine station and what many call “stinky toilets”.

However, the one thing people seem to remember most about Hole in the Road is its giant aquarium. The huge tank is said to have acted as a meeting point for dates before the invention of mobile phones, and children could often be seen asking their parents to stop and let them look at the colorful fish swimming around.

Some say it was often used as a bribe for young children – “If you behave yourself while shopping, we can go see the fish”, while on a Friday and Saturday night, men could be seen standing near the tank , nervously waiting to see if their date would show up.

One shopper, who used to visit the attraction regularly as a child, recalls that “there would always be a contractor hawking his wares” near the reservoir. She added: “The main ones I remember are a guy selling ‘three for a pound’ lighters and he said a little rhyme: ‘three for a pound and lighters. Three for a pound, come on!”

When the closure was announced, there were concerns about where the carp, goldfish and bream that had made their home in the 2,000 gallons of water would live. Some recall a failed campaign to relocate the aquarium at Ponds Forge. However, it was later discovered that the fish keeper had taken some home and released the rest into the wild at his favorite spots in Sheffield.

By the late eighties, Hole In The Road had lost much of its appeal, riddled with graffiti, vandalism and crime, causing people to use it less often. Noted Sheffielder and Rockstar Jarvis Cocker of Pulp once told World of Interiors magazine that: “The Hole in the Road also had a reputation for late-night violence, which made it a scary place to to walk home in the early hours”.

Rumors began to surface that the landmark would be completed. This became a reality in 1991 when an Act of Parliament approved plans for the Supertram network.

The hole’s fate was set in stone once parliament voted yes to the new tram network, with plans for the tracks to be laid right where the Hole in the Road once stood. Debris from the recently demolished Hyde Park and Kelvin Flats was used to fill the hole in 1994.

Fast forward to 2024 and there is almost no trace of the Hole in the Road left, and many who have since moved to the city know little – or in most cases nothing – of its existence. The site now houses Castle Square tram station, with the location probably better known to locals due to its proximity to the Bankers Draft Wetherspoons pub.

While the hole has long since been filled, many questions remain as to what happened to the tunnels that ran underground. You could once access the hole from the basement tunnels in some of the surrounding shops. There are rumors around the urban exploration community that there are still tunnels that lead to nowhere that have remained untouched for decades.

Do you like this story? Sign up to our Explore Yorkshire newsletter where we feature the best locations and destinations in Yorkshire, as well as selected offers and competitions. Register here.