This page is one of several pages which are based on articles in our book entitled Royal Leamington Spa, A History in 100 Buildings which was published in 2018 and is no longer in print.
The Justice Centre sits on a site near the western end of Newbold Terrace and is the second full redevelopment of the site since the mid-1960s.
The original buildings demolished on the site were a terrace of three-storey houses built by G F Jackson between 1835 and 1838. A terrace of similar properties which remain and have been greatly revamped was built on the corner of Newbold Terrace and Willes Road about 1834 (see article).
Photo Leamington History Group Archives
The house at No 7 became the Lachine Hotel about 1939. There was a report that this hotel was still open in 1957 but was unfit for such use. It was demolished about 1961.
On the site a Government building complex rose. A new Magistrates’ Court was built on the site of the Lachine Hotel about 1965 and Government offices named Jephson House were built to the west of the court-house. A new Police Station was built to their rear in Hamilton Terrace. The buildings had underground car parking. Jephson House housed the Inland Revenue, the Department of Employment and the District Valuer and Valuation Officer. It was occupied until the mid-2000s.
This Southern Justice Centre, similar to the Northern Centre in Nuneaton, cost £26.3 million to build. The five-storey, 6,500 square metre facility, designed by HLM Architects for the Warwickshire Police Authority, is set to be the model for all new-build justice centres in the UK. In addition to housing Police, Crown Prosecution, Probation, Youth Offending, Victim and Witness Support services, it has custodial facilities as well as four Crown Courts, three Magistrates’ Courts and two County Courts.
Built by Galliford Try with HLM Architects and the Hurd Rolland Partnership as Architectural Consultants the facility was formally opened by HM The Queen on Friday 4th March 2011 having been in use since the previous summer.
Barry Franklin, 2018
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS are presented at the end of this page — https://leamingtonhistory.co.uk/articles-from-royal-leamington-spa-a-history-in-100-buildings/