organisations and community groups are calling on Bradford council to snap up Keighley's Temperance Hall, which has been put up for sale.

The North Street building, which comprises of the first floor hall, an unused upper storey, four ground level shops and a basement, has been out of use since the owners, the Walker Group, stopped running bingo nights earlier this year.

Now the Victorian grade two listed building has been put on the market with a price tag of £250,000 - £150,000 more than it was sold for 18 years ago - and hopes are high that the council will put in a bid.

Geoffrey Rundell, chairman of the Keighley Amateurs, and Fred Kidd, chairman of the now disbanded Keighley Civic Society, say the town has badly missed a public hall since the loss of the Mechanics Institute in 1962.

Mr Rundell says: "Victoria Hall is very well booked up and not ideally situated." Mr Kidd adds: "Temperance Hall is in a prominent position and I'm sure that a lot of uses could be found for it."

Robert Lang, secretary of the Keighley and District Photographic Association, one of the many groups which used the hall until the Walker Group bought it in 1982, also says he would be delighted to see the hall open for public use again.

Glen Miller, chairman of Highfield Action Group, says: "With the £4.7 million of Highfield money that is available and the funding that is out there for community groups, I would hope the council would look at it seriously."

Cllr Barry Thorne, who led a campaign for the council to establish a community centre at the hall in the Seventies, says: "I wouldn't want to lose the facility of such a building. It's too good to let go."

Keighley West Labour councillor Andy Mudd says: "Although it would be nice to think that the council would jump in and buy it, the reality is that the council would be unlikely to have the resources to do that."

A spokesman for the Keighley SRB says the hall may be eligible for a share of the Highfield SRB money. We are currently looking at several sites and buildings in the Highfield area for possible community use.

"We could also consider the former Temperance Hall, but it is impossible to say at this early stage whether it would be suitable."

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