Council admits pub was demolished in error

A public house has existed on the site since 1797

A historic pub in Sheffield was demolished despite a promise to campaigners to pause work, the city council has admitted.

The Market Tavern was due to be knocked down in January, but the council agreed a temporary halt with the campaign groups hoping to save it.

The council initially said it had collapsed due to its fragility, but has now confirmed contractors were told in "error" to resume demolition work.

The authority apologised for previously giving inaccurate information and said it had launched an investigation.

The pub, which was one of the city's oldest, closed in 2006 and has been deteriorating since then.

Work to remove asbestos from the site last year resulted in the council finding its chimneys were structurally unstable, prompting the initial decision to tear the building down.

Hallamshire Historic Buildings and heritage charity SAVE fought against the proposal, with the latter offering to fund a new structural assessment.

The council agreed on 9 January to pause the demolition until at least midday the following day at a meeting with the groups.

Sheffield City Council apologised for having failed to give the correct information

A council spokesperson said the initial belief was that the top turret on the building collapsed under its own weight on 10 January.

“New information has since come to light which shows the demolition company were instructed in error at 11:53 GMT to continue with demolition," they added.

Sheffield-based magazine Now Then obtained footage showing the top turret was still in place at 12:44 GMT on 10 January, contradicting the council's initial statement.

The publication said they had spoken to an eyewitness who said they saw the building’s turret structure being knocked down later by the demolition crew.

Ben Miskell, chair of Sheffield's transport, regeneration and climate committee said the decision to demolish the pub had not been "taken lightly".

"Throughout the process I have been keen that partners are kept fully informed.

"I am disappointed that this does not appear to have been the case and people have been provided with inaccurate information.

"We will be writing to partners to apologise and will be launching an internal investigation to understand exactly what went wrong."