LAW AND ORDER

IT WAS not long after the demolition at the west side of Victoria Street that the police station came under the bull-dozers, along with the old prawn shop.
The police station was transferred to a new building in Claremont Terrace behind that monstrosity of a magistrates court.

It may look very nice inside, I haven’t been in to look around, but the outside of the building is absolutely dreadful, and I bet some architect thinks it is the bees knees, and who on earth thought of putting it on a prime site on promenade?
Before the station in Victoria Street came down I went inside to photograph the interior and was struck by the completely Victorian atmosphere of the building, it really should have been preserved as an encapsulated piece of police history of nearly 100 years ago, and would have fascinated and possibly served as a salutary lesson for today’s youngsters.

The bench in the courtroom was a magnificent piece of polished mahogany and had silver fittings on it, silver ink-wells and ornate light fittings which had originally been gas-lit and then converted to electricity.

There were beautiful curved wood beams in the roof and a narrow winding staircase led to the cells down below, giving a pungent meaning to the phrase; Take him down, constable after an unfavourable sentence had been passed.

I don’t suppose many prisoners in the dock surveyed the scene with as much pleasure as I did, though.
The cells themselves were small, and extremely uncomfortable looking and one (kept specially for drunks) had a narrow hard bunk bed which was tilted at an impossible angle.

I think many drunk seamen must have thought he was on ship with a permanent list to starboard!

Not a lot of people know that Fleetwood is now on its fourth police station. Even four and a half if you count a temporary period in North Albert Street while repairs and redecorations were being carried out to the main station.

The first one was in Flag Street and was, in fact, where the local bobby lived and before they pulled down Flag Street you could see where a window which had been barred was bricked up, presumably the room where prisoners had been held before being taken to court, which in those days were probably in Poulton.

When the constabulary was transferred to the county a handsome new station was built in Lord Street on the same side as, and not far from, the Testimonial School, and you can still see the County crest on the wall.

But as the town grew and more police were taken on larger premises were needed and the station in Victoria Street was built on the site of the old cattle market and incorporated court-rooms at the back overlooking the desert area of the open market.

One of our customers was a bobby who lived near the football ground and one night when he was on night duty and was out of his beat, he began to feel cold and wished he had brought his overcoat with him. Being close to his house he decided to nip home and get his coat, but when he got there he found he had left his keys at the station and, although the house was in darkness and his wife obviously in bed, he thought she would not mind being wakened, so he threw a few small pebbles at the bedroom window and when she opened it and leaned out he called up in a loud whisper so as not to waken the neighbours, Throw my overcoat down, love, it’s cold out here.

A few minutes later a coat landed on his head with muttering thanks he put it on and continued on his beat.

When he got back to the station for his break, a young colleague.