Demolition of Scarborough’s Athletic Ground in Seamer Road imminent.
A tender has been put out by Scarborough Council inviting companies to submit bids to level the much-loved stadium, where football was first played way back in 1898.
The news puts an abrupt end to any lingering faint hopes that football could one day return to the venue.
Since Scarborough FC folded in 2007, the once-proud arena has fallen into a state of disrepair, and been subjected to regular bouts of vandalism.
The council bought the stadium in 2008 for £1.335 million, but Hilary Jones, the council’s strategic director, said that safety concerns meant the local authority had no other option than to bring an end to well over a century of history.
“We have to make it safe, we’ve been really concerned,” she said. “We’ve had real problems in terms of people breaking in. We’ve had to do all sorts of work. As soon as we make it safe somebody else finds a way in and then there’s something else we need to sort out. We decided the best thing to do is to permanently take out the things that are dangerous. Buildings are crumbling.”
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