Petition – When it’s Gone it’s Gone
Sheffield’s former Town Hall and Courthouse is a beautiful historic Grade II listed Victorian building located in the city’s ancient Castlegate area. It served as the Town Hall and later as the Law Courts for nearly 200 years and has played a unique and significant role in Sheffield’s history until it closed in 1996.
But 20 years of neglect have taken their toll and the building is now in grave danger. The private owners who bought the building in 2004 have neglected it and allowed the exterior and interior to decay. Years of neglect and a now leaking roof are destroying the beautiful and historic interior of this once proud symbol of Sheffield’s civic pride.
We cannot stand by and let this happen.
The Friends of the Old Town Hall have a plan to rescue this building and return it to the people of Sheffield. Our vision is to restore the interior and exterior – the wooden panelled historic courtrooms, the judges’ chambers, the underground tunnels and cells, the iconic clock tower and architecture – and create a flagship historic building owned and used by Sheffield people.
We have done the groundwork. We have a tested business model for new use, a condition survey, and a properly costed schedule of restoration work. We will set up a community benefit society to finance the restoration and create a community share scheme putting the building back into the hands of Sheffield people.
To do this we need to get it out of the hands of the owners who refuse to talk to us and seem not to care if the building falls down. We need Sheffield City Council to us its powers of compulsory purchase NOW to get the building off the owners so that we can press forward with our restoration plans before the building deteriorates even further. We’ve been talking to the Council for over a year about compulsory purchase, but the wheels grind slowly – we need action NOW, no more delays.
Please sign our petition to Save Sheffield Old Town Hall before it’s too late.
We know what can be done. And we are up for it. Are you?
Remember – when it’s gone, it’s gone for ever.
Sign Online Petition Here
You can also download a paper copy of our petition and gather signatures for us here
Send forms to
Friends of the Old Town Hall, 30 Muskoka Avenue, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, S11 7RL, United Kingdom
