What future for the Darlington Power House ravaged by fire?

READ MORE: AMAZING PICTURES FROM WHEN TOWERS AND CHIMNEYS DOMINATED DARLINGTON'S SKYLINE

READ MORE: THE FULL STORY OF THE POWER STATION

But at least the blaze last Friday/Saturday night has left the building’s star feature, the old Darlington coat-of-arms, intact.

The fire at the former Bannatyne offices in Haughton Road, Darlington

Station A was opened by Darlington council in 1901 to bring the first electricity to the town. The council replaced it with Station B in 1940 when it placed its coat-of-arms – complete with the town motto, floreat industria – over the door. In 1948, the council lost control of the station when all power supplies were industrialised under the British Electricity Authority. Therefore, the coat-of-arms is a throwback to the days when local councils generated electricity.

The coat-of-arms, which was the emblem of the council, borough and town from 1867 to 1974, appears to have survived the blaze remarkably intact

To be close to the power supply, Darlington’s electric trams and trolleybuses were stabled behind the power station. Where their days came to an end, the new motorised buses belonging to Darlington Transport Corporation were kept there, and we think the control centre also had offices connected with the tram and the bus operations.

The power station finished generating in 1976 and was demolished, and when Darlington Transport Corporation was forced into liquidation in 1994 following the infamous “Darlington bus wars”, the Haughton Road depot fell derelict.

Duncan Bannatyne in Haughton Road, Darlington, with the plans for his health club in the late 1990s

But Duncan Bannatyne was on hand. Although councillors initially rejected his plans to build a £3m health club on the depot, a planning inspector allowed him to go ahead and his gym opened in 2001. He moved the headquarters of his company into the neighbouring Station B control centre, which he called “The Power House”.

The Power House when it was Bannatyne's offices, with their sign obscuring the coat-of-arms

In 2013, Mr Bannatyne built a new office block on the site and sold the control centre which again became derelict.

In March, police discovered a £1.7m cannabis factory inside it; in April, Memories wondered idly what might became of it and the coat-of-arms; on May 26, it was gutted by fire.

Such is the severity of the damage, it seems inevitable to several Memories readers that it will have to be demolished, and what then will become of that unique emblem of Darlington history over the door? We have alerted the council’s new deputy leader, Chris McEwan to the peril, and he has sprung into action with all the speed of one who has spent a lifetime working out on one of Mr Bannatyne’s machines.

Watch this space…

READ MORE: PICTURES FROM THE FIRE

“THE articles on the power station and cooling towers in Memories 623 and 624 reminded me of late 1978, when at least one of the towers was being slowly reduced in height,” says John Askwith. “The work could be seen from the Whessoe offices on Brinkburn Road, where I worked.

“I enclose a picture of the power station next to the East Coast Main Line (above), as described in your article in its heyday. The picture was taken by the BR Photographic Unit on July 22, 1956.

“At that time the carriage sidings were being removed in readiness for building the new Diesel Multiple Unit depot. The DMU depot opened on September 17, 1957.

“I also enclose a recent picture taken by me (below) on August 4, 2021 for comparison.”