Work to demolish Dudley Hippodrome starts, council confirms

Demolition has got underway now planning requirements have been met in full, council leader Councillor Patrick Harley confirmed.

Following an internal strip out, the building will be demolished from the centre outwards - using pickers and cranes.

Once this has taken place the rear of the building and finally the façade will be removed.

Secure fencing will be in place around the site and when the façade is removed, large scale protective shields – as high as the building - will prevent any fall-out onto the front of the site, the council said.

Demolition work is expected to take around four months. Once complete, the building of a new £25million university campus is expected to get underway in early 2024.

Hippodrome campaigner Marlene Watson, a well-known Black Country comedienne, branded the demolition “pure vandalism and needless destruction”.

But Cllr Harley said it was “exciting” to be leaving the past behind and looking to the future.

Cllr Patrick Harley, leader of Dudley Council, at the Dudley Hippodrome site where demolition has got underway (Image: Dudley Council)

He said: “It’s taken a lot of work behind the scenes over many years to bring this project to fruition and I’m so glad to see the major work finally beginning.

“This is an exciting day for Dudley as we leave behind the past and begin the journey of creating a new state of the art university facility which will benefit the people of our borough and beyond for years to come.”

The University of Worcester plans to run a nursing college from the site and will provide university-level courses for the health sector, with a view to opening in September 2025.

The project is being spearheaded by Dudley Council, one of the members of the Dudley Towns Fund Board which was successful in bidding for £25m from the government’s £178.7 million Towns Fund.

Jon Morgan, director of the Theatres Trust, said the trust was "hugely disappointed about the demolition of Dudley Hippodrome" which has been on its Theatres at Risk list since 2010.

He said: "We wholeheartedly believe that the Hippodrome could have been revived for use by its community, but despite our best efforts and the strong local support for the Hippodrome, Dudley Council could not be persuaded to see its value.

"A full historical recording of what remained of the theatre has been taken so as much as possible of its history and architecture will remain documented for future generations to learn about, but this is small comfort in the face of the loss of an important building and valuable local asset."