Tell us your Favourite Things about Wakefield
We think Wakefield is a great place to live, to work, or to visit
Well, we would say that, wouldn’t we? But it’s not just us: we often show people around our city – local residents and coach parties from other towns and cities – and they always go away impressed!
We’re not saying Wakefield is perfect or that everything in the garden is rosy. We know it has problems – and Wakefield is far from unique in that respect – but we do think there’s a lot to be positive about. With this project, we hope to get people talking about what they like most about Wakefield.
Wakefield Civic Society is a registered charity (registration number 236034) set up in 1964 and run by a committee of dedicated volunteers. One of our charitable aims is to ‘stimulate public interest in and care for the beauty, history and character of the city and its surroundings’ – and what better way to do that than to create a collection of the very things that make Wakefield such a great place?
Let’s celebrate what Wakefield has to offer!
If you’re fed up with reading negative opinions about your home city, or people talking the city down, why not help us to set the record straight? Help us shout out about what makes Wakefield a great place in which to live – the things that make you proud of Yorkshire’s third oldest city (*). Help us to create ‘The Story of Wakefield’ – the story we will tell others when we want to talk about Wakefield’s many qualities.
Between now and the end of June, we’re asking anyone who lives here, or who has a connection with the city past or present, to tell us five of their favourite things about the city of Wakefield. Our plan is to compile a list of the top 50 objects nominated by the people of Wakefield and to use the list to let others know what Wakefield has to celebrate.
(*) York is the county’s oldest city, of course, then came Ripon (gaining city status in 1865) and then Wakefield (which was made a city in 1888).
What we’re looking for
We’re asking people to nominate five of their favourite things (objects) about Wakefield.
Nominations can be for more or less anything, past or present, that shows the city in a good light. They can be artefacts, cultural motifs, things (including stories) with emotional connections, famous sons and daughters (past and present), landmarks, buildings (still standing or long-demolished), etc. – even anecdotes and local mythology are acceptable. You could nominate your favourite paintings, sculptures, monuments and statues, or museum objects – there really is no limit to what you can include so long as your nominations are connected to Wakefield in some way and help to show the very best of our city.
Items put forward can be culturally, historically, or physically significant, or just everyday, incidental items that add to Wakefield’s sense of character.
In other words, what do you like about Wakefield? If you were showing a visitor around the city, what would you most want to show them? If you were encouraging a new business to set up in Wakefield, what would you point out to them that would impress them most and make them want to come to Wakefield? And if you were telling people about Wakefield’s history, what are the stories you would be sure to include?
How to submit your nominations
The quickest way to submit your nominations is to complete this form. Your nomination will be logged immediately. You’ll be asked to submit five nominations to complete the process. Should you wish to make more nominations, you can do – but must enter them in groups of five each time.
You can, of course, submit your nominations by post – write them out and post them to us at this address:
Wakefield Civic Society,
PO Box 380, Room 3, Town Hall, Wood Street, Wakefield, WF1 3WT
Nominations should reach us by 5pm on Tuesday, 30th June 2026.
When you submit your nominations, please tell us whether you are happy for us to attribute them to you using your full name or just your initials or if you would prefer to remain anonymous. We will respect your wishes in any of our publications and presentations that refer to the nominations.
What happens next
We will sift through the list of nominations submitted with a view to arriving at the 50 objects that best tell ‘The story of Wakefield’. We will appoint a panel to oversee this process and, if the number of nominations demands it, we may organise a public vote on a shortlist before settling on the final 50.
We will announce the ’50 Objects’ at a special event to be held at Wakefield Exchange on the evening of 16th September 2026 as part of Heritage Open Days.
Ideas to get you started
We want to capture as many nominations as possible – and when you start to think about the best of Wakefield, it’s actually quite surprising how much there is to like.
We’ve asked a number of people from the Society’s committee and others who have a connection with the Society to start the ball rolling. On the next few pages, you’ll see what they have come up with. There’s lots more out there though!
Can you help us to expand this list by nominating your favourite things? Try to include things in your nominations that avoid duplicating what is already on our list – we want to gather as many different things as possible at this stage. (This list is also on our website – we’ll be adding to it from time to time as nominations come in.)
Our Conversation Starter list – 62 ideas to get you thinking!
| 1. 99 Arches (Ninety-nine Arches/ Wakefield Viaduct) | 32. St. John’s Allotment Site |
| 2. 110 Bus (Leeds/Wakefield) | 33. St. John’s Square |
| 3. Alverthorpe Meadows & Wrenthorpe Park | 34. Shadow Man |
| 4. Bill Nelson | 35. Stanley Ferry |
| 5. Books about Wakefield’s history | 36. Stanley Royd Hospital |
| 6. Boots canopy (as a meeting place) | 37. The Ark (fairground ride), Wakefield Market |
| 7. Bretton Hall | 38. The Black Rock pub |
| 8. Bus Station Clock Tower (1952, since demolished) | 39. The Cribbs |
| 9. Cannon Ball Hill (also known as Lowe Hill) | 40. The Hepworth Wakefield Garden |
| 10. Card Factory | 41. The King’s Arms, Heath |
| 11. Chantry Chapel | 42. The New York Bar |
| 12. Coal | 43. The Old Court House |
| 13. County Hall | 44. The Ridings original glass lift |
| 14. Double TWO Shirts | 45. The Ridings Shopping Centre |
| 15. Flockton Water Tower | 46. The Riverside |
| 16. Harrison’s Chronometer | 47. The Wakefield Arms |
| 17. Jane McDonald | 48. The Wakefield Mystery Plays |
| 18. Kevin Trickett MBE | 49. Theatre Royal Wakefield |
| 19. Local Cricket Clubs | 50. Thornes Park |
| 20. Mecca Ballroom (Locarno) | 51. Unity House |
| 21. Mulberry Bush | 52. Wakefield Cathedral |
| 22. National Coal Mining Museum for England | 53. Wakefield Civic Society |
| 23. Newmillerdam | 54. Wakefield Civic Society publications |
| 24. Newmillerdam (Old Eddie and Little Kit) | 55. Wakefield Civic Society lapel badge |
| 25. Noel Gay | 56. Wakefield Hospice |
| 26. North of England Tulip Society / Tulips | 57. Wakefield Peregrines Project |
| 27. Nostell Priory | 58. Wakefield Theatre Club |
| 28. Outwood Grange | 59. Westgate Run |
| 29. Pugneys Lake | 60. West Yorkshire Police Building, 8 Bond Street |
| 30. Queen Victoria Statue, Castrop-Rauxel Square | 61. Woolley Hall |
| 31. Rhubarb | 62. Yorkshire Sculpture Park |
If you’d like to read why they chose these as some of their favourite things, have a read of our ‘Conversation Starter’ to help get you thinking. You can download it here.
This project is inspired by others that have been run elsewhere, including ‘The Story of Splott in 50 Objects’, run by Grow Social Capital in Splott, Cardiff. This was a project that not only produced a list of positives about Splott but also generated responses on the significant benefits of the project itself – including creating ‘identity’, ‘dignity’, ‘anchoring’, ‘memory’, ‘belonging’, ‘social cohesion’, ‘your position in the world’, ‘neighbourliness’, ‘mental well-being’, ‘family connections’.
A national project ‘The Story of England in 2026 in 50 Objects’, also run by Grow Social Capital, is now running.