Calendar West Yorkshire News

The owners of the Royal Arcade in Keighley are wondering what to do with an entire Victorian street that's been discovered buried below their shopping centre.

The street dates back to the 1890s but they don't know if the units were just used for storage for the shops above or retail outlets in their own right. They're now considering whether to turn it in to a wine bar, develop it in to arts and crafts shops or preserve it exactly as it is.

• UK
• Keighley
• West Yorkshire

Almost half of Jimmy Savile's victims in his home county of West Yorkshire were abused in hospitals, according to figures.

A West Yorkshire Police report into the disgraced broadcaster's relationship with the force confirmed officers had identified 68 victims in the force area since his death.

Now the force has released a further breakdown which reveals 29 were abused in hospitals across the region - 23 of them at Leeds General Hospital (LGI).

The youngest abuse victim at LGI was just five, police said.

Savile had a close relationship with the LGI, famously volunteering as a porter and raising cash for the hospital over decades.

Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs LGI and St James's, is part way through an investigation into Savile's activities.

• UK
• West Yorkshire
• Leeds

The Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust says it is investigating claims that Jimmy Savile abused people at hospitals in Leeds. The investigation team has its own website with information about how witnesses can get in touch.

We set up an independent investigation into Jimmy Savile's association with hospitals in Leeds. This is currently underway and it is expected to report later this year. It would be inappropriate to comment further while that work is still going on."

• UK
• West Yorkshire
• Leeds

West Yorkshire Police has confirmed that some of the 68 victims who have contacted them since the death of Jimmy Savile were aged as young as five when the alleged abuse took place.

Officers are investigating complaints that the TV presenter abused patients at hospitals across Yorkshire, with the victims ranging in ages from five to forty five when the crimes were committed.

• UK
• Jimmy Savile

West Yorkshire Police says officers are currently aware of 76 crimes involving 68 victims committed in the West Yorkshire area relating to Jimmy Savile. None of these crimes were previously reported to West Yorkshire Police before Savile's death.

Victims have reported offences which have taken place in hospitals:

• The main location of these offences was Leeds General Infirmary with complaints from 23 victims ranging from aged five to 34.
• Two victims aged five to 12 reported offences at St James Hospital in Leeds.
• One victim is unsure whether it was St James or the LGI due to the passage of time.

• One victim, who was aged 15 at the time of the offence, was at Dewsbury and District Hospital.
• Two victims aged five and 45 were at High Royds Hospital.

• In some cases it's not been possible to ascertain the age at the time of the offence as there are some offences where victims haven't provided a date of birth.

• UK
• West Yorkshire
• Leeds

• The Royal Arcade was built in 1901, the year Queen Victoria died and Edward VII came to the throne
• Gott and Butterfield ironmongers moved in, and it was popularly known as Butterfield's arcade

• The shop, once described as an Aladdin's cave selling household goods, bicycles and camping equipment, closed in 1983

• UK
• Keighley
• West Yorkshire

A crash and an oil spillage has closed a lane causing congestion on the M62 Westbound near Huddersfield.

• Accident before J21 (Milnrow)
• One lane closed
• Congestion back to J23 A640/A643 (Huddersfield)
• Travel time around 45 minutes
• Accident involving two cars & oil spillage

• UK
• West Yorkshire
• M62

The man hoping to development an underground Victorian shopping arcade in Keighley says there are many planning restrictions - and anything built will fit in with its Victorian pa

"We’d be very restricted for what we could do.

"It’s mainly on safety and fire assessment grounds. If we can get these things sorted then we definitely will develop it.

"It’s something we would really like to do. We’ve looked at opening it up with craft shops. It will be a working environment - shops that would fit in with what it used to be. We’ll utilise what’s in there."

Other ideas being considered include creating a visitor attraction or converting the old shops for use by craftsmen and specialist traders.

• UK
• Keighley
• West Yorkshire

When builders discovered an underground shopping arcade in Keighley, much of the Victorian building work on the cellars of seven shops was still intact, while wooden shop-fronts and stable pens were in place.

Constructors also found doors, signs and fittings from some of the original shops in the street, which was then owned by Frank Booth and Mark Holroyd.

Now Nick Holroyd, manager of the Royal Arcade, which is above the discovery, is investigating whether the street - once at ground level - can be restored.

He has enlisted an architect and structural engineer - and plans are being made to develop the street, which has space for up to eight units.

• UK
• Keighley
• West Yorkshire

Shoppers may soon be able to bag a basement bargain - and walk through a secret Victorian shopping street after it was announced the street could reopen for business.

The subterranean cavern of former shops and stables were uncovered under the Royal Arcade, a two-storey complex of stores and flats in Keighley, West Yorkshire.

Last used in the 1890s, it was found after builders smashed their way through while converting the arcade in 2002.

• UK
• Keighley
• West Yorkshire