Update on demolition works on the Market Tavern

In December Sheffield City Council announced demolition work would need to take place on the Market Tavern building, on Exchange Street, after it was deemed unsafe.

While work was being carried out to remove asbestos from the building it was discovered that the building’s 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 Building Control and, unfortunately, the whole building was deemed unsafe and required full demolition. 

On the 9th January a meeting was held, involving members of Sheffield City Council and the relevant heritage groups, including Hallamshire Historic Building Society (HHBS), to discuss the 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 of the request, it was agreed that demolition work would be halted until 12pm on Wednesday 10 January to facilitate this. 

Our initial belief was that the top turret on the building had collapsed under its own weight on the morning of 10th 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.  

Cllr Miskell, Chair of the 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.” 

An internal investigation will take place in due course.