Transformation of court buildings into visitor centre to be done by Christmas

Alan Parry, special projects officer for building owner Keighley Town Council, said the development was expected to attract visitors from all over the UK and would be officially opened to the public early next year.

The ground floor will house an interactive police museum complete with Victorian cells, the original 1960s police front desk and an 1892 horse drawn black maria.

West Yorkshire Police scenes of crime officers have created two gruesome crime scenes for children of different ages to solve, and actors in costume will take visitors round the museum.

Diaries, kept by police officers between 1887 and 1889, have been recovered from the library and will be on display in the museum. There will also be exhibits of crime detection from the Victorian era to the 1980s and a chance to read graffiti scrawled by real prisoners in the tiny outdoor exercise yard.

The ground floor will also house a coffee bar, a museum gift shop, debt management and housing advice centres, a police contact point, a community meeting room and a Keighley visitor information centre.

The first floor will include corporate function facilities and a high-class restaurant and bar. There will also be a forensic science education centre – the only one of its kind in the country. Schools and colleges will be able to hire the space to learn about the latest evidence-gathering techniques and will have access to materials provided by West Yorkshire Police.

Council offices, including an office for the mayor and a town council meeting room, will also be on the first floor.

Mr Parry said: “It is a great asset for Keighley. We will have the only visitor centre that facilitates the study of forensic science in the country. We will attract schools and colleges from all over the country and bring the benefit to the people of Keighley.

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