Row over historic city centre pub's collapse

Campaigners say the building had "withstood gales" a few weeks ago and cast doubt on the council's insistence it had fallen down "spontaneously"

Campaigners have been left shocked after one of Sheffield’s oldest pubs collapsed, just hours after they were promised its demolition would stop.

The derelict Market Tavern, in the city centre, dates back to 1797 but the building's condition had recently deteriorated, the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) said.

Campaign group Hallamshire Historic Buildings (HHB) was told by Sheffield Council the historic inn "spontaneously" fell down by itself, just hours after the authority agreed to pause its planned demolition.

The council said it would try to retain "as much heritage value" as possible from the site.

The condition of the council-owned property, which was empty, had deteriorated since its closure as an inn in 2006.

The council had announced its intention to knock it down shortly before Christmas after the building was deemed unsafe.

The council had originally announced its intention to knock down the historic pub before Christmas

That sparked protests from HHB, who told the LDRS it had negotiated a brief hours-long pause on demolition when it was scheduled for 10 January.

The group said it secured support from heritage charity SAVE, who offered the council a "fully-funded immediate assessment" of the building by a structural engineer, which it claimed was accepted.

A spokesperson for the group said: "However, the following morning demolition recommenced and within an hour of the HHB being informed, the entire top section of the building had gone.

“The building withstood gales a few weeks ago yet we are being asked to believe that just as a potential lifeline for the building was found, it spontaneously began to fall down by itself."

A council spokesperson confirmed that demolition work had been halted after a meeting on January 9 with heritage groups.

But it said that the next day the pub's old turret structure had fallen back into the building, due to its fragility.

The spokesperson added: "A meeting has been held with members of the Castlegate Area Regeneration Board, composed of different stakeholders in the area, who have been given all the information regarding the state of the building and have jointly agreed that the best course of action would regrettably be to continue with the demolition.”

The council said it would try and retain “as much heritage value” as possible from the demolition for potential use within the wider regeneration of Castlegate.

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