Derby Market Hall Archives - Planning Design Ltd

With the exciting news that plans for two of Derby’s much-loved theatres are set to move forward, our Heritage Consultant Ruth Gray takes a look back at some of the city’s other performance venues and the theatrical tradition within the city.

Derby’s theatrical tradition

It was recently announced that plans to restore the Guildhall Theatre and enhance Derby Theatre are set to take an important step forward.
Derby City Council’s cabinet is expected to agree terms for the use of £20 million of government Levelling Up Funding allocated to Derby.

The funding will be split evenly between the Guildhall Theatre and Derby Theatre.

It is expected that the two projects combined will generate an additional £2.7 million per year for the local economy, and contribute significantly to the development of Derby’s cultural offering. Work is already well underway on the new purpose built, 3,500 capacity entertainment and events space, the Becketwell Performance venue that forms part of the £200m Becketwell regeneration scheme, and major renovations are nearing completion on Derby’s historic Market Hall, itself undergoing a £35.1m refurbishment project, which when complete is expected to generate £3.64m for the local economy each year.

Like most cities, Derby has provided a variety of theatrical establishments to entertain and opportunities to tread the boards, for many stars of stage and screen. A pre–Bond Sean Connery was shaking and stirring audiences in an early role in a production of South Pacific at Derby Hippodrome in 1954, while Derby’s Grand Theatre, which once stood on Babington Lane, was the site of the world premiere of Hamilton Deane’s adaptation of Dracula, on 15 May 1924. Bela Lugosi, the Hungarian-American actor who played the role in the 1931 film, visited Derby in 1951 to star in a revival of the play at the Hippodrome Theatre.

Further back in time, before dedicated theatre’s, large rooms in pubs were useful for theatrical performances, music hall and dancing masters hired their rooms too. Plays were performed in the county hall and the venues such as the George Public House in Iron Gate.

James Whitely in 1773 adapted a malthouse in Bold lane with a façade and ornate interior this creating Derby’s first theatre. Performances were timed to coincide with the races in order to attract the gentry. Attendances fell as industrialisation took place and the gentry could take the train to London instead. Derby’s first theatre fell out of use and was taken over to become a trans denominational gospel hall, until eventually being used by the council, initially as a library then as a magistrate’s court. Most recently the building was a Thai restaurant and is about to see a new lease of life as city centre offices.

The corn exchange housed the Palace Theatre of Varieties, in 1886 Andrew Melville opened a purpose built Grand Theatre in Babington lane which burnt down within the month. A phoenix from the flames, it was rebuilt bigger and better and over the next 64 years it hosted some of the biggest names in British entertainment. Redecorated in 1948 its lack of seating capacity meant it closed in 1950.

The Hippodrome designed by Alexander MacPherson opened in 1913 on Green Lane and catered for the music hall style of entertainment. It had a short life and also became a cinema in 1930 before closing in 1959. It reopened as a bingo hall until 2007. Sadly the Hippodrome has been on the Theatres at Risk Register since 2006, having suffered significant damage including acts of vandalism and arson.

The original Assembly Rooms building was built between 1765 and 1774. This was another building that was destroyed by a fire in 1963. The new Assembly Rooms was opened in 1977 by the Queen Mother. On Friday 14 March 2014, the Assembly Rooms was again hit by a fire in the plant room above the Assembly Rooms car park, which adjoins the building. This fire destroyed the plant room and made the Assembly Rooms unusable. To mark the tenth anniversary of the fire, Derby City Council has announced that the site of the long-closed venue will pave the way for a massive redevelopment project, marking a significant step towards the regeneration of the Market Place, as a new cultural, commercial, and creative public space that will feature a multi-functional building, with spaces for meeting, working, and creating alongside restaurant and commercial space.

The Guildhall ceased to function as the local of seat of government when the town council moved to the Council House in 1949, and the vacated Guildhall was converted for use as a theatre in 1975, remaining so until January 2019.

The original Derby Playhouse had opened as the Little Theatre in a converted church hall on Becket Street in 1948. After touring around a few premises the Derby Playhouse was given funding to build a permanent home within the Eagle Centre and was officially opened on 20 September 1975. Following a few years of financial uncertainty the Derby Playhouse was bought by the University of Derby and became the Derby Theatre in 2009.

Both Derby Theatre and the Guildhall Theatre are inline to receive £10 million each in funding. For the Guildhall, this will contribute to the restoration of the Grade II listed building and be used to remodel the auditorium increasing the seating capacity to around 280, and to renovate the back of house facilities to make the venue more accessible. Derby Theatre’s £10 million allocation will enable the theatre and the University of Derby to complete phase one of its New Horizons project, delivering a state-of-the-art accessible studio theatre and Learning and Research Hub.

With the curtain having fallen on so many of Derby’s entertainment venues, these are exciting developments continuing Derby’s theatrical tradition, and exciting times for the city, combining with a number of redevelopments projects that are putting Derby centre stage and in the spotlight.

Ruth Gray, Heritage Consultant, Planning & Design Practice Ltd

Main Image: Marketing Derby

As thoughts turn towards December 25th, and Christmas shopping for the big day, many Derby residents may well be missing their trip to the Derby Market Hall, to stock up on greeting cards and gifts, poultry and panettone. Derby Market Hall which opened on May 29th, 1866, cost £29,000 to build, and is a rare fine example of a Victorian Market Hall. An iconic landmark in the city centre, it is currently closed and being refurbished at a cost of £35 million. This site has a very long history of trading and community engagement, one that stretches back centuries.

At the end of the 16th century Derby had a population of 2000-2500. Many of these were involved in crafts and trades, or were retailers living in and around Irongate, the Market Place and Sadlergate. There was a baker’s shop in Babington Lane, butchers’ stalls in the Market Place, and tailors living on the Morledge. Cloth working was the town’s staple industry, and tailors and cloth workers had their own trade company¹.

Previously the site of the Market Hall had been part of the Town Improvement Act when architect Matthew Habershon created a new market area behind the Guild Hall around 1835. It already contained permanent stalls, shops, a butter, egg and vegetable market but by the 1860’s this had become inadequate and it was cleared and built anew².

Work on building the Market Hall was begun in 1864 with the laying of the foundation stone. It is a lofty and spacious tunnel vaulted space, built of red brick with stone dressings; and has semi-circular headed windows in arched recesses. The centre slightly projects and is of rusticated stone with a blind arch at each side and arched doorway at the centre. The sides have stone-coped brick parapets and centre a moulded cornice and open balustrade. An impressive interior which has an iron and glass barrel-vaulted roof with a central lantern light. The designer was Borough Surveyor Robert Thorburn, modified, after structural weaknesses had been noted, by his successor Edwin Thompson³.

The iron roof of Derby Market Hall covers an area of 220ft x 110ft. The roof span is 86ft 6ins with an apex at 64ft. The Derby Market Hall roof was built from cast iron and wrought-iron components. These were prefabricated by J. & G Haywood & Co of Phoenix Foundry, Derby (whose company was just over the Derwent on Nottingham Road).

Seventy years later, in the 1930s borough architect Herbert Aslin refitted the interior of the Market Hall with new stalls, this allowed the council to raise the rents.

These remained for around sixty years, until 1989 when further remedial work from Robert Thorburns work needed to be resolved, and new stalls were installed. Workmen discovered unique traces of Derby’s history during the renovation work. A well six feet and 30 feet deep was uncovered, which may have served the buildings that stood on the site prior to 1864. Tunnels were discovered running between the Lock Up Yard and the Guildhall. Experts believe they were probably used to move prisoners between the two areas⁴.

Barely thirty years later those market stalls were again in need of replacing and the building was in need of much needed repairs. Extreme weather such as strong winds, snow, or heavy rain caused a risk that the glass windows might came out of their frames.

This need for renovation presented the Council with an opportunity to transform the Grade II listed building into a contemporary and vibrant destination that will attract visitors from the region and beyond, and act as a showcase for the “Best of Derbyshire”. By linking Derbion and St Peter’s Quarter to the Cathedral Quarter and Becketwell, the transformed Market Hall is intended to serve as a flexible space used for entertainment and restaurants as well as markets offering the best of the region’s independent shopping, food and drink.

The first phase began with extensive roof and structural restoration of its cast iron, copper and glass roof. This was finished in August 2022 and needed a scaffolding structure weighing more than eight blue whales to complete the works.

During these renovations two-time capsules have been discovered by the contractors. They date from 1864 and 1938, the time of the previous renovations. These the time capsules have gone on display at the Derby Local Studies Library, in Full Street, as part of an exhibition, which will run until 16 January.

As one of the most prominent buildings in our city centre, and one envisaged to play such a central role in Derby’s future, the Council have grand ambitions for the revamped Market Hall to function as a seven-days-a-week destination for Derbyshire’s culinary and creative businesses. Equipped with facilities to include a bar and cosmopolitan food court, co-working space, gallery and performance spaces, the Market Hall aims to become a place people want to visit and spend time in again and again.

Time will tell how long this version of the Derby Market Hall will remain but if history tells us anything it is that this Derbyshire icon will continue to serve as a commercial and cultural centre, celebrating the heritage and spirit of innovation that are so distinctive to the region for centuries to come.

Ruth Gray, Heritage Consultant, Planning & Design Practice Ltd