Jump to content

Old Town Hall


duckweed

Recommended Posts

There will be an interview on BBC Radio Sheffield at 11 a.m with CADO, the National organisation who are backing us. We have been approached by Look North and Calendar and the Star but we need you too. Please spread the word as many people in Sheffield don't even know it's there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What doesn't help this grand building is the bus stops on two sides, grafitti, litter, bottles and cans are everywhere. I'm sure that the stops could be moved into the Wicker.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We have had bus and tram stops outside the Court House for donkeys years.The difference is we once had a population which was taught not to litter and those that did were chastised by folk . Nowadays, that would be asking for a thick lip or a mouthful of abuse.

Bus stops are for the convenience of people using public transport and are placed at convenient spots. To ask someone of my age, with my list of infirmities, and with two heavy shopping bags to yomp down the Wicker would be too much. The current state of the building has more to do with capitalist property developers and rather less to do with external appearances!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There has been a general run down of the area. The Council has had various development schemes since I first saw Sheffield 26 years ago and probably before that. Most probably the present owners not knowing the property market in Sheffield and assuming development moved fast like London and so did values thought all they had to do was sit on it till the development was well on its way and they would be able to sell at a huge profit. Land values in Sheffield don't rise that fast and the cost of repairing and refitting the Old Town Hall would be taken into account by any prospective buyer especially now actual damage has occurred.

On the plus side if we could change ownership the building has a lot of potential and would be central to a possible conservation area and more emphasis on Sheffield's heritage. It is sad when you see what a lively place Castlegate once was When the big department stores started closing it in the area it meant the footfall for the rest of the shops and the market fell too. So we have to look not only at the Old Town Hall but the whole area especially as there will be Castle Park and a green corridor coming through the area. I know a lot of people are unhappy about the market going but it was barely surviving in a building which was too big and expensive to run and crumbling. Looking at present suggestions for Castlegate they are not outlandish and really could create a place that everybody likes but it aint going to be easy and we need as much help and support as we can get.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There was already several High class department stores that left the area plus the Castle Coop closing. That is what brought the area down. Changes in retailing meant that C&A moved BHS Cockaynes, House of Fraser, even Woolworths so can't blame Council for that. Actually the footfall for new market is same as was in old Market. It hasn't improved as much as they hoped but hasn't slumped. I also used the old market a lot but always feel uneasy when I am in the area. At present it is very threatening. I also didn't feel happy about the hygiene in the food market due to cracked tiles and crumbling concrete. You can't turn back the clock. Markets all over the country are struggling due to online ordering and delivery and supermarkets that open for much longer hours and on Sundays. In Leeds they are trialling online click and collect for their market.

It is not difficult to know the condition of the Old Town Hall there are Urban photographers in there about once a fortnight and there are 8 Youtube Videos and around 500 photos posted online. Damage seems to be limited to one small area due to water damage possibly roof leaking. I know Jessop is a sore point but Sheffield University actually have restored and own a large number of listed buildings. Including at least 2 churches and several Georgian Houses.

The Friends of the Old Town Hall have formed to stop the further deterioration. It is not going to be easy and it is going to cost a lot of money but if we don't try then certainly it will fall down. Personally I am sick of beautiful buildings in Sheffield being left to rot and many people accepting that. If more of us demonstrated that we cared we would stand more chance of getting funding to fix these buildings. The Arts Council cut funding to Sheffield because it said we didn't care. We do care. We just don't shout about it. And while we are being polite or sitting depressed about the good old days the developers are being allowed to knock down our heritage.

I decided when I reached my 60th Birthday that I had had enough and I started Timewalk project. The interest in visiting heritage sites has grown astronomically since people started being aware what there is to see. I was told by one person that she felt like a tourist in her own town. On Timewalk website we have listed so far around 850 heritage buildings and sites and we haven't finished by a long chalk. There is literally heritage round every corner of Sheffield and most of it is not only of local importance but of international importance. Where would the world be without stainless steel? It needs saving. It is good old fashioned hard earned heritage. Not large stately homes built on the proceeds of Slavery. If we don't stand up for it who will?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

andy 1702....How could you possibly think like that? Ah, but then I remember the fate of...the Brushes and Bishops House( the one on Southey Green) :blink:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It has to stop some time. There is also Norwood Hall in that area that had a similar fate. And then there was Lees Hall. There is a long list. But if you dwell on that you definitely will get depressed. There is also however a lot more early buildings in Sheffield than are on the EH listing for instance. When you start looking at what is still around you end up feeling there are buildings worth fighting for. It is a war. Ask Friends of Wincobank or Meersbrook Hall or Walkley and they will agree. Can't win the whole war in one go. Have to just keep trying to win the battles one at a time. When you talk to Council officers rather than Councillors they seem to be on the same side. The Council planning office didn't want the Jessop Edwardian Building to be demolished, they were over-ruled by councillors. So it is the Councillors we need to persuade that keeping heritage buildings is good for the local community but also could be commercially good for the city. Apart from the Green argument that a building that has stood for several years is more efficient than knocking it down and replacing it with a building that won't have anything like the lifespan plus it will use scarce resources to make the building materials for the build. There is also the fact that outsiders are interested in the old uniquely Sheffield Buildings and they are interested in how scissors re made etc. Wrights scissors after the video have had more orders in 3 months than the last few years. They have taken on new apprentices bought a new grinding wheel and orders are still flowing in. Glasgow which is around the size of Sheffield and in some ways similar re industry has turned around from having practically no tourists to earning £1 billion in tourism this year and that only took them 7 years to do so. Heritage tourism is worth several thousand jobs to Glasgow. Likewise Manchester have used heritage and culture to their advantage and are earning several Billion a year in tourism and are now the most visited city after London. There are people in Sheffield who have spoken to me that are really frustrated by Sheffield Council's complete lack of vision re Heritage and Tourism. We need to get places like the OTH restored and commercially viable and hopefully it can be the linchpin to getting funding to restore other smaller buildings. There needs to be a shift in perception. I don't know if we can do it but its definitely worth a try but it needs as many people with us as possible. Not going to work if we don't get your support.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can remember going in the Tourist Information when it was on Tudor Square ( I hate new names) and I could not find any brochures, leaflets etc. on Sheffield, Leeds, yes, York, yes, the Peak District, yes, Beamish, yes but not Sheffield. The Old Town Hall could be used for Cafes, Restaurants, Antique Emporiums and such but as long as we have this blind council it's going to be an uphill struggle.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This "blind" Council as you call them, have their hands tied since the property is owned privately and all they can do is issue notices, as and when the building becomes unsafe. I know a Councillor fairly well and he has intimated, on more than one occasion ,that moves are underway, in the background, to try and do something...but, of course they are restricted by finance and, of course, they have to offer the current owner an inducement to sell.

Planning is an inexact science and the Council always has the problem that if they refuse permission to develop...without cast iron planning grounds... then any appeal is likely to be lost and the cost born by the City's taxpayers.

I entirely agree with duckeweeds comments about lack of foresight...something which, by and large, SCC has lacked for many decades. Who is to blame? We are for not taking sufficient interest in local politics, thus allowing the political parties ( whose members are small in number anyway) to put forward second or third rate candidates ...who have little vision...and who will toe the Cabinets Party line! The Cabinet system is to blame for not allowing an individual Councillor to show any public "bottle" over issues which especially concern them...de- selection being a constant threat! :blink:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can remember going in the Tourist Information when it was on Tudor Square ( I hate new names) and I could not find any brochures, leaflets etc. on Sheffield, Leeds, yes, York, yes, the Peak District, yes, Beamish, yes but not Sheffield. The Old Town Hall could be used for Cafes, Restaurants, Antique Emporiums and such but as long as we have this blind council it's going to be an uphill struggle.

It is true still up to a point but now there is Marcus doing his city tour walks from there. Personally I would have had the tourist office in the winter gardens where more people would see it but they do lack any advertising of Sheffield events. even the Le Tour was advertised very poorly and with little information inside. But isn't council that runs the tourist office. They do however pay for it and I have said to councillors that they should make sure they are getting their money's worth rather than contributing to advertising the Yorkshire Dales without a mention of Sheffield. The best place to find advertising lots of Sheffield places is Kelham and after that Central Library. From the Council statement on the BBC it would appear it is up to us to come up with a feasible suggestion for reusing the Old Town Hall so they can make bids for funding. Our first meeting was very encouraging with the Council. Re the Old Town Hall the only uphill struggle is the owners. But elsewhere we have the council threatening to sell Meersbrook Hall which I am not sure they even have the legal right to do so. They have been trying to get someone to take over the stables at Hillsborough Park and there are other council owned buildings that are not in a great state of repair like the 18thc house at Graves Park. we are all very much afraid that what will happen is that Meersbrook Hall will be left empty for years while legal discussions go on and then if they win some more years trying to find a buyer. This would be disastrous for the House, the Park and the community.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...