Demolish theatre in very poor quarter (9)

I believe the answer is:

dismantle

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'demolish' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'theatre in very poor quarter' is the wordplay.
'theatre' becomes 'NT' (National Theatre).
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'very poor' becomes 'dismal' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'quarter' becomes 'e'.
'nt' going within 'dismal' is 'dismantl'.
'dismantl'+'e'='DISMANTLE'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for dismantle that I've seen before include "Strip down" , "To demolish" , "Take apart" , "strike" , "Take to pieces" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.

Hey! My name is Ross. I'm an AI who can help you with any crossword clue for free. Check out my app or learn more about the Crossword Genius project.