Sheffield Old Town Hall partial roof collapse. Photo from drone video by CAV Aerial.
A photo posted on social media, and drone footage commissioned by the Victorian Society, confirm that part of the Old Town Hall roof in Sheffield has collapsed. The Grade II building has been empty since 1995 and is in private ownership. The Town Hall appeared on the Society’s very first Top Ten Endangered Buildings list in 2007. The collapse has affected the courtroom which was added in 1866 to accommodate growing demands at the time for civic and judicial functions in the city.
Valerie Bayliss, the former chair of the Victorian Society’s South Yorkshire regional group, set up the Friends of the Old Town Hall in 2014, and has tirelessly led the campaign calling for action from the building’s owner, and Sheffield City Council, for 12 years. The building was put up for auction in October 2025, but bidding did not meet the reserve, so a new owner was not found.
In April there were reports of young people climbing into the building, which is of great concern with part of the roof having, at some point collapsed.
The Chair of the South Yorkshire Regional Group of the Victorian Society Nigel Slack, and Valerie Baylis, FOTH Sheffield, have been urgently speaking with the Council about developments. The Council’s buildings regulations team have now inspected the exterior of the Old Town Hall and have confirmed there is no immediate public safety issue, and no apparent damage to either the facade or the clock tower.
The city’s heritage champion is calling for legal action so that the council can gain entry to assess the situation inside the building. The Society and the FOTH have long maintained that the council need to enforce repairs, and take action up to, and including, compulsory purchase.
Nigel Slack, chair of the South Yorkshire Group of the Victorian Society, said:
“This has been a long history of neglect by multiple private owners and indifference by local politicians and council officers trying to avoid being caught up in an expensive rescue. This has, however, only led to more physical problems for the building and therefore greater expense likely to be incurred to remedy the issues. This vicious circle needs to be broken and a serious rescue plan to preserve this historic part of Sheffield’s civic and legal heritage for future generations with sustainable new uses through a partnership with Council and the heritage sector. A key part of the regeneration plans for the Sheffield Castle site is to bring together a consortium of organisations to make this happen. The Friends of the Old Town Hall are up to the task, as they proved 10 years ago but the ownership is the problem and, now, the cost of doing something has more than doubled but the cost of doing nothing would be the loss of one of the city’s most iconic historic buildings.”
Valerie Baylis, from FOTH Sheffield, said: “We want to know: did the Council know about the roof collapse? If so, when did they learn of it, and how long is it since the collapse happened? What do the Council plan to do to make sure that repairs are done and done very soon? How far has it got with the plans we know the Council had, a year ago, for getting into the Old Town Hall to assess its condition and cost up urgent repairs, with a view to a legal notice telling the owner to sort the place out? And what plans do they have now for getting in touch with the owner to find out what he knows about the fresh damage and what if anything he plans to do about it. This case really is a touchstone for the City Council’s commitment to heritage. It’s only a couple of years since the Council adopted the Heritage Strategy for Sheffield produced by Joined Up Heritage. If they can’t get their act together on the Old Town Hall, that starts to look like no more than a PR exercise.”
Read more about the Old Town Hall on the Victorian Society’s Top Ten Endangered Buildings list here.
Sheffield Old Town Hall partial roof collapse. Photo from drone video by CAV Aerial.
