Magistrates Court, West Avenue,

Built as an assembly rooms in 1892. Designed by W.G. Newcombe. Minor modifications in 1894. In or before 1906 the building had become a drill hall, possibly because of the Second Boer War (1899-1902). It was altered in 1924 (front elevation) and again in 1952, by which time it was occupied by The Northumberland Territorial and Auxiliary Forces Association. The building had been used by the army in WW2. In 1969 the building was converted into a magistrate's court. It closed in 2010. The building is built in smooth orange brick in English Garden Wall Bond. It is pebble-dashed at first floor level on the north and east elevations. The roof is slate with red ridge tiles. The building consists of a two-storeyed wing with the small entrance block at its north-west corner. Set back to the west is a larger hall with a lower single-storey section on the street frontage. In front of the entrance are a pair of decorative cast-iron lamp posts. The modern double-glazed doors are set under a three-centred arch. On the first floor there is a big canted oriel window. Above that is a Dutch gable with slit vent. The single storeyed section to the west of the entrance has a projecting bay window carried on shaped timber brackets. A renewed door has an overlight and small window. To the east of the entrance is the two-storey wing with a bay window at ground floor and a casement window on the first. The interior has been remodelled. The only old features are moulded door architraves, four-panel doors and some skirting boards. An entrance lobby opens into a hall, with rooms coming of it. The rooms on either side of the lobby each have a pair of pilasters. The eastern room has a moulded cornice as does a large room on the east side of the hall. The large hall in the western block has been divided into a series of passages and two court rooms. The northern court room has a dias at its north wall. Behind it the wall is decorated with square panels with crosslet patterns. On the west of the entrance hall is a dog-leg stair with square newels and turned balusters (probably original).