We share here another loss of a heritage asset in Sheffield City Centre close to the historic origin of the city, the recently uncovered Medieval Castle.
This building was already a cause for concern, along with the Mudford Building next door, as a potential thorn in the site of a development plan for the area. Demolition was scheduled for the 10th January but heritage organisations were trying to save it. Now Then reveals the latest on the story here:
“Shocking video footage obtained by Now Then (Magazine) suggests that claims made over the past few weeks by Sheffield City Council (SCC) about the “collapse” of a historic pub in the Castlegate area of the city centre were untrue.
Before Christmas, SCC announced that they would need to demolish the Market Tavern on Exchange Street as it had deteriorated beyond repair. But local heritage campaigners secured a temporary reprieve for the building until midday on 10 January, while they sought fee-free advice from a national heritage organisation.
Up until now, SCC have claimed that, despite council officers being made aware of an offer of help from SAVE Britain’s Heritage at 11:30 that morning, the turret structure at the front of the building spontaneously collapsed at some point on 10 January, and demolition work was then needed to make the area safe.
But this was not true.” [Sam Gregory – Now Then Magazine – 6th February 2024]
What exactly happened is now the subject of an internal investigation by the City Council but the outcome can never replace the loss of such an important building in the area and we are now working to ensure practices can be put in place by the relevant decision makers to ensure such ‘errors’ never happen again. There will be a fuller story in the South Yorkshire April Newsletter.