The site was used by HM Stationery Office from at least the 1920s.[3] The current building was designed in the modernist style, constructed by The Pitcher Construction Company[4] in red brick with stone dressings, and was opened as a new printworks for HM Stationery Office in the 1950s.[5] The design involved a long rectangular frontage facing into Pocock Street.[6]
In the early 1990s, Lord Chancellor's Department decided to close Knightsbridge Crown Court in Hans Crescent[7] and to establish a new crown court at the old printing works.[8] The building was then refurbished, augmented with a central entrance in Post-Modernist style, and opened as a courthouse in 1993,[6] accommodating nine courtrooms.[9]
In 2013, a judge at the court ruled that a woman should remove her niqāb while giving evidence.[10]
In 2015, Lorraine Barwell, a custody officer at the court, died after being assaulted while escorting a prisoner to a van.[11]
After cases had been relocated to Snaresbrook, Wood Green, Inner London and Kingston upon Thames Crown Courts, depending upon the prosecuting authority, the court closed on 20 December 2019.[12]
In December 2020, a planning application was submitted for a mixed use development, which would see the roof of the building transformed into an "urban forest".[13] In 2021, the building was used to film legal scenes for the Netflix revival of Top Boy.[14]
