A Victorian former County Court building is NOT being lined up for purchase, according to Kirklees Council.

Senior figures sought to end speculation over the Grade II-listed building in Huddersfield, latterly used as the nightclub Tokyo, after it was suggested that it could be bought up as part of the council’s £250m town centre regeneration plans.

Asked directly by the Lib Dems’ Alison Munro if the building was being eyed for acquisition, the council’s strategic director for economy and infrastructure, Karl Battersby, said, “We haven’t acquired it.”

He then went further, adding: “It’s not a property that we are considering buying.”

Conservationists and historians had speculated whether a mystery building being considered for purchase by the council as part of its Huddersfield Blueprint was the 19th century former County Court building on Queen Street.

Instead the deputy leader of Kirklees Council, Clr Peter McBride, has intimated that the authority is looking at the vast St George’s Warehouse across the tracks from Huddersfield Station.

Referring to the County Court, Clr McBride said it was not considered to be a “strategic” building.

Underlining Mr Battersby’s comments he added: “I’m not aware that we’ve bought the building. I’m sure we haven’t.

“We may have been discussing it but I’m certainly sure we haven’t bought it yet.

“It’s not a strategic building that I’m aware of. It’s certainly not regarded as such.”

During the 1990s the former County Court building became a split-level pub known as The Old Courthouse.

In 2015 it was turned into a “brewhaus” venue by Newcastle-based Tokyo Industries, which spent £750,000 on a re-fit.

Tokyo closed suddenly last summer. The building re-opened three months later as a nightclub, The Courthouse, but shut its doors in November 2019.