End of an era as iconic miners’ HQ in Mansfield is bulldozed

Bulldozers have moved in to flatten the Union of Democratic Mineworkers’ offices on Berry Hill Lane.

A planning notice nearby says plans have been submitted to build 10 new homes on the site - although planning permission was granted by Mansfield District Council for 22 properties there in July 2013.

UDM officials had said the building had become ‘difficult to maintain’ and ‘very expensive to run’.

It is understood the neighbouring pensions office will still remain and the iconic pit winding wheel moved on a few metres.

The UDM had been based at the site since it split from the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) during the bitter year-long miners’ strike of 1984-85.

At the peak of colliery operations, more than 50 staff worked from the premises.

The former HQ was the scene of one of the most notorious confrontations during the dispute.

On 1st May 1984, a demonstration on Berry Hill Park was held by around 7,000 working Nottinghamshire miners protesting against the way the dispute had been conducted, while there were said to be 1,000 striking NUM members who took over and occupied the building.

News of the building’s demise comes just days after it was announced that Nottinghamshire’s last remaining colliery - Thoresby - is expected to close later this year.