End of an era as Barnsley’s Eldon Street revamp begins

The former chip shop, at the junction of Eldon Street and Midland Street is being demolished to widen the junction, so construction vehicles can access the Glass Works.

When The Glass Works scheme is complete, delivery vehicles for Superbowl UK and the restaurants will be able to use Midland Street to access the site, and won’t have to pass through The Glass Works public square.

A double arched window discovered inside the chip shop will be salvaged from the structure and reused in the future.

The council purchased the building, which was formerly a pub and chip shop, in October 2019.

A £1.968m grant from Historic England has funded the four-year scheme, and the council has match funded a further £2m.

Historic buildings on the west side of Eldon Street, between Regent Street and the junction of Market Hill will be given a facelift, and a new “social and cultural hub” will be created at the Civic’s entrance.

Eldon Street was first laid out in 1840, as one of a number of wider new streets around the original medieval town.

Dr Tegwen Roberts, Barnsley Museum’s Heritage Action Zone Officer, says Eldon Street became a principle gateway into the town in 1850, when a new railway station opened at the north-east end of the street.

“The second edition Ordnance Survey map published in 1893 shows how Eldon Street had developed during the second half of the 19th century into to a busy commercial and social hub, with hotels, pubs, the large public hall, shops and a cattle market to the south,” Dr Roberts writes in the Barnsley Museums Blog.

To find out more about Eldon Street’s history, see: https://barnsleymuseums.art.blog/2020/11/16/eldon-street-heritage-action-zone/