Crunch! And down the last piece comes...

The day finally came - Wakefield Market Hall crashed to the ground around 9pm last night and this was the scene in the light of Saturday morning. From the Vicarage Street side it looks intact, the light from the windows being the only thing giving it away. Brook Street is certainly much lighter now!

With Wakefield Old Market Hall due to be demolished in the next few days, these will probably be the last set of photos I take while it's still standing. The fleur-de-lys on the side of the hall has been taken down, as has any other memento of value around the building.

The hole's got bigger and the rubble pile has got a little larger - not to mention the distinct lack of glass in one side of the market hall now.

The old fish/meat market is gone, and the old market hall has a huge hole in the side. If you go round the back, you can see daylight as the floor's been knocked out already. Not great photos, principally due to boarding being erected to shield the public gaze but I'll get some better ones when I don't have one of the children with me.

Further photos of the demolition of Wakefield's old market. Looks like the power is now off to the old market hall building; the open carparks are now closed and dug up also.

Only a few images, but the market is now almost completely gone. Only the clock-tower remains which is apparently being moved to the park (although goodness knows where, I'm surprised nobody's had off with it yet).

Barely a week has passed since the old market site closed in Wakefield, and already the demolition teams have moved in. The open market was first, removing the pitches and creating a huge pile of metallic rubble. Meanwhile, workmen have been clearing the old meat market and appearing with everything from old fridges to roll-ends of carpet. On the other side next to the Elizabethan gallery a Victorian wall has been discovered - a (possibly) previously unknown extension which is being investigated by an archeological team from Sheffield University.

The new market hall has finally opened, albeit with only half the outdoor stalls. The traders only got access today and it showed, with some stalls lacking power - the electricians were omnipresent. However, Mark the Greengrocer was there, as were Cryer & Stott and some of the traders who were moving over. A good cafeteria too, run by the folks who used to have the burger van on the old market!

This is the last day you can get into the old Market Hall in Wakefield - and even then I had to blag it a bit to get these photos. The final market traders were moving out, nowhere was open, and the open market had already temporarily been moved to the precinct. The new Market Hall opens on Monday apparently.

The new market hall opens in a week's time, and more of Marsh Way car park had been demolished. Already some of the area had changed since my last visit earlier on in the week - some more market stalls had disappeared as had the old burger van. Not long to go now!

The Trinity Walk redevelopment in Wakefield where the old Marsh Way multistorey car park is being demolished to make way for new shops, the new market hall which opens on 23rd June, and the old market which will soon be demolished.

Some pics taken in the original 1960s Market Hall before it gets replaced by the new building. Many stalls are now empty, and there's very little custom up this end of town nowadays.

The frame of the building on the site of the old Union Street bus station - the market hall is due to open in 2008. Photos aren't great because I only had the 50mm lens with me, but I'll go back and do more over the course of the next week.

The Tut'n'Shive pub has closed (a former haunt in my youth) and will be demolished; the 1960s market hall will be closed early next year; the site of the new market hall is now flat and ready to be built on. I pottered in to take a few archive photos before things went up and got knocked down any more.