NOW that we are growing accustomed to the yawning space on the corner of Cavendish Street and North Street, we should remind ourselves of what we have lost.

The Keighley Mechanics’ Institute of 1870, the work of the celebrated Bradford architectural partnership of Henry Francis Lockwood and William Mawson, provided both an educational and social centre, housing a School of Science and Art, a Trade and Grammar School and a Municipal Hall.

From its inception, it brought a library, newsroom and gymnasium within reach of all, and its New Year Conversaziones were enjoyed alike by “Tories and Radicals, Churchmen and Dissenters”.

One cold March night in 1962, much of the building was gutted by fire, though arguably the saddest part of this disaster was its great tower, with its clock added in 1892, the gift of renowned Keighley industrialist Prince Smith.

Built to last, this survived for several years, with a clock boldly telling the time to all four quarters, until being demolished prior to the erection of the late Keighley College.

Keighley thereby lost, not just its traditional focal point, but also a meeting place – for decades “under the Mechanics’ clock” had vied with “on the library steps” as a popular rendezvous.