The Friends of the Old Town Hall (FOTH) say that the dilapidated state of the former council and courts building on Waingate could endanger Sheffield City Council’s regeneration plans
Author: Julia Armstrong, Local Democracy Reporting ServicePublished 18 hours ago
Campaigners to save a historic Sheffield city centre listed building are calling on the council to intervene as the landmark is going up for sale again.
The Friends of the Old Town Hall (FOTH) say that the dilapidated state of the former council and courts building on Waingate could endanger Sheffield City Council’s regeneration plans for the Castlegate area if it is not dealt with.
The building was today (October 14) also added to an updated City Centre Conservation Area by the council’s planning and highways committee. Any legal protection given to it by this decision comes into immediate effect.
A for sale sign was spotted on the building at the weekend and estate agents Mark Jenkinson have confirmed to FOTH that it is set to form part of the company’s online auction sale taking place on November 26. No details have appeared so far on the company’s website.
FOTH chair Valerie Bayliss is calling on the council to step in and bring together all interested parties to see what could be done to save the building, which she estimates could now take up to £30m to repair and restore.
The grade II-listed building dates back to 1808 but it has been empty for decades despite various plans to restore and reuse it in recent years by a series of buyers.
The building, which also housed a police station for a time, has remained empty since November 1995, when the city courts moved to West Bar.
The FOTH website says: “It’s where the bodies of the five men shot dead by the yeomanry at a political demonstration in 1832 were laid.
“It’s where victims of the Sheffield Flood in 1864 came for support, where Charlie Peace was arraigned for murder in 1878, where a lot of relief following the Sheffield Blitz in 1940 was organised, where trials of striking miners in connection with the coal strike of 1984 spectacularly collapsed.”
Valerie Bayliss said that it is unsatisfactory that such a key part of city heritage is “in a mess” as it has been left empty for so long. “It’s been through four owners in that time, nobody’s done anything with it,” she added.
FOTH is a member of the Castlegate Partnership, which is cooperating with the council on major regeneration plans for that area, which is the birthplace of the city.
A new park set to open in 2026 will celebrate the city’s origins at the confluence of the Rivers Sheaf and Don in the Sheaf Field. As well as opening up culverted parts of the Sheaf, the park will showcase the ruins of Sheffield Castle which have undergone their most extensive investigation ever by archaeologists.
Other developments include Harmony Works music education and performance centre on Commercial Street and the conversion by S1 Artspace of the former Yorkshire Bank chambers on the corner of Commercial Street and Haymarket into an art gallery, artist’s studios and events space.
Valerie said that OTH and the partnership have been telling the council for 10 years that they have had professional advice to say that failing to restore the Old Town Hall will create a major barrier to attracting business investment to the Castlegate area. This is because of the building’s state and the fact that it attracts vandalism.
She said: “The cost could be enormous, a lot more than the £15m we were told in 2018 – it could well be double, especially as the cost of building work has increased a lot since then.
“We’re not naive, we know it’s not realistic for the council to purchase it and try to restore it. Their leadership role in the city means that they’re the only organisation that can get commercial and heritage interests together to put a plan together.”
Valerie said that she has heard the council is trying to contact owner Gunes Ata about the building. The property developer bought it for £600,000 in December 2021 and put it in the name of a company called The Court House Apartments (Sheffield) Ltd.
She said that information filed with Companies House shows that the developer took out two loans against the building earlier this year. However, he now appears to be moving on.
Plans by a previous owner, city businessman Efekoro Omu, included creating 12 serviced apartments, a ‘pod hotel’ in the old court cells and a Middle Eastern souk-style market on the ground floor. However, the businesss ran into trouble during the Covid lockdowns and Mr Omu was forced to sell up.
Valerie said that FOTH was working on a plan in 2018 that would have seen the building restored over 10 years. That included the council agreeing to its compulsory purchase if FOTH met certain conditions.
That all fell apart when Mr Omu unexpectedly bought the building.
“It continues to be an unholy mess really,”said Valerie. “Something’s got to be done, it really has.
“The Friends have fought really long and hard about this. It really is only right that the council gets a grip on the situation.”
Coun Janet Ridler commented: “As Sheffield City Council Heritage Champion, I welcome the news that the current owner of the Old Town Hall has put the building on to the market for sale at auction later this year.
“This represents an exciting opportunity for the right buyer to restore and bring back into use this unique and important grade II-listed building, which from today sits within the newly-designated City Centre Conservation Area.
“I look forward to the Old Town Hall fulfilling its potential as a cornerstone of a regenerated Castlegate.”