The former county court building in North Street, Keighley, has been sold.

The disused property has been bought by an Addingham-based firm of property developers called Turner Developments, despite the company’s unsuccessful application for funding from the Keighley Townscape Heritage Initiative.

This £2.7 million regeneration scheme, supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Bradford Council, has been offering town centre property owners money to restore rundown Victorian and Edwardian buildings.

Turner Developments managing director, James Turner, said his business had hoped to attract funding towards an estimated bill of £60,000 of repairs and refurbishments required for the building.

“It’s not the end of the world, and we’d never thought we’d get the full £60,000, but we’re a bit frustrated to have been turned down,” he said.

Mr Turner said the reasons given for the refusal were that the former county court building was not high-profile enough, and that his firm would use the grant money for repairs rather than renewals.

He said despite this setback he was still looking forward to being able to bring the premises back into use, adding that the building dates back to 1831.