A college is aiming to become a star attraction on the Bronte country tourist trail.

Keighley Campus of Leeds City College is bidding to attract visitors to its pioneering science centre, where people can experience what it is like to be an astronaut.

The STAR Centre, housed in the £35 million college complex in Dalton Lane, Keighley, used on weekdays by schools, is to be opened to the wider community at weekends and evenings.

It is hoped to become a tourist destination alongside the Bronte Parsonage Museum at Haworth, East Riddlesden Hall, and the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway.

Visitors will be able to rocket into space, drive robots, experience inter stellar missions, and even stroll on a mock Mars landscape.

The new initiative is designed to generate more income after several years of funding by Yorkshire Forward has come to an end.

Centre manager Ray Barber said: “The STAR Centre has been hugely popular and with all the new technological developments on-site now, we are hoping its appeal will take off further to become a regional visitor attraction.”

They plan to work with other organisations, including Keighley Town Council and the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway.

The centre will be open to the public for the first time on Sunday, March 20, as part of Keighley’s Go Free Day and later the college is looking to open its entire ground floor on Saturday mornings.

Keighley Town Council also has ambitions to set up a police museum in the former Keighley police headquarters in North Street. Plans have been submitted to change its use to a civic centre.

In addition to the museum, councillors want the building to accommodate a range of services, including a police contact point, an advice service for debt and emergency housing, and a dining area for corporate functions.

For further details and to inquire about making a booking and costings, please visit starcentre.org.uk or contact (01535) 685167.