Concerns grow for Sheffield's Old Town Hall after fresh damage - as new owner Gary Ata remains silent

Chair Valerie Bayliss said they wrote to Gary Ata, of Noble Design and Build, in March but heard nothing.

Mr Ata snapped up the Grade II listed Old Town Hall on Waingate in December and registered it under a new firm The Courthouse Apartments (Sheffield) Ltd.

Ms Bayliss said: “This window has, unfortunately, been broken for some time and we in Friends of the Old Town Hall are as concerned about the state of the building as we have been since the Friends were set up in 2014, if not more so.

“We know that people have been in the building – we were sent, anonymously, some rather poor quality video dated March 2022.

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“We forwarded the link to the city council. I believe they have made contact with Mr Ata but on precisely what, and to what effect, we don’t know.

“The Friends wrote to him on March 7 to ask for a meeting and offering to share with him our knowledge of the building, but have had no response, not even an acknowledgement.

“As far as we can tell he has not previously taken on a listed building badly in need of sympathetic restoration and which will require very heavy investment after 25 years of decay.”

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Built in 1808, the Old Town Hall - which also housed Sheffield’s courts - has been disused since 1997.

Mr Ata did not respond to The Star.

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