County/Magistrates' Court, Grantham, Lincs, March 2020

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HughieD

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1. The History
Located less than 1km to the south-west of Grantham town centre, the former office building on Harlaxton Road was repurposed as a magistrates' court following a successful Change of Use application in March 1992 and alterations the following year.

After functioning as a court for over thirty years, it closed its doors in 2016 as part of a UK-wide plan to close 86 courts in England and Wales. All cases were moved to either Lincoln or Boston. It had previously been reported by the Ministry of Justice that the court cost £237,000 to run during the previous year. Grantham solicitors weren’t so happy about the decision and voiced their “anger and sadness” about the decision.

The Government sold off the site in January for £560,000 to a private buyer in January 2017. It was then subsequently for sale for a cool £1.25m, it was withdrawn from market in June 2018. Plans for redevelopment of the site were submitted in August 2019 and accepted in December 2019. Hence the former magistrates’ court described as being of “limited architectural merit” is now in the midst of being demolished to make way for a £3.5 million new two-storey, 55 bedroom care home, creating employment of approximately 70 local people on a full-time and part-time basis.

The courts while still in use:

49638926796_ebb5891c01_c.jpgCourts by HughieDW, on Flickr

2. The Explore
Totally random opportunist explore. Think I’d vaguely clocked that this place was empty, but it didn’t really register. Was passing recently, having been to the cinema, and noticed that demolition on it had started. Fortunately, had my camera and torches so decided to go for a quick reccie. It was easy enough to get on-site and the demo meant that getting in the building was easy enough. Looking at old pictures its clear that a sizeable chunk (probably about half in total) to the right of the main door has already been knocked down. To be honest though, the bit that was formerly offices isn’t that interesting. It’s the extension from 1993 at the back to house the court itself and the holding cells which are the interesting bit. And given these were pretty much untouched, it made for a decent explore. So, an opportunist explore. This is and will probably be the last report on this place as the demo will most likely be complete within a week or so.

3. The Pictures

View from the street:

49631887386_3af3de559b_b.jpgimg5891 by HughieDW, on Flickr

The old signs:

49632363876_8bc4be4a36_b.jpgGranny Courts 01 by HughieDW, on Flickr

49632631757_6625551757_b.jpgGranny Courts 02 by HughieDW, on Flickr

49632629947_32a94f0db4_b.jpgGranny Courts 12 by HughieDW, on Flickr

49631870591_4665730956_b.jpgimg5911 by HughieDW, on Flickr

49632363286_e0605503f9_b.jpgGranny Courts 04 by HughieDW, on Flickr

And we’re in:

49631884966_779fa1b404_b.jpgimg5894 by HughieDW, on Flickr

49631362198_dbec874bd2_b.jpgimg5896 by HughieDW, on Flickr

49631882641_eac1c4296f_b.jpgimg5897 by HughieDW, on Flickr

The modern front part is pretty uninspiring:

49632153387_fa3a2e5008_b.jpgimg5893 by HughieDW, on Flickr

49631360183_46f5132733_b.jpgimg5898 by HughieDW, on Flickr

But Court No.1 is what we’re after:

49631359483_5c7e65d70f_b.jpgimg5899 by HughieDW, on Flickr

49632631277_08bce250bd_b.jpgGranny Courts 05 by HughieDW, on Flickr

The defendant ‘cage’:

49631842863_a9605d1fef_b.jpgGranny Courts 06 by HughieDW, on Flickr

49632147287_5b52452fe7_b.jpgimg5901 by HughieDW, on Flickr

And then the holding cells for the accused:

49631842023_06a397d8ac_b.jpgGranny Courts 11 by HughieDW, on Flickr

49632143477_bef30de5ed_b.jpgimg5904 by HughieDW, on Flickr

The cells are pretty much one star:

49631358098_fa08713f2a_b.jpgimg5902 by HughieDW, on Flickr

Pretty heft cell doors (note they’ve reclaimed the locks):

49631842723_5196696a93_b.jpgGranny Courts 07 by HughieDW, on Flickr

49632362306_129481825e_b.jpgGranny Courts 10 by HughieDW, on Flickr

49631873206_2154d194a6_b.jpgimg5907 by HughieDW, on Flickr

Finally, the visiting area. Inside:

49632138537_6dfa7ec895_b.jpgimg5910 by HughieDW, on Flickr

49632362411_0825f3cac7_b.jpgGranny Courts 09 by HughieDW, on Flickr

And outside:

49631350748_c9731c28fc_b.jpgimg5909 by HughieDW, on Flickr
 
Last edited:
I wonder why they bothered reclaiming the locks? I guess they have a high value to someone?
 

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