Demolition of Dudley Hippodrome due to get under way next week

Dudley Council says all planning requirements have been met in full and work is under way to strip the inside of the building, which is expected to be completed in the next few days.

Demolition work is then due to start early next week.

The building will be demolished from the centre outwards, using pickers and cranes.

Once this has taken place then 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, the height of the building will prevent any fall-out onto the front of the site.

Demolition is expected to take around four months.

Once demolition work is complete then the build of a new £25 million university campus will begin in early 2024.

Worcester University will 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.

Councillor Patrick Harley, leader of Dudley Council, 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 project is being spearheaded by Dudley Council, one of the members of the Dudley Towns Fund Board who were successful in bidding for £25m from the government’s £178.7 million Towns Fund.

The board’s members include Dudley Council, Dudley College of Technology, University of Worcester, tourist attractions and other key organisations in Dudley.

The disused Castle Hill theatre has not hosted live entertainment since 1974 but has remained as a bingo hall until 2009.

It was built in 1938 and also hosted Bing Crosby.

Dudley Council's cabinet approved the move to knock down the hippodrome in 2021, with the Government choosing not to intervene in the decision much to the dismay of campaigners.

And several attempts to save the building have failed.