Good news for the former Yorkshire Bank building at the top of Fargate. York-based Pivovar which has venues including Sheffield Tap at Sheffield railway station, has applied to open it as Fargate Tap, serving ‘late night refreshments’ until 1am Monday to Saturday.
It was originally built as the Yorkshire Penny Bank, with the Albany Hotel above, in 1889.
It operated as Yorkshire Bank until closure in 2020 as a result of its takeover of Virgin Money that already had a branch on the other side of Fargate. The bank has been empty ever since.
At the same time, the BBC reports that Sheffield City Council is saying that rising costs and delays are hampering the regeneration of Fargate, High Street and Castle Square.
The council successfully bid for £15.8m from the government’s Future High Streets Fund in April 2021. The original costs of work on Fargate, High Street and Castle Square were estimated to be £8.8m based on tender prices, but following detailed design, these costs rose to nearly £18m.
The Fargate works are estimated to cost £14.4m, the increase primarily due to inflation, and there have been delays with paving supplies, issues with ground conditions and technical approval of underground bins. South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) has provided an additional £4.6m of funding to ensure the work is completed.
The council says Fargate should be substantially completed’ before Christmas but it was not expected to be fully finished until early in 2025.
Construction on the Event Central cultural hub on Fargate will now fall into the 2025/26 financial year, and work on High Street and Castle Square has been paused while the council concentrates its budget on Fargate.
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