'Toxic Tinsley' is really nice - if you look past the air pollution

The village hugs Junction 34 of the M1 and is surrounded by industry - Tinsley Cooling Towers once towered over the streets - and is famous for its filthy air.

It’s so bad Tinsley Nursery and Infants on Siemens Close closed in 2014 and was moved further from the motorway. But even its replacement, Tinsley Meadows, is among Sheffield’s top 10 most polluted primaries.

That permanent 60mph restriction on the M1 ‘For Air Quality’ is a sign you’re passing through Tinsley.

It’s pretty noisy too, suffers terrible congestion and is a ‘forgotten’ outpost on the Rotherham side of the motorway.

Yet the residents are approachable, happy to chat and generous with their time.

NEWS: Queer and feminist bookshop to boost footfall on once bustling street

Tinsley is transformed from when kids would leave Park House School on Bawtry Road (now demolished) one day and start at British Steel or Tinsley Wire on Shepcote Lane the next.

But the community spirit has survived.

Chip shop owner Nasar Ahmed, aged 52, said: “I have lived here all my life. It’s a very settled community, people are really nice. Those are the important things.”

He developed asthma in his 20s and has had a cough since May, he added.

“We are resigned to it round here.”

NEWS: City's top 10 polluted primaries revealed

His white colleague, who asked not to be named, backs him up.

“From outside people see Tinsley in a different way. But I would like to live here.”

Looking after her parents keeps her in Killamarsh, she added.

Shaffaq Mohammed, a Lib Dem councillor for Ecclesall Ward, lives in Tinsley and recalls how the Pakistani boys - whose grandparents had come over to work in the steel industry - would play football and cricket on the motorway roundabout to avoid the Boot Boys in the park.

Today, Tinsley Mosque, on Sheffield Road, is a longstanding feature of the community and set to welcome 1,000 for a procession to mark the Prophet Muhammad’s birthday on October 18, Coun Mohammed said.

He added: “It’s not the richest area but it is generous and has raised thousands for charity.”

Tinsley Green, has a Green Flag as one of the best parks in the city. And Tinsley Forum community centre on Bawtry Road is going strong. The library reopened in it last week.

NEWS: Rogue landlord prosecuted again

England goalie Gordon Banks grew up in Tinsley and Gul Nawaz Hussain - the first Sheffield barrister to be appointed Queen’s Counsel in more than 15 years - still lives there.

But steelworker Mark Luxon, aged 58, moved out in 1990.

He remembers sitting on the M1 slip road in the 1970s waving at football coaches coming in for big matches.

He still visits and has a nostalgia for the place he grew up in - but criticism too.

“Everyone you talk to says what a hole it is. It wasn’t when I was growing up. It was a place where everyone knew everyone and it was a community.”

All three pubs and the working mens’ club have closed, the Pike and Heron at the shopping centre on Bawtry Road has been shut for at least 15 years.

“I live in Brinsworth as do most of the people who lived in Tinsley.”

NEWS: Is Abbeydale Road's golden era ending?

​​​​​​​To continue holding the powerful to account and giving people a voice, The Star needs you to subscribe, please