Photo:  Chard

I wrote an article in 2011 about Sheffield’s Old Town Hall, highlighting the virtual invisibility of a major public building in the middle of a busy city centre: https://www.mikehigginbottominterestingtimes.co.uk/?p=1285.

Since then, in November 2014, a Friends of the Old Town Hall group has been formed to ginger up support for this splendid, inexorably decaying building, opened in 1809 as a combined town hall and court house, and disused since 1996 when the courts moved to a new building on West Bar.

The original owners, the Sheffield Town Trust, sold it in 2000, and the developer, G1 London Properties Ltd, that bought it in 2004 has since then apparently done nothing to the building.

The Friends point out that the Old Town Hall is only the largest and most splendid of a group of buildings at the heart of the old town-centre.

As a support group the Friends face an uphill task – first, to conceive positive proposals to restore the building; second, to get the owners to respond to their repeated approaches.

Their enthusiasm is bolstered by positive support from Sheffield City Council, which is beginning the comprehensive redevelopment of the adjacent Castlegate area.

The Friends’ growing body of individual members is open to anyone who would like to offer support. There is no subscription, and everyone on the mailing list receives a regular newsletter. The website is at https://friendsofothsheffield.wordpress.com.

Demolished Sheffield illustrates some of the Sheffield buildings that have been demolished since the mid-1970s, alongside others that remain but face an uncertain future.

Sheffield’s historic buildings have been retained or rescued in times past by citizens alert to their value, but much has been lost, and some of it is regretted.

Mike Higginbottom’s text draws attention to some of the reasons why much-loved landmarks bite the dust, and queries whether some of them could have had a future.

In particular, the book gives examples of surviving buildings that fall beneath the radar of listing and conservation-area status but can make an important contribution to the townscape and to community well-being.

Demolished Sheffield has 112 A4 pages in full colour and features twenty-seven sites across the city, and one in the Borough of Rotherham. 

For details please click here.

To purchase, please click here, or send a cheque for £20.00 per copy payable to Mike Higginbottom at 63 Vivian Road, Sheffield, S5 6WJ.

Contact:  0114-242-0951 or 07946-650672 or mike@mikehigginbottominterestingtimes.co.uk