Vandalism and pro-Taliban graffiti has forced Keighley's Labour Party office to close its doors to the public.

Rear windows of the Devonshire Street office -- MP Ann Cryer's Keighley base -- have been smashed, bonfires lit in the garden, fireworks set off and dustbins emptied.

But the centrepiece is a drawing of Osama Bin Laden in front of New York's doomed twin towers and various obscenities on the back door.

Diary secretary Cath Rowen said that over the recent months staff had allowed a group of youths to come into the garden and had hoped to strike a deal that if they looked after the area they could use it as a meeting place.

But now the area will have to be fenced off and members of the public will no longer be able to informally drop into the office -- appointments will have to be made and full details of names and addresses given, she said.

"If this is the mentality of people, it is very sad. Parents are not aware of what their children are getting up to," she added.

"They are targeting the people who are actually helping the community."

Estimated damage to the building, garden and to erect a fence to keep intruders out is around £3,000.

But MP Ann Cryer is keen to point out the Devonshire Street office is one of many recent victims in the area.

She said: "Dalton Lane is beset by these problems. I don't want anyone to think I'm carping because of my own individual situation.

"Firms on Dalton Lane are going to pull out because of it. My appeal is to these boys to think of their own community and their parents because it's causing a problem for them.

"Jobs will be lost in Keighley which will affect them directly."

None of the Dalton Lane businesses which the Keighley News spoke to said they are pulling out.

But Peter Rock, managing director of Modern Equipment & Foundry Engineering, said: "We've been affected by vandalism.

"We've had hundreds of windows broken, fires, manhole covers lifted, drains filled with soil and dirty nappies thrown over the wall.

"We're at the top of Dalton Lane and get anything thrown over the wall."

Paul Barker, director of Paul Barker Screen Prints, in Dalton Mill, said the only problem they had experienced was a youth who had scaled the roof and tried to get into the building.

Detective Chief Inspector Roger Gasson, of Keighley police, said police regularly had meetings to discuss tensions and the problem orientated police (POP) teams, which reassembled this week were tackling this problem.

He added: "We're monitoring graffiti and all racist incidents that have cropped up. They've not increased despite our fears."