£3.5m restoration work begins on town’s derelict High Street

Four “key” properties on the historic High Street are set to be redeveloped as part of the Townscape Heritage Initiative, which is supported by funding from both the Heritage Lottery Fund and Rotherham Council.

The Townscape Heritage Initiative sees property owners and long-term lease holders given grants enabling them to restore their historic buildings, all of which lie within a conservation area.

The aim is to encourage new shops, apartments and businesses to locate in the town centre, which was recently visited by Mary “Queen of Shops” Portas to launch her new campaign to breathe life back into the country’s run-down shopping centres.

Portas, who has been appointed by the Government to lead an independent review into the future of the high street, took a whistle-stop tour of Rotherham to assess how it was coping since Meadowhall opened two decades ago.

Coun Gerald Smith, Rotherham Council’s cabinet member for town centres, economic growth and prosperity, said: “Rotherham is blessed with historic buildings that have medieval history as well as examples of Georgian, Victorian, art-deco and fifties architecture.

“These are character buildings that deserve to be restored and which cannot be found in shopping malls and retail parks.”

Scaffolding currently surrounds “Snafu” bar at 22 to 30 High Street, where work is ongoing on the restoration of ornate features including a turret.

The roof and windows are also being repaired at the building, which was formerly the Muntus department store.

Further along the High Street, plans are being progressed to restore features at 14a, the RSPCA shop, and convert the upper floors into apartments.

A planning application has also been submitted for the restoration of numbers 10 to 12, where clothing store Caprice moved in over the summer.

This building was custom-designed for Boots in the 1950s and the coloured glass panels will be reinstated.

At the top of the High Street and across from the recently-refurbished Imperial Buildings, work is set to begin this month on the Art Deco Essoldo Chambers.

The former Empire Cinema is now home to a nightclub and Italian restaurant and the faded facade will be restored to bring back the building’s true colour.

The upper floors will be converted into apartments after the restoration work has been completed.

One building that has already been restored is Hamby’s shoe shop and neighbouring properties at numbers 32 to 36 High Street.

The restoration of the former Mason’s Jewellers, which dates back to 1760 and features an ornate clock originally from Fleet Street, was completed last year.

Restoration work saw the building cleaned, the roof and windows repaired and the missing corner turret reinstated.

Coun Smith added: “Previous high-standard Townscape Heritage Initiative refurbishments and the renovated Imperial Buildings show that heritage-led projects are an efective way of regenerating Rotherham town centre.

“Along with other initiatives such as the ‘Vitality’ grants that are helping to attract independent retailers into the area, we are now seeing a lot more life back in Rotherham town centre.”

Rotherham is currently suffering from a high level of vacant shops, partly due to competition from Parkgate Retail World and Meadowhall.

Previous initiatives to try and revamp the town centre have included offering ‘Vitality’ grants to entrepreneurs, which include generous discounts on rent in the first and second years as well as a contribution towards the cost of fitting out a shop.