It’s a place that has recorded hundreds of thousands of ‘hatches, matches and dispatches’ but Bradford Register Office is now threatened by closure.

In the past 12 months alone of its 137-year existence there have about 7,800 births, 4,100 deaths, 734 marriages, 19 civil partnerships and 1,585 British Citizenships registered.

But the proposal to close the Victorian-built Register Office in Manor Row is part of a ten-year Bradford Council plan to cut its office floor space and cut a £90 million backlog in maintenance costs.

The result could see weddings as well as birth and death registrations taking place at City Hall instead.

The Register Office was originally designed as a Poor Law Court and built in 1876 but doubled up as a registration office. In 1970 it finally got sole use for registrations.

In 1986, a £250,000 refit was carried out so newly-weds did not have to squeeze past each other on their way in and out. Guests of honour were Sidney and Alice Marlow, of Bowling, who had married there in 1921 and were invited back to be first through the new doors.

In recent times, memorable weddings that made it into the Telegraph & Argus included the marriage of ‘Clint Eastwood’ who tied the knot with his saloon girl sweetheart there.

In 2010 Russ Wood and Sharon Jowett asked their guests to join them in fancy dress to raise money for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance by giving money instead of presents – the air ambulance had saved the life of Mr Wood’s teenage nephew Darren who had been in an accident with a bus in 2003.

This Valentine’s Day, Bradford’s John Dinsdale and Susan Gush were married there after meeting through their work with the Street Angels patrolling the city’s streets at weekends ensuring people stay safe.

Brides and grooms were in seventh heaven when they booked register office ceremonies falling on the seventh day of the seventh month of the seventh year of the millennium – or 7/7/7.

Among them were Tracey Harvey and Andrew Bellard, of Dudley Hill, who jumped at the chance to never forget the date of their anniversary.

You could hardly describe it as a whirlwind romance, but in 2009 happy couple Ruby and Jim Stewart, of Clayton, finally got round to tying the knot there after 35 years together.

The new Mr and Mrs Stewart, aged 78 and 74 respectively at the time, had ten children from past marriages and 12 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren between them.

And the Manor Row venue was the setting for a right royal knees-up in 2005 when Elaine Haigh and Ian Verroll shared the same wedding day as Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles.

It also witnessed a double case of ‘I do’ later that year when mother Tracey Watson and daughter Nicola Dyke shared a joint wedding in what was thought to be a first for Bradford.

Even pop star Robbie Williams caused a stir there after his chart hit Angels was still allowed by officials at weddings – despite it being banned from civil ceremonies elsewhere because of its religious overtones. The General Register Office, which issues guidance to registrars, had said religious music should not be played at ceremonies.

Not all the weddings have been what they have seemed at first. In 2012 a “bride” and “groom” who tried to stage a sham marriage there to dodge immigration laws were locked up.

Pakistani Tahir Naqqash tried to marry Slovak Zlatica Balogova in an attempt to stay in the UK but the plan was foiled when officers at the UK Border Agency interrupted their ‘wedding’ at Bradford and Keighley Register Office.

Mother-of-four Balogova, 29, of Prospect Road, Wapping, Bradford, was jailed for ten months after being found guilty of conspiring to procure a false marriage which would have facilitated a breach of immigration law and Naqqash, 26, of Carlisle Road, Manningham, Bradford, pleaded guilty to the offence and was jailed for eight months. Three other people, Slovaks Elemer Danihel, Ervin Lakatos and Natasa Cicuova, who were witnesses or an interpreter, were convicted of conspiracy.

As well as weddings and deaths being registered over the years, there have been countless births too, including that of one of Bradford’s most well-known artists Maud Raphael Jones who was a ‘he’, not a ‘she’ as his name might suggest.

Maud’s father gave him a girl’s name in 1863 because he had wanted a daughter and because his pals at a Bradford pub, where he called in on his way to the register office, bet him pints that he daren’t.

Maud went on to become a rather successful exhibiting artist, between 1889 and 1907 and in the late 1920s and early 1930s his work would sell for between £500 and £600.

Thousands of the Bradford births, deaths and marriages have been registered in the city by Barbara Mitchell, who retired last year aged 63 as Deputy Superintendent Registrar. She started her career at 16 as an office junior before leaving then returning in August 1991 as a deputy registrar of marriages.

In her time she saw lots of changes including the start of citizenship ceremonies in 2004 and then civil partnerships in 2005.

She also saw the system move away to online registration instead of the old books – but the highlight of all those years was conducting her own daughter’s wedding.

The current Superintendent Registrar Chris Smith, who has notched up 34 years registering the city’s life and times, said the Manor Row office will always have a place in Bradfordian’s hearts – even if it eventually shuts its doors for good.

She said: “It’s been in situ for so long that people know where it is and know where to come to. All life’'s big events have been recorded here. People have memories – happy ones and sad ones.

“Whatever happens it will always be a place held dear in people's hearts.”