Demolition of Pebble Mill

Copyright remains with the original holder, no reproduction without permission.

This photo was taken in 2005, when BBC Pebble Mill was being demolished.

Thanks to Tom Poole for making the photo available.

The following comments were left on the Pebble Mill Facebook page:

Gary Hale: ‘Sacrilege! It breaks your heart.’

Tracy Crump: ‘so sad was the end of an era and so may memories.  Such a sad waste I finished working ther in 1992 but thought it would be there for a long time , BBC should hang there heads in shame !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!’

Tom Poole: ‘Not my shot, but a shot which some folk at the BBC should look hard at and ask the question whether they made a good decision when they destroyed the place. It wasnt just a building which was taken away. What was the cost of this decision? After many years as a pile of rubble they are replacing it with a dental hospital.’

Hilary Hughes: ‘Think they made a huge mistake with the whole thing x very sad and lost a whole load of talent in x that’s letting accountants run the business. The building did have asbestos but when I was speaking to the guys who looked after the building (can’t remember the company name but that was another ‘contracted out’ job) they said it would have been cheaper to stay and get rid of the asbestos, than knock it down, move location and not pay the peppercorn rent x like I said before, that’s what happens when the accountants take over. Beeb made a booboo and couldn’t go back on it without getting egg on their face and wasting licence payers money.’

Mike Eastman: ‘What a shambles ! Who made this ridiculous decision ? We are supposed to be the ‘Second City’ and should have large studios to represent the BBC in the Midlands.’

Helen Smith: ‘It is a sad picture. Many peoples life times were spent in that building. I just take the experience and happy memories.’

Peter Poole: ‘I remember contractors removing asbestos near Studio B. I can’t remember the year, but it was a very hot summer. The air con had to be switched off. The temperature in the gallery was almost unbearable. The studio was even worse, lights were turned off when running VT. Most people were dressed in t shirts and shorts. Even some presenters had shorts on behind the desk! One evening during a live Midlands Today the vision mixer started to switch randomly between cameras and VTs. This was traced to the electronics rack in TAR overheating. The engineers managed to cool it down by pointing fans at it. I think a CO2 fire extinguisher was also used. This seemed to work and the mixer was soon back in action.’

Caroline Parson: ‘Interesting that this photo provokes so much feeling about the loss of BBC Birmingham. I can’t imagine there’ll be anything like the same reaction to a semi-empty Mailbox photo, which is the real end of BBC Brum. I have felt bereft twice! It’s a horrible atmosphere in the mailbox now, much worse than you can imagine. What a sad, drawn out and totally un-necessary demise.’

Dawn Trotman: ‘It is truly awful.’