Forest Town Police Station,remembered by Chris Akers

Forest Town Police Station was situated at the crossroads of Clipstone Road West and Walk Mill Lane, ForestTown, Mansfield.The building was constructed I believe in the early 1960's (the date plaque is just visible on the group photo below) I know very little about the building other than the upper floor was a Police flat and the ground floor the Police Station. I believe at one point an Inspector lived there. It was a typical County station with one cell and a number of officers working from there covering the local area. As time went by and officers could afford mortgages, the need for police property declined and the station took over the upper floor.

The station was closed in April 2002 as part of the re-organisation of Nottinghamshire Police. It was quite a shock to the local residents as the closure had been kept very quiet until weeks before. Even the staff there knew very little!!! I suppose we call it progress nowadays but that is just me being cynical. The building remained empty for some months but was purchased by a Veterinary Practice and has changed beyond all recognitionI was lucky to have worked there twice, once from 1991 - 1992 and again from 1998 to closure. My first visit ever was during the miner's strike of 1984. As a City Traffic Motorcyclist I was there for a few hours on 'standby' with some PSU's. I didn't know the place existed!! Little was I to know that within 7 years I would be working there!!!

The station compliment over that last 10 years or so of operating consisted of 5 shifts each having 1 sergeant and 8 PCs covering four areas. In later years we had a Local Area Commander (Inspector). The station had its own CID, consisting of a detective sergeant and three or four DCs. A clerk typist worked 9am - 5pm Monday to Friday and for many years this post was performed by Roz White. During my time there it was a busy Section. The area covered was vast, covering Mansfield Woodhouse, Warsop, Meden Vale, Forest Town, Clipstone, Rainworth, Blidworth and Ravenshead

The pictures of the interior were taken around 2001-2002. If you look at the clock you will notice the time was around 4 'o clock. This was four in the morning - honest - we did work nights!!!

The group photo above was taken the weekend before final closure featuring my shift at the time that being Rota 4.