Unusual polling stations that tick all the right boxes

The law requires only that polling booths be accessible, identifiable and private, and big enough to allow a queue of people to flow through.

So long as they tick all those boxes, returning officers at local authorities can set them up wherever they like - and this year’s crop included a liberal selection of non-conservative choices.

On Sheffield’s Handsworth Road, the local community bus doubled up as a polling station, and at least two cafes across the city were being pressed into service. One of them, the Bank View at Langsett, still sports the polka dots it acquired when the Tour de France passed by, three years ago.

In Oxford, a polling station was set up inside a laundrette, where, in addition to the normal voting instructions, a sign warning against the use of coloured dyes had been left in place.

At Leeming Bar Station in North Yorkshire, some voters cast their ballots inside a train carriage, while in Scarborough, an indoor bowling centre was in use.

Other sporting venues included the world’s oldest football ground, Sandygate, home to Hallam FC in Sheffield, and the Ecclesfield pavilion on the city’s Nether Lane.

Churches are traditional venues for polling stations, but other religious buildings were also in use. In Bradford and Leeds, around 160 churches and church halls, and at least three mosques were being used.

In Ilkley, two theatrical venues - the Winter Gardens and the Wildman Theatre at the Playhouse - were turned into stations this year.