IT must rank as one of the least impressive civic buildings in East Lancashire but this was Hyndburn Council’s new offices pictured just after they opened in 1981.

The Municipal Offices at the top of St James Street in Accrington were not without controversy

Initially there were rumblings that they had been built without the proper planning permission and the basic design earned it the nickname ‘The Cardboard’ Castle’.

It would be the base for the council for just over a decade, being demolished in 1992.

In the background you can see Platt Saco Lowell, now the Globe Centre.