Information on Loughborough

Demolition stops.

Posted on 14/06/2007
P. Klein

baxtergate hospital

When the buildings behind the derelict Baxtergate hospital are demolished work is to stop. Buildings such as the mortuary have already gone and inLoughborough has been unable to ascertain what will happen next.

The Baxtergate Hospital, the first part of which was built in 1862, was massively expanded after the 1920s. The picture shown highlights the original building and it can be clearly seen that the bulk of the building is an extension, both to the left and above. It started its wind down and end of life in 1992 when the first phase of the new hospital at Epinal Way opened. Rooms for doctors became offices for NHS administration and eventually the hospital started shutting down at weekends.  Phase II of the Epinal Way hospital started in 2001 and finished in March 2003 at a cost of £10,000,000 providing modern facilities to the residents of Loughborough. The Baxtergate Hospital then officially closed on Friday 16th March 2003 with a ceremony.

Currently the building is starting to deteriorate, plants can already be seen to be growing from gutters and cracks in the wall. Inside some of the timber floors have been become damp and have started to rot. An unpopular design for new accommodation has recently been rejected and with no new plans on the drawing board it is likely to become as decrepit as its surrounding buildings.

Certainly walking down from the new court buildings being constructed by Wilmot Dixon Baxtergate is in a sorry state. Of the seven premises to the left of the hospital four are boarded up or vacant. Of the eight to the right four are vacant or boarded up. The town plan produced by the Town Team and Charnwood Borough Council calls for the Baxtergate Hospital site to be developed for a variety of uses, e.g. accommodation and retail units. However it seems that the last thing that is required at the moment is more retail space " the street has a surplus as it is. It also calls for new pedestrian walkways through the site between the town centre and the new Magistrates Court, however with no plans on the table this is unlikely to be achieved.