The only real access between Stourbridge bus station and Stourbridge town centre, the Foster Street subway has been made safer with the opening of the first underground police station in Britain, this week.

The long awaited base which will be a satellite station to the main police station in Stourbridge, was officially opened on Wednesday by West Midlander of the year, Geoff Hill, and was the brainchild of Inspector Nigel Perkins. The station which cost £5,000 to refurbish the disused news kiosk, will be used every day by Stourbridge beat officers PC Darren Jukes and WPC Debbie Cook. The base, which is a joint venture with Dudley Council, will also be used by plain clothes officers and members of the robbery team.

Officers will be looking to crack down on robberies and muggings in the subway, which over the past few years has become a main area for a number of crimes taking place. It has become a meeting place for youths, who have vandalised the subway with graffiti, and there have been more than thirty incidents of crime in the subway since January 2003.