Sheffield Audio Tour: Iconic Heart

Explore Sheffield at your own pace

Beneath Sheffield's grand City Hall pillars and tram-rattled High Street, secrets still swirl in the open air-where revolution, riot, and the rhythm of everyday life echo under watchful stone. This self-guided audio tour invites you into the untold heart of the city centre, leading you beyond postcard views to uncover legends and scandals lost beneath your feet.

Which bell signaled a deluge that once sent pigs scrambling down Barker's Pool? What act of rebellion reduced Victoria Hall's earliest chapel to ashes in a single night? Who refused for twenty stubborn years to let Sheffield widen its beloved High Street?

Step through buzzing squares and quiet arches, feeling history ripple beneath Yorkshire stone and concert hall domes. Each corner reveals drama, mystery, and moments that shaped Sheffield's spirit-and yours as you follow these curious footsteps.

Photo: BEN ELLIOTT, Unsplash

Tour details

Duration: 1 hour 9 minutes, entirely at your own paceDistance: around 2.3 km (1.4 miles)Stops: 15 landmarks, including Barker's Pool, High Street, Sheffield, Victoria Hall, SheffieldAudio: up to 38 minutes of narrationStarts at: Barker's Pool

Map data by Mapbox and OpenStreetMap contributors

How it works

Book here and a redemption code arrives by email within minutes.Download the free AudaTours app on your phone and enter the code.Download the tour once and the whole thing works offline.Walk to the first stop and press play. The audio for each landmark starts automatically as you approach it, so your phone can stay in your pocket.

There is no fixed date and no start time. The date you pick at checkout does not matter, and the tour stays on your phone permanently, so you can use it whenever you next visit and walk it again as often as you like.

What is included

Professionally narrated audio that plays automatically at each stopAn interactive map showing the walking route between landmarksFull offline access once downloaded, so you need no data or signalFreedom to start, pause and resume whenever you likeLifetime access - your code never expires

Where you will stop

Barker's PoolHigh Street, SheffieldVictoria Hall, SheffieldCathedral Church of St Marie, SheffieldCrucible TheatreTudor SquareSheffield Winter GardenMillennium GallerySheaf SquareShowroom Cinema, SheffieldNational Centre for Popular MusicThe LeadmillSite GalleryBBC Radio SheffieldSydney Works

Image: AudaTours

What is AudaTours?

AudaTours turns a walk through a city into a story. Our guides bring landmarks to life with the history, the scandals and the detail you would never get from a plaque.

Immersive: real stories about the places in front of you, not a dry commentaryOffline: download once and use it with no data, anywhereAt your own pace: start, pause and resume whenever you wantAccurate: every story is built from verified historical sources and checked before release

Good to know

This is a self-guided audio tour on your own phone. There is no in-person guide.It does not include entry to any building or site along the route.The landmarks on the tour are not affiliated with AudaTours.You need a smartphone with Android 7.0 or later, or iOS 16 or later.Bring headphones and start with a charged phone.

Who it suits

Solo travellers, couples, families and small groups who would rather explore on their own schedule than follow a guide and a fixed departure time. It suits a first visit, and it suits anyone who has already seen the famous sights and wants to know what actually happened in them.

Image credits

Photos: PookieFugglestein (Wikimedia Commons, public domain); BEN ELLIOTT, Harrison Qi (Unsplash).