NEW USE PLANNED FOR OLD FAVOURITE

Change of use planning permission is being sought to create five dwellings, including alterations and rear extensions, at Brigg's former Courthouse, on Wrawby Street. An application has now been lodged with North Lincolnshire Council, the planning authority, which will decide whether or not to approve the scheme.
As the name suggests, the Victorian building once housed Brigg (and district) magistrates' court - the administrative offices and the actual room where the cases were heard by Justices of the Peace like Lord Yarborough and Lt Col Nelthorpe. Brigg police were also based in the building until the late 1970s when they moved out to a purpose-built HQ in Barnard Avenue.
Going back 30 years I spent many interesting hours in court - as a member of the press, not in the dock. As you made your way through the waiting area to the courtroom you sometims spotted people you knew sitting nervously for their turn to appear "before the bench." Chief Inspector Bill Horsfield, based at Brigg police station, then prosecuted lots of cases himself - the Crown Prosecution Service being some way in the future.