Probe to find out what really happened to the iconic Market Tavern in Sheffield still ongoing

Sheffield City Council was forced to apologise over the demolition of the historic Market Tavern building in Sheffield city centre

At a transport, regeneration and climate policy committee meeting, the portfolio holder Coun Ben Miskell was asked for an update about an internal investigation he said would be done to find out why the Market Tavern building had to be demolished earlier this year.

Committee member Coun Richard Shaw (Liberal Democrats) asked Coun Miskell whether the investigation was complete but was told that the “investigations are ongoing”.

This comes after Coun Miskell told members of the public at a previous committee meeting in February that the investigation would be completed by the end of that month and the findings would be published – although, he never put a date to it.

This week, in a written answer, Coun Miskell told his colleague (and other members of the committee): “Investigations are ongoing. The incident review has been completed but the workforce investigation has now commenced under the HR process so it would not be appropriate to discuss outcomes at this time.

“However, the council will work with associated heritage groups linked to the Heritage Strategy to consider next steps now that this has been adopted.”

However, when Coun Shaw asked for a date of publication, he was told Coun Miskell was “unable to confirm at this time due to the HR/workforce investigation”.

The investigation is currently taking place into events around the confirmation of a demolition order for the building on January 10.

It had previously been declared structurally unsafe by the council after problems were found during work to remove asbestos.

The council had to issue an apology after heritage group Hallamshire Historic Building Society successfully argued for the demolition to be halted for 24 hours while they sought a second opinion, then the demolition went ahead.

The council claimed that a mistake – an error – happened.

The Market Tavern in Sheffield city centre first opened its gates in 1797 and was rebuilt a couple of times before the existing version in 1914 was finished.

The building (under the council’s ownership) deteriorated over the last 15 years, and just before Christmas it was revealed that the council would remove it for good as it found the building “unsafe”.