Investigation launched after historic city pub demolished in error

Sheffield City Council has admitted a pub building dating from 1797 was knocked down, despite a promise to campaigners to pause work.

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

The council initially said the pub had collapsed due to its fragile state, but has now revealed contractors were told in “error” to resume demolition operations.

Councillor Miskell, chair of the council’s Transport, Regeneration and Climate Committee, said: “The demolition of the Market Tavern wasn’t a decision we took lightly, however, given the condition of the building I am advised we were left with no choice.

“As an organisation transparency is vital to us and we are sharing this update with our residents and stakeholders as soon as it has come to light.

“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.”

The pub, which was one of the city’s oldest, shut its doors in 2006 and had fallen into a derelict state. Last December, Sheffield City Council said demolition would need to take place on the building after it was assessed as being unsafe.

While work was being carried out to remove asbestos from the building it was discovered its chimneys were structurally unstable making access to the neighbouring Mudford Building unsafe.

While taking down the chimneys a further assessment of the former pub was carried out by council Building Control and the whole building was deemed unsafe so requiring full demolition.

On 9 January a meeting was held, involving members of Sheffield City Council and heritage groups, including Hallamshire Historic Building Society (HHBS), to discuss plans for demolition.

At the meeting a request that a second opinion be considered before the building could be demolished was made by HHBS.

As a result, it was agreed demolition work would be halted until noon on Wednesday 10 January to facilitate this.

A council spokesman said: “Our initial belief was that the top turret on the building had collapsed under its own weight on the morning of 10 January.

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

“As a result of this order, our understanding is the turrets fell because of the recommenced demolition works.”