Old Coroner's Court Sheffield: Developer due to demolish historic building goes bust

The Old Coroner’s Court on Nursery Street was due to be flattened in 2020 after Firestone Developments won the support of a planning inspector. The decision brought to an end several years of campaigning to save the building.

But Firestone has since gone out of business, according to records at Companies House which show it has been struck off the register and dissolved. Today, the boarded up building, which dates back to 1913, has slates missing and is visibly decaying.

Firestone had submitted a bid to demolish it in 2019 but withdrew it in the face of a public backlash. The company said it had gone back to the drawing board but none of several suggestions to preserve the building got the backing of planners at Sheffield City Council.

The authority also refused a plan for new flats in October 2019, saying they were “plain” and “unattractive” and wouldn’t fit in with the heritage of the River Don and Wicker.

But it was overruled by a planning inspector.

The court is not listed. In 2019 campaigners were frustrated that long-awaited plans for Castlegate Conservation Area, which could have protected the building, were “cancelled out of the blue”.

Douglas Johnson, Green Party councillor for Sheffield’s City ward, and campaign group Joined Up Heritage fought the original demolition notice. The building features a coroners’ court, mortuary, post mortem rooms and viewing chapel.