PR, Content and Communications Strategy for organisations that want to make an impact
PR, Content and Communications Strategy for organisations that want to make an impact
Steel City Survivors
Steel City Survivors
Stories of resilience. For Sheffield. For Roundabout.
Sheffield’s industrial decline could have been the end of its story. Instead, the city found new things to make: music, films, art, sporting champions, businesses and ideas.
In Steel City Survivors, author and social historian Neil Anderson brings together first-hand interviews with the people who helped shape that transformation, including Richard Hawley, Pete McKee, Nick Banks, Johnny Nelson and Kevin McCabe.
Privately funded by Sheffield businessman David Slater, the book brings storytelling, civic identity and charitable purpose together. Profits from the book are supporting Roundabout charity and its work with young people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.
Pre-order the signed Collector’s Edition
An exclusive cover. A signed edition. A print run limited to 1,000 copies.
£34.95. Launching Thursday 29 October 2026.
Buy the Collector’s Edition — £34.95
Pre-order securely at Dirty Stop Outs.
What This Project Is
‘Steel City Survivors’ is not a nostalgia project.
It is an exploration of resilience, loyalty and long-term impact in a city that has repeatedly reinvented itself.
Each conversation examines defining decisions, turning points and moments of doubt that shaped lives and careers — often outside orthodox career paths, and often against expectation.
Largely coming of age during the turbulent 1980s and early 1990s, this generation chose to build their futures in Sheffield rather than leave it. Their stories will now help fund opportunity for the next generation.
Project leadership
Steel City Survivors is led by author and social historian Neil Anderson, working with project patron David Slater.
Neil’s in-depth interviews bring together the personal stories behind Sheffield’s cultural, sporting and business life. The resulting book connects the city’s past with practical support for its next generation, through Roundabout.
Charity partnership
Profits from the book are supporting Roundabout charity
Roundabout helps young people in South Yorkshire who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.
The book celebrates the people who helped Sheffield find a new way forward. Its charitable purpose helps a new generation do the same.