[4] The assizes then moved to the County Hall in North Street: that building, which had been commissioned as a mechanics' institute in 1845, was considerably altered and extended for public and judicial use to a design by Thomas Goodchild in 1862.

[8] However, what the borough still needed was a courthouse with dedicated facilities for Crown Court hearings, which require courtrooms suitable for trial by jury.

The site selected by the Lord Chancellor's Department, on the west side of Bedford Road, had been occupied by a cricket ground and a gas works.

[9] The new building was designed by the Property Services Agency in the Modernist style, built in red brick at a cost of £4.7 million,[10] and was completed in 1986.

The whole structure, including the wings of ten bays each, was single storey and fronted by a prominent colonnade, formed by square columns supporting an entablature.