IT’S sad to say it, but Keighley is dead!

This isn’t a new thing and we cannot completely blame the current Covid-19 crisis ether, nor the present decline in retail shops.

It has been a long time coming, from within the town and the inaction of Bradford Council.

The numerous vacant properties littering Keighley – on North Street a VHS/TV repair shop that hasn’t been open since the 90s (who’s paying for that property, and how?) and the nine vacant properties down Cavendish Street, including the derelict Victoria Hotel – are all in key retail locations but have been left to ruin, and this isn’t even touching on the units that are empty within the Airedale Centre. This could be due to rent prices, but again, this has been a long time coming.

Then there are the social problems that Keighley has. Used needles scattered on the banking outside Morrisons, people drinking in the streets during the day (and a group that congregates under the multi-storey car park), gangs roaming the town centre, and a complete lack of police.

Add to all this a lack of job opportunities that will be further impacted by the new recession.

I remember a time when there were plenty of shops (a variety too, not just phone shops), always something going on and you could come with the family – and you could feel relatively safe.

So, Keighley is well and truly dead. But it doesn’t have to be this way, it can be reborn! However it needs tough love, a lot of hard work and for Bradford Council to actually care about the area.

MARK MCGIVERN

Haworth

* Email your letters to alistair.shand@keighleynews.co.uk