Hopwood Hall’s fate remains unclear at the centre of a row between a Hollywood actor and Rochdale Council. Until November 2024, the future of the Grade II* listed manor house in Middleton, which dates back to the 1420s, had finally started to look up.
In 2017, Hollywood actor and producer Hopwood DePree sold his home in Los Angeles, vowing to restore his ancestral home in Rochdale to its former glory. The council entered into an ‘exclusivity agreement’ with the American actor, writer, and filmmaker, who instigated a community effort to restore the hall.
As many community members bought into his vision, Mr DePree was granted planning permission to carry out work in 2022. The hall had fallen into ruin following the closure of De La Salle College in 1989, which had occupied the building as a teacher training college since the 1940s.
After the estate was bought by Rochdale Council in the 1990s, Hopwood Community College was built on the grounds in 1992. However, the hall itself was left abandoned and fenced off under the watch of a caretaker.
Over the years, neglect and vandalism had exposed the historic manor house to the elements. Hopwood DePree’s intervention had seen work being done to fix the hall’s crumbling interior and develop a master plan for the building’s future use.
Work being carried out to restore Hopwood Hall, the ancestral home of US film producer Hopwood DePree, that dates from the 15th century
However, the town hall believes progress on restoring the hall has been too slow. At the same time, the contract with Mr DePree stopped them from speaking to other potential investors. The ‘exclusivity agreement’ came to an end on October 31.
Once the agreement ended, the site was locked off to the volunteers, which sparked anger and local confusion over what was happening. And while the rift between both parties rumbles on, the hall remains an asset of Rochdale Council.
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Mr DePree previously told the M.E.N that work to restore the hall had come at a ‘significant personal cost’ to him, estimated at £581,000. Throughout the seven years, the actor has overseen the restoration and uploaded videos to his YouTube channel documenting the work that has gone on.
Hopwood DePree is currently in a row with Rochdale Council over the future of Hopwood Hall
In a video uploaded in June 2023, Mr DePree gives an in-depth tour of the hall’s ‘secret’ former bar and nightclub area, which once served as part of the De La Salle Student Union. In the 1960s, the bar and music venue area was created for college students.
Popular with up-and-coming bands in the ’60s and ’70s, the likes of Thin Lizzy, Madness, and UB40 are rumoured to have once played there. In the video, Mr DePree says he had spoken to former students who shared their memories of the venue, revealing that Ozzy Osbourne is also said to have played there with Black Sabbath while his wife Sharon waited in the wings.
Edward Giejgo (right in bowtie) and friends at the old student union bar in Hopwall Hall
(Image: Edward Giejgo)
Former De La Salle student Edward Giejgo told the M.E.N: “We had two student bars at Hopwood. The main bar had the famous fire place at its centre and was opened every night. The bar in the photo [pictured above] was called the Disco Bar and was used mainly on Sunday evenings when the girls from Sedgley Park College of Education were bussed in. And an obvious attraction for us at Hopwood.”
While the venue has suffered years of damp and neglect, its former use as a student union bar, disco and music venue over the years is clear to see. The walls still retain the colourful murals painted over the black walls.
Somebody has spray-painted ‘get down and boogie’ on one of the walls, and musical notation and instruments are still visible. There are even the remnants of an old cigarette machine still attached to a wall.
In the video, a former student and volunteer called Barbara remembered her time studying at the hall. She said: “My room was over the left speaker of the disco, so three nights a week there was pointless going to bed you might as well be in the disco. The music was so loud you may as well join the party.”
‘Get down and boogie’ spray painted on the black walls of the old nightspot
The video showing the old nightclub venue has over 1.6k likes, and many viewers have commented to share their memories of the place.
YouTube user @karenashworth5743 said: “Oh I got drunk so many times in there! Brought back so many memories”.
Another person revealed that the venue was still going strong in the 1980s, hosting bands. User @SimonNoble-d1q said: “[I] was a student there myself from 1984 to ’87, saw Mud and the Toy Dolls in there.”
@SusanMcGreevy-y9f said: “Wonderful. I was there for three years in the ’70s. We sure knew how to party – cider half pint for 14p, all we could afford then. Best of memories.”
While @pattaylor588 said the venue was just as she remembered it when she was a student there between 1985 and 1988. Adding: “Had some great nights in that room and I still have a memory of seeing The Lawnmower and Mud. Also the American students’ Thanksgiving and their Wapatuli Party.”
Currently, the hall and its archives are closed off to volunteers. It would be great to speak to anyone who remembers drinking in the old Hopwood De La Salle student bar, or watched bands there back in the day.
If you have memories, or photos, of the old venue that you would like to share, email the M.E.N’s nostalgia writer lee.grimsditch@reachplc.com