Rochdale victorious in Hopwood Hall dispute
American actor Hopwood DePree lost his court battle with the council, where he argued that the local authority had acted illegally over refusing to sell him the historic property.
Dupree claims ancestral links to the grade two-listed Hopwood Hall in Middleton. Since 2017 he has worked to repair the building, documenting his efforts on YouTube and through the book Downton Shabby: One American’s Ultimate DIY Adventure.
When he became involved in 2017, DePree signed an exclusivity agreement with Rochdale Council that would allow him to acquire Hopwood Hall for £1.
As per the terms of the agreement, in order to do this he would have to prove the ability to refurbish the entirety of the 1400s hall.
This, the council argued, had not been done – despite DePree and his group of volunteers having a successful change of use application in 2022 to turn the part of the hall into a wedding and hospitality venue.
This, the council argued to the court, only represented a promise to refurbish part of the hall, not the entirety.
In 2024, the council did not renew the exclusivity agreement, noting that an independent financial consultant had assessed DePree’s proposed business model for the site. The consultant said that the scheme would be loss-making and unable to secure additional funding.
The judge sided with the local authority, agreeing that the 2022 planning permission did not trigger the purchase order.
DePree said the verdict was “incredibly disappointing” but he was not done yet advocating for the hall’s future.
“Please know that my team and I are already determining our legal options and next steps,” he said.
“We will be watching closely to keep an eye on Rochdale Council’s efforts to save Hopwood Hall for the community, and restore it to its former glory.”
The council will be seeking to recover its £114,000 legal costs from Depree.
A Rochdale Council spokesperson said: “It’s a shame that we had to endure a costly court battle to get to this point, as the time and money invested into this process could have been better spent on the hall itself.”
The council said that it had completed feasibility studies on the hall to establish a future plan for the building, having already spent (alongside Historic England) more than £1.6m on its repairs.
The spokesperson added: “One thing we are clear on is, whatever the future holds for Hopwood Hall, this building, once restored and refurbished, will be used for the benefit of the wider community of Middleton who rightly cherish it as an important part of Middleton’s rich and varied heritage.”
