The School Room

The School Room is a rock climbing training facility in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England.[1] The facility was originally built in 1993 by Gavin Ellis, Ben Tye and Andy Coish,[1] as conditions at Peak District Limestone venues (at which they trained) were not always ideal.[2] The facility was made famous by its reputation for its extremely difficult problems. Many notable international rock climbers were trained at The School Room, including Ben Moon,[1] Malcolm Smith, Jerry Moffatt and Richard Simpson.

The School Room received its name from the fact that its original location, in the Heeley Bank School community centre, formed a portion of an old school building. Another portion of the building was used for an art studio.[2] The facility consisted of four plywood climbing walls, which are covered with wooden and plastic holds, at angles of between 15 and 52 degrees.[2]

In 2006, the School Room was under threat of closure and Sheffield City Council had asked all users of the centre to vacate the premises . [3] Despite a successful petition was established to save the facility,[3] the original School Room closed in 2006, but was reopened with the same walls in a different warehouse space in 2014 by Moon.[4]