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Inner London Crown Court
1) A fine building but ruined by lack of care and attention to maintenance and detail. The majesty of the building is rendered inconsequential by the nasty extension to the south, and by the imposition of what I suspect is an air conditioning plant in the middle of the forecourt and carpark.

2) My notes are written by an advocate but many of them should find general acceptance, as they apply to everyone using the building.

3) Past repairs
4) Everywhere are signs that a workman has come into fix up this or take down that, without making good thereafter. I would not let said workmen leave my house in that sort of order – how do they get away with it in government accommodation?

5) What a worn out and shabby public building. Last inspected by Someone Important in when Sir came to open the new wing.

6) Current needs of the fabric
7) The door to the male advocates corridor sticks, which means that quite often it sticks open or unlocked, rendering the digilock pointless and making the room and corridor behind it insecure.

8) Of the two digilocked doors to the male advocates room only one has a door code that works.

9) The tannoy system is very good – much better than Woolwich Crown Court.

10) The lavatories are clean – well done.

11) The desk television repeaters in court 4 do nothing except take up space – they can't be connected to the main display – pointless innovation.

12) The clock outside court 3 is stopped, dead. Its right twice a day.

13) The uplighter on the staircase outside courts 4/5 has no bulb in it.

14) The cleaner makes a tour at lunchtime every day and diligently mops the floor in the robing room in the afternoon session.

15) Lavatories
16) The door to the second stall in the gentleman advocates lavatory is broken and won't lock – because the hinge has dropped and remained unnoticed despite the claimed daily checks.

17) The fresh water fountain in the same area just pisses water all over the floor instead of into the bowl.

18) Outside court 12, the seat is missing from the lavatory pan in the gents.

19) In the male advocates lavatories, the seat is soft close, in a cubicle from where the tiles are falling off. Lipstick on a pig.

20) On 20 June the lavatory paper was nearly exhausted. On 21 June it was completely exhausted.

21) In the less used lavatories adjacent to court 4, the hot water comes out brown.

22) In the lavatory next to court 4, the cold tap does not issue any water.


23) Daily use items
24) The security arch has a bleeper that sounds constantly. Given that no one can enter the building (theoretically) without passing through, and given that it is constantly attended, the security staff could turn it off and use eyes instead.


25) Advocates area/use
26) There is an alarm of some sort bleeping noisily once a minute in the Advocates dining area – which is very distracting when advocates sit in there trying to work or think.

27) The comments box in the advocates dining room has no comment forms to complete; so I made my own one up; and the test document that I placed in there on 14 June was still there two months later.

28) There is a pointless second door before you get to the cells, which serves only to delay visits further while someone else who's job it is to open it finishes the crossword.

29) The cells area needs no comment. It is a model of cleanliness, hygiene, and cooperation, run by charming and efficient staff whose every wish is to please and accommodate. They do it well. I commend them for their friendliness.


30) Food
31) All the refreshment rooms are out of order.

32) Given that there are 12 courts here, indicating about (per court - judge, clerk, usher, 12 jurypersons, prosecutor, defence lawyer, defendant on bail, witnesses, security, gaolers) 300 persons in daily attendance as a captive audience, why cannot the means be found to run a caff?

33) There is a risk of victims, witnesses, defendants, families, lawyers, and jurors intermingling at breaks.

34) In the advocates room on 14 June lies a copy of the Times dated 9 June and not thrown away.

35) Advocates dining room has a very fancy 42” television mounted on the wall. It’s never on. Its not connected. What's it there for?

36) Outside the landing on the second floor the lights don't work which makes entry and egress to the advocates landing tricky.

37) I am told that parking for advocates cars is available.

38) One of my fellow advocates was allowed to use a spare room for a long trial just for asking. Well done on that score.

39) The staff are cool and work well within the limits of the building. As usual, it's people putting up with what would and should be unacceptable and muddling through that holds all together.

Steve Wedd
Originally drafted June 2016