It cannot come soon enough.
The Old Town Hall on Waingate dates back to 1808 and was Sheffield’s civic headquarters but housed the city’s courts for most of its history.
It is Grade II listed but not been used for 30 years and has fallen into a very poor state of disrepair.
As well as being historically important, it is a key building in the Castlegate area which the city council hopes to rejuvenate with a £20m park across the road.
Current owner Gary Ata paid £600,000 for it four years ago. He has set a guide price of £500,000, the minimum he is prepared to accept at auction.
It could mark a new dawn for the building which has become a by-word for neglect and decay.
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2. 217 years
Dating back to 1808, the Old Town Hall was a home of local government and a courthouse, with a spell as police station. It has been disused since 1995 when the courts moved to the new law courts in West Bar. | Mark Jenkinson
3. Floor missing
Photo of the judge's room in the Old Town Hall in 2022 shows the extent of decay in some areas. It is from 'Sheffield In Ruins', a book by local publisher Revelations 23 press. | Revelations 23 press Photo: .
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4. Historically important
The Friends group say it is important in the city’s history. It is where the bodies of the five men shot dead by the yeomanry at a political demonstration in 1832 were laid. It’s where victims of the Sheffield Flood in 1864 came for support, where Charlie Peace was arraigned for murder in 1878, where relief following the Sheffield Blitz in 1940 was organised and where trials of striking miners in connection with the coal strike of 1984 spectacularly collapsed. | Mark Jenkinson