KEIGHLEY is among the 25 most misspelled place names in the UK by people seeking a room with one hotel group, it has been revealed.

The town is frequently spelt Keithly, Keethlea or even Keyflea by folk hunting on the Travelodge website.

Keighley comes in at 24 on a list of most misspelled places which has been drawn-up by the company.

The audit of the million-plus people who search via the website every week saw Edinburgh top the literacy-lacking league, with spellings including Edinboro and Edinburg.

England's capital was second, with variants such as Londan and Loodon.

Travelodge says about one fifth of location entries inputted into its search system are incorrectly spelt.

Keighley local historian Ian Dewhirst said the town had seen many spelling variations over the centuries.

"In the Domesday Book it appears as Chichel," he said.

"It's shown as Kichalaie in medieval charters and in the 1700s it's evolved to Kighley.

"We've had Keighley in its present form since around 1800.

"I'm not surprised it rates highly as being misspelt. The most common misspelling I see is Keithley."

But the town more frequently suffers from mispronounciation, with it often being referred to as 'Keeley' by people not familiar with it.

"That's understandable – if I wasn't from Keighley myself and saw the name I would probably pronounce it that way," said Mr Dewhirst, who has an honorary Doctor of Letters from the University of Bradford and the MBE.

"When I went to Buckingham Palace to collect my MBE in 1999 I was announced as coming from 'Keeley' – so even the Palace isn't immune."