A FORMER library has sold for more than double its guide price at auction.

Calderdale Council had listed the Hipperholme Library building on Leeds Road in an online property auction today.

The guide price was £120,000, but the lot ended up smashing this figure, eventually selling for £286,000.

The identity of the buyer has yet to be disclosed.

The grand library, which still has its original “ornate stonework, stained glass windows” was closed in 2020 – one of several libraries to shut under a shake up of library services in Calderdale.

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It was part of the Future Council project - to dispose of parts of Council land and buildings portfolio to both save running costs and increase revenue to offset severe budget pressures.

In the run up to the auction there had been calls for the Council to halt the sale pending a review of the policy by the Secretary of State.