WITH reference to Charles Morris’ request that more people take advantage of his admirable Picture House, we are fortunate to have a cinema at all, and he shouldn’t have to ask.

However I am afraid it is necessary to point out a few aspects of town life that will not help his cause. The Picture House opens its doors at 5pm, which means that I would be leaving at about 7pm. Currently, the lavatories in the bus station close at 6pm, because apparently there is insufficient security provision in the event of anti-social behaviour.

Recently I was obliged to watch a loud, aggressive and abusive altercation between two young women (backed up by their burly male companions). They were oblivious to the people around them and ignored the valiant efforts of the young, female security guard trying to calm them down. This was at about three o’clock one afternoon.

On November 7, I attended a talk at Keighley Creative in the Airedale Shopping Centre commencing at 6pm and left shortly before the event ended, in order to catch my last bus. But the shopping centre had closed, which meant I had to make my way up Low Street, and along North Street. This involved passing through, or rather around, two separate groups of youths, "hanging out". I walk with difficulty and with the aid of a stick, but it was clear no one was going to make way. I can’t say I felt threatened exactly, but it was intimidating.

This is certainly not the only time I have felt vulnerable walking through Keighley, even in daylight. Suffice to say, there is sometimes a slight air of menace about the place, that I don’t think was there in former years – not in my experience anyway. I think it has something to do with potential miscreants knowing that little or nothing will be done by the way of reprimand.

Similarly, there's the easy ride drug dealers seem to have in Keighley, operating quite openly in broad daylight, in the centre of town. Twice now I have reported locations to the police, but been told that without names and/or addresses, my information could not be recorded. Now what sort of a message does that send out to the criminals?

Finally, one further incident seems to me to sum up this attitude of indifference. Early last spring, on a Saturday afternoon, I went into town on the bus. Outside the council offices I noticed a parked police car – quite a rare sight these days. But what caught my attention was the the young man sitting on the bonnet. For whatever reason, his movements were unsteady. I stopped in order to watch his attempts to take a selfie – his particular difficulty seemed to be how to incorporate his grimacing face, and the police sign on the roof of the car, plus a two-finger gesture into the frame. I waited several minutes, hoping to see some member of the constabulary emerge from the building to sort him out. Unfortunately it began to rain so I walked on, wondering. I don’t suppose he would have been punished. Is it a crime to sit on the bonnet of a police car? I don’t know, but it does indicate an insolence towards authority and a disregard of one’s fellow citizens that is new to me.

I will continue to visit the Picture House, because it is always a pleasure to do so, but in future it will be by cab.

Christopher Ackroyd, East Morton

* Email your letters to alistair.shand@keighleynews.co.uk