:Bradford

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The name Bradford derives from the Old English brad and ford the broad ford, which referred to a crossing of the Bradford Beck at Church Bank below the site of Bradford Cathedral, around which a settlement grew in Anglo-Saxon times.{{cite web |url=http://www.visitbradford.com/leisure-attractions/history-of-bradford.asp |title=History of Bradford |publisher=Visitbradford.com |access-date=2 February 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090924193603/http://www.visitbradford.com/leisure-attractions/history-of-bradford.asp |archive-date=24 September 2009 |url-status=dead}} It was recorded as "Bradeford" in 1086.{{Harvnb|Mills|1998|p=49}}

After an uprising in 1070, during William the Conqueror's Harrying of the North, the manor of Bradford was laid waste, and is described as such in the Domesday Book of 1086. It then became part of the Honour of Pontefract given to Ilbert de Lacy for service to the Conqueror, in whose family the manor remained until 1311. There is evidence of a castle in the time of the Lacys.{{cite book |editor-last=Lewis |editor-first=Samuel |chapter=Bracknell – Bradford |chapter-url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50819#s23 |title=A Topographical Dictionary of England |via=British History Online |pages=326–331 |year=1848 |access-date=3 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121026101604/http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50819#s23 |archive-date=26 October 2012 |url-status=live}} The manor then passed to the Earl of Lincoln, John of Gaunt, The Crown and, ultimately, private ownership in 1620.

By the Middle Ages, Bradford had become a small town centred on Kirkgate, Westgate and Ivegate.{{sfn|Sheeran|2005|p=13}} In 1316 there is mention of a fulling mill, a soke mill where all the manor corn was milled and a market. During the Wars of the Roses the inhabitants sided with House of Lancaster. Edward IV granted the right to hold two annual fairs and from this time the town began to prosper. In the reign of Henry VIII Bradford exceeded Leeds as a manufacturing centre. Bradford grew slowly over the next two-hundred years as the woollen trade gained in prominence.

During the Civil War the town was garrisoned for the Parliamentarians and in 1642 was unsuccessfully attacked by Royalist forces from Leeds. Sir Thomas Fairfax took the command of the garrison and marched to meet the Duke of Newcastle but was defeated. The Parliamentarians retreated to Bradford and the Royalists set up headquarters at Bolling Hall from where the town was besieged leading to its surrender. The Civil War caused a decline in industry but after the accession of William III and Mary II in 1689 prosperity began to return. The launch of manufacturing in the early 18th century marked the start of the town's development while new canal and turnpike road links encouraged trade.

File:Creighton bradford 1835.jpg In 1801, Bradford was a rural market town of 6,393 people,{{sfn|Sheeran|2005|p=11}} where wool spinning and cloth weaving were carried out in local cottages and farms. Bradford was thus not much bigger than nearby Keighley (5,745) and was significantly smaller than Halifax (8,866) and Huddersfield (7,268).{{sfn|Sheeran|2005|p=11}} This small town acted as a hub for three nearby townships – Manningham, Bowling and Great and Little Horton, which were separated from the town by countryside.{{sfn|Sheeran|2005|p=11}}

Blast furnaces were established in about 1788 by Hird, Dawson Hardy at Low Moor and iron was worked by the Bowling Iron Company until about 1900. Yorkshire iron was used for shackles, hooks and piston rods for locomotives, colliery cages and other mining appliances where toughness was required. The Low Moor Company also made pig iron and the company employed 1,500 men in 1929.{{cite book |title=The Basic Industries of Great Britain by Aberconway: Chapter VI |url=http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/wiki/The_Basic_Industries_of_Great_Britain_by_Aberconway:_Chapter_VI#Introduction |publisher=Graces Guide |access-date=26 January 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110502073135/http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/wiki/The_Basic_Industries_of_Great_Britain_by_Aberconway:_Chapter_VI#Introduction |archive-date=2 May 2011 |url-status=live }} When the municipal borough of Bradford was created in 1847 there were 46 coal mines within its boundaries. Coal output continued to expand, reaching a peak in 1868 when Bradford contributed a quarter of all the coal and iron produced in Yorkshire.Richardson "A Geography of Bradford" pages 61–67

The population of the township in 1841 was 34,560.The National Cyclopaedia of useful knowledge, Vol III, London, Charles Knight, 1847, p.713

File:John Wilson Anderson - Bradford, 1825-33.jpg

In 1825 the wool-combers union called a strike that lasted five-months but workers were forced to return to work through hardship leading to the introduction of machine-combing.{{cite book|title=The Second Coming: Popular Millenarianism, 1780–1850|last=Harrison|first=J. F. C.|publisher=Routledge|year=2013|isbn=978-1-136-29876-9|series=Routledge Revivals}} This Industrial Revolution led to rapid growth, with wool imported in vast quantities for the manufacture of worsted cloth in which Bradford specialised, and the town soon became known as the wool capital of the world.{{cite web |url=http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/management/external/page.php?section=bradford&page=bradhistory |title=Bradford's History – Bradford University School of Management |publisher=Brad.ac.uk |access-date=2 February 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110613095846/http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/management/external/page.php?section=bradford&page=bradhistory |archive-date=13 June 2011 |url-status=live }}

A permanent military presence was established in the town with the completion of Bradford Moor Barracks in 1844.White's 1853 Directory & Gazetteer of Leeds, Bradford, Halifax, Huddersfield & Wakefield

Bradford became a municipal borough in 1847, and a county borough in 1888, making it administratively independent of the West Riding County Council. It was honoured with city status on the occasion of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897, with Kingston upon Hull and Nottingham. The three had been the largest county boroughs outside the London area without city status.{{cite book | title= City status in the British Isles, 1830–2002 | series= Historical urban studies | last= Beckett | first=J. V. | year= 2005 | publisher= Ashgate | location= Aldershot | isbn= 0-7546-5067-7 }} The borough's boundaries were extended to absorb Clayton in 1930, and parts of Rawdon, Shipley, Wharfedale and Yeadon urban districts in 1937.{{cite vob | url=http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/relationships.jsp?u_id=10220440 | name=Bradford MB/CB | accessdate=13 January 2023 }}

File:Bradford waterworks map 1881.jpg

Bradford had ample supplies of locally mined coal to provide the power that the industry needed. Local sandstone was an excellent resource for building the mills, and with a population of 182,000 by 1850,{{cite web |url=http://encyclopedia.farlex.com/Bradford |title=Bradford – Hutchinson encyclopedia article about Bradford |publisher=Encyclopedia.farlex.com |access-date=2 February 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606223247/http://encyclopedia.farlex.com/Bradford |archive-date=6 June 2011 |url-status=live }} the town grew rapidly as workers were attracted by jobs in the textile mills. A desperate shortage of water in Bradford Dale was a serious limitation on industrial expansion and improvement in urban sanitary conditions. In 1854 Bradford Corporation bought the Bradford Water CompanyBradford Corporation (1856) The Acts relating to the Transfer of the Bradford Waterworks to the Corporation of Bradford. and embarked on a huge engineering programme to bring supplies of soft water from Airedale, Wharfedale and Nidderdale.Cudworth, William (1882) Historical Notes on the Bradford Corporation. By 1882 water supply had radically improved. Meanwhile, urban expansion took place along the routes out of the city towards the Hortons and Bowling and the townships had become part of a continuous urban area by the late 19th century.{{sfn|Sheeran|2005|p=13}}

A major employer was Titus Salt who in 1833 took over the running of his father's woollen business specialising in fabrics combining alpaca, mohair, cotton, and silk. By 1850 he had five mills. However, because of the polluted environment and squalid conditions for his workers, Salt left Bradford and transferred his business to Salts Mill in Saltaire in 1850. There, in 1853, he began to build the workers' village, which has become a UNESCO World Heritage Site.{{cite ODNB |title=Salt, Sir Titus, first baronet (1803–1876) |last=Jamews |first=David |year=2004 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/24565 |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/24565?docPos=6 |url-access=subscription |access-date=8 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016201926/http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/24565?docPos=6 |archive-date=16 October 2015 |url-status=live }}

Henry Ripley was a younger contemporary of Titus Salt. He was managing partner of Edward Ripley & Son Ltd, which owned the Bowling Dye Works. In 1880 the dye works employed over 1000 people and was said to be the biggest dye works in Europe. Like Salt he was a councillor, JP and Bradford MP who was deeply concerned to improve working class housing conditions. He built the industrial Model village of Ripley Ville on a site in Broomfields, East Bowling close to the dye works.

File:listermillsbradford.jpg]]

Other major employers were Samuel Lister and his brother who were worsted spinners and manufacturers at Lister's Mill (Manningham Mills). Lister epitomised Victorian enterprise but it has been suggested that his capitalist attitude made trade unions necessary.{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Masham, Samuel Cunliffe Lister, 1st Baron|volume=17 |page=837}}

Unprecedented growth created problems with over 200 factory chimneys continually churning out black, sulphurous smoke, Bradford gained the reputation of being the most polluted town in England. There were frequent outbreaks of cholera and typhoid, and only 30% of children born to textile workers reached the age of fifteen. This extreme level of infant and youth mortality contributed to a life expectancy for Bradford residents of just over eighteen years, which was one of the lowest in the country.

Like many major cities Bradford has been a destination for immigrants. In the 1840s Bradford's population was significantly increased by migrants from Ireland, particularly rural County Mayo{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/bradford/content/articles/2006/05/12/bradford_irish_katie_feature.shtml|title=Against the odds?|publisher=BBC|access-date=12 July 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141003020942/http://www.bbc.co.uk/bradford/content/articles/2006/05/12/bradford_irish_katie_feature.shtml|archive-date=3 October 2014|url-status=live}} and County Sligo, and by 1851 about 10% of the population were born in Ireland, the largest proportion in Yorkshire.{{cite journal| doi=10.1111/j.1467-8586.1968.tb00038.x | volume=20|journal=Bulletin of Economic Research|pages=40–57|year = 1968|last1 = Richardson|first1 = C.| title=Irish Settlement in Mid-Nineteenth Century Bradford }}

AroundRichardson. Geography of Bradford. Pages 91–101 "Boomtown Population Geography" the middle decades of the 19th century the Irish were concentrated in eight densely settled areas situated near the town centre. One of these was the Bedford Street area of Broomfields, which in 1861 contained 1,162 persons of Irish birth—19% of all Irish born persons in the Borough.Richardson. Table 39. Page 99.

File:Bradford Chamber of Commerce, Little Germany.jpg]]

During the 1820s and 1830s, there was immigration from Germany. Many were Jewish merchants and they became active in the life of the town. The Jewish community mostly living in the Manningham area of the town,{{cite web|url=http://bradfordjewish.org.uk/900-2/|title=The Bradford Jewish Heritage Trail|work=bradfordjewish.org.uk|access-date=25 August 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130922005523/http://bradfordjewish.org.uk/900-2/|archive-date=22 September 2013|url-status=live}} numbered about 100 families but was influential in the development of Bradford as a major exporter of woollen goods from their textile export houses predominantly based in Little Germany and the civic life of Bradford. Charles Semon (1814–1877) was a textile merchant and philanthropist who developed a productive textile export house in the town, he became the first foreign and Jewish mayor of Bradford in 1864.{{cite web |url=http://bradfordjewish.org.uk/charles-semon-1814-1877/ |title=Charles Semon 1814–1877 | Making Their Mark |publisher=Bradford Jewish |access-date=10 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222134210/http://bradfordjewish.org.uk/charles-semon-1814-1877/ |archive-date=22 December 2015 |url-status=live }} Jacob Behrens (1806–1889) was the first foreign textile merchant to export woollen goods from the town, his company developed into an international multimillion-pound business.{{citation |title=The Jewish connection! |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/bradford/content/articles/2006/04/12/jews_of_bradford_feature.shtml |publisher=BBC |access-date=3 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140423053541/http://www.bbc.co.uk/bradford/content/articles/2006/04/12/jews_of_bradford_feature.shtml |archive-date=23 April 2014 |url-status=live }} Behrens was a philanthropist, he also helped to establish the Bradford chamber of commerce in 1851.{{cite web |url=http://bradfordjewish.org.uk/jacob-behrens/ |title=Sir Jacob Behrens 1806–1889 | Making Their Mark |publisher=Bradford Jewish |access-date=10 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222164116/http://bradfordjewish.org.uk/jacob-behrens/ |archive-date=22 December 2015 |url-status=live }} Jacob Moser (1839–1922) was a textile merchant who was a partner in the firm Edelstein, Moser and Co, which developed into a successful Bradford textile export house. Moser was a philanthropist, he founded the Bradford Charity Organisation Society and the City Guild of Help. In 1910 Moser became the first Jewish Lord Mayor of Bradford.{{cite web |url=http://bradfordjewish.org.uk/jacob-moser-1839-1922/ |title=Jacob Moser 1839–1922 | Making Their Mark |publisher=Bradford Jewish |access-date=10 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222120949/http://bradfordjewish.org.uk/jacob-moser-1839-1922/ |archive-date=22 December 2015 |url-status=live }}

File:Jowett Eight badge.jpg Cars Eight badge]]

To support the textile mills, a large manufacturing base grew up in the town providing textile machinery, and this led to diversification with different industries thriving side by side. The Jowett Motor Company founded in the early 20th century by Benjamin and William Jowett and Arthur V Lamb, manufactured cars and vans in Bradford for 50 years.{{cite web |first=Ken |last=Baker |url=http://www.britishmm.co.uk/history.asp?id=506 |title=British Motor Manufacturers 1894–1960, Jowett |publisher=Britishmm.co.uk |access-date=2 February 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110110072006/http://www.britishmm.co.uk/history.asp?id=506 |archive-date=10 January 2011 |url-status=dead }} The Scott Motorcycle Company was a well known producer of motorcycles and light engines for industry. Founded by Alfred Angas Scott in 1908 as the Scott Engineering Company in Bradford, Scott motorcycles were produced until 1978.

The city played an important part in the early history of the Labour Party. A mural on the back of the Bradford Playhouse in Little Germany commemorates the centenary of the founding of the Independent Labour Party in Bradford in 1893.{{cite web|url=http://www.independentlabour.org.uk/main/2011/11/03/ilp-history-beginnings-in-bradford/|title=ILP History: Beginnings in Bradford|publisher=independentlabour.org.uk|access-date=3 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150328015305/http://www.independentlabour.org.uk/main/2011/11/03/ilp-history-beginnings-in-bradford/|archive-date=28 March 2015|url-status=live}}

File:14th Foot colours.jpg

The Bradford Pals were three First World War Pals battalions of Kitchener's Army raised in the city. When the three battalions were taken over by the British Army they were officially named the 16th (1st Bradford), 18th (2nd Bradford), and 20th (Reserve) Battalions, The Prince of Wales's Own (West Yorkshire Regiment).{{cite web|url=http://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/regiments-and-corps/the-british-infantry-regiments-of-1914-1918/the-prince-of-waless-own-west-yorkshire-regiment/|title=The Prince of Wales's Own (West Yorkshire Regiment) – The Long, Long Trail|website=www.longlongtrail.co.uk|access-date=14 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180217063029/http://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/regiments-and-corps/the-british-infantry-regiments-of-1914-1918/the-prince-of-waless-own-west-yorkshire-regiment/|archive-date=17 February 2018|url-status=live}}

On the morning of 1 July 1916, the 16th and 18th Battalions left their trenches in Northern France to advance across no man's land. It was the first hour of the first day of the Battle of the Somme. Of the estimated 1,394 men from Bradford and District in the two battalions, 1,060 were either killed or injured during the ill-fated attack on the village of Serre-lès-Puisieux.{{cite news |url=http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/tahistory/featuresnostalgiapasttimes/11864363.Badges_tribute_to_Pals_and_City_fans_who_joined_up_and_died_together_in_World_War_One/ |title=Badges tribute to Pals and City fans who joined up and died together in World War One |work=Bradford Telegraph and Argus |date=1 July 1916 |access-date=10 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304101443/http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/tahistory/featuresnostalgiapasttimes/11864363.Badges_tribute_to_Pals_and_City_fans_who_joined_up_and_died_together_in_World_War_One/ |archive-date=4 March 2016 |url-status=live }}

Other Bradford Battalions of The Prince of Wales's Own (West Yorkshire Regiment) involved in the Battle of the Somme were the 1st/6th Battalion (the former Bradford Rifle Volunteers), part of the Territorial Force, based at Belle Vue Barracks in Manningham.{{cite web|url=http://www.wartimememoriesproject.com/greatwar/allied/westyorkshireregiment6.php|title=6th Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment (Prince of Wales's Own) in The Great War 1914–1918 – The Wartime Memories Project -|work=wartimememoriesproject.com|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131102095857/http://www.wartimememoriesproject.com/greatwar/allied/westyorkshireregiment6.php|archive-date=2 November 2013}}{{cite web|url=http://www.warpath.orbat.com/regts/w_yorks.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030912211414/http://www.warpath.orbat.com/regts/w_yorks.htm|archive-date=12 September 2003|url-status=dead|title=Orbat.com|access-date=19 August 2016}} The 1/6th Battalion first saw action in 1915 at the Battle of Aubers Ridge before moving north to the Yser Canal near Ypres. On the first day of the Somme they took heavy casualties while trying to support the 36th (Ulster) Division.{{cite book|first=Martin |last=Middlebrook |title=The First Day on the Somme 1 July 1916|location= London|publisher= Allen Lane |year=1971 |isbn=0-00-633626-4|pages= 209–10}}{{cite news|url=http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/tahistory/featuresnostalgiapasttimes/10937230.Remembering_heroes_on_the_Western_Front/|title=Remembering heroes on the Western Front|first=Jim|last=Greenhalf|work=Bradford Telegraph and Argus|access-date=15 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140116135521/http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/tahistory/featuresnostalgiapasttimes/10937230.Remembering_heroes_on_the_Western_Front/|archive-date=16 January 2014|url-status=live}}{{cite news|url=http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/11384807.Help_to_honour_Bradford_Pals_with_memorial_appeal/|title=Help to honour city's WW1 heroes with appeal to raise money for new Bradford Pals memorial|first=Claire|last=Armstrong|work=Bradford Telegraph and Argus|access-date=4 August 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140812101302/http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/11384807.Help_to_honour_Bradford_Pals_with_memorial_appeal/|archive-date=12 August 2014|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=http://www.ww1battlefields.co.uk/somme/fricourt.html|title=World War One Battlefields : The Somme : Fricourt|publisher=ww1battlefields.co.uk|access-date=4 August 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150327015439/http://www.ww1battlefields.co.uk/somme/fricourt.html|archive-date=27 March 2015|url-status=dead }} The 2nd/6th Battalion (the former Bradford Rifle Volunteers) was also moved to France in 1917.{{cite web|url=https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/order-of-battle-of-divisions/62nd-2nd-west-riding-division/|title=62nd (2nd West Riding) Division|accessdate=29 January 2025}}

The 1/2nd and 2/2nd West Riding Brigades, Royal Field Artillery (TF), had their headquarters at Valley Parade in Manningham, with batteries at Bradford, Halifax and Heckmondwike.Maj A.F. Becke,History of the Great War: Order of Battle of Divisions, Part 2a: The Territorial Force Mounted Divisions and the 1st-Line Territorial Force Divisions (42–56), London: HM Stationery Office, 1935/Uckfield: Naval & Military Press, 2007, {{ISBN|1-847347-39-8}}, p. 90. The 1/2nd Brigade crossed to France with the 1/6th Battalion West Yorks in April 1915. These Territorial Force units were to remain close to each other throughout the war, serving in the 49th (West Riding) Division.{{cite web|url=http://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/order-of-battle-of-divisions/49th-west-riding-division/|title=49th (West Riding) Division – The Long, Long Trail|website=www.longlongtrail.co.uk|access-date=14 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180127080215/http://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/order-of-battle-of-divisions/49th-west-riding-division/|archive-date=27 January 2018|url-status=live}} They were joined in 1917 by the 2/6th Battalion, West Yorks, and 2/2nd West Riding Brigade, RFA, serving in the 62nd (2nd West Riding) Division.{{cite web|url=http://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/order-of-battle-of-divisions/62nd-2nd-west-riding-division/|title=62nd (2nd West Riding) Division – The Long, Long Trail|website=www.longlongtrail.co.uk|access-date=14 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171210143312/http://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/order-of-battle-of-divisions/62nd-2nd-west-riding-division/|archive-date=10 December 2017|url-status=live}}

Bradford's Telegraph and Argus newspaper was involved in spearheading the news of the 1936 Abdication Crisis, after the Bishop of Bradford publicly expressed doubts about Edward VIII's religious beliefs (see: Telegraph & Argus#1936 Abdication Crisis).

File:Morrisons HQ, Bradford - geograph.org.uk - 372718.jpg

After the Second World War migrants came from Poland and Ukraine and since the 1950s from Bangladesh, India and particularly Pakistan.{{cite web|work=Bradford Libraries|url=http://www.bradlibs.com/localstudies/vtc/destinationbradford/people/index.htm|title=Destination Bradford|access-date=9 July 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111004135814/http://www.bradlibs.com/localstudies/vtc/destinationbradford/people/index.htm|archive-date=4 October 2011|url-status=dead }}

The textile industry has been in decline throughout the latter part of the 20th century. A culture of innovation had been fundamental to Bradford's dominance, with new textile technologies being invented in the city, a prime example being the work of Samuel Lister. This innovation culture continues today throughout Bradford's economy, from automotive (Kahn Design){{cite web |url=http://www.kahndesign.com/ |title=Kahn Design | Alloy Wheels – Car Conversions – Watches |publisher=Kahndesign.com |access-date=19 September 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081210140414/http://www.kahndesign.com/ |archive-date=10 December 2008 |url-status=live }} to electronics (Pace Micro Technology).

Wm Morrison Supermarkets was founded by William Morrison in 1899, initially as an egg and butter merchant in Rawson Market, operating under the name of Wm Morrison (Provisions) Limited.{{cite web |url=http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/ngfl/bus_studies/13/company_info_unit_two/student_pack_morrisons.pdf |title=Welcome To Morrisons |access-date=2 February 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927183610/http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/ngfl/bus_studies/13/company_info_unit_two/student_pack_morrisons.pdf |archive-date=27 September 2011 |url-status=live }}

The grandest of the mills no longer used for textile production is Lister Mills, the chimney of which can be seen from most places in Bradford. It has become a beacon of regeneration after a £100 million conversion to apartment blocks by property developer Urban Splash.{{cite news| url=https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/885717.getting-ready-to-raise-roof-at-mill/| title=Getting Ready To Raise Roof at Mill!| accessdate=10 June 2023| date=18 August 2006| work=Telegraph & Argus| publisher=Newsquest Media Group}}

In 1989, copies of Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses were burnt in the city, and a section of the Muslim community led a campaign against the book. In July 2001, ethnic tensions led to rioting, and a report described Bradford as fragmented{{cite web |url=http://www.fairuk.org/docs/FAIR%20Bradford%20Report%202003.pdf |title=Fairuk.org |access-date=5 August 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110807115949/http://www.fairuk.org/docs/FAIR%20Bradford%20Report%202003.pdf |archive-date=7 August 2011 }} and a city of segregated ethnic communities.{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/unacceptable-segregation-in-bradford-9146010.html |title='Unacceptable segregation' in Bradford |work=The Independent |location=London |date=10 July 2001 |access-date=2 February 2010 |first=Ian |last=Herbert }}

The Yorkshire Building Society opened its new headquarters in the city in 1992.{{cite web|url=http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/10450858.__11m_to_expand_Yorkshire_Building_Society_headquarters_but_it_will_still_need_to_look_to_Leeds/|title=£11m to expand Yorkshire Building Society headquarters but it will still need to look to Leeds|website=Bradford Telegraph and Argus|date=30 May 2013 |access-date=18 June 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170517041031/http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/10450858.__11m_to_expand_Yorkshire_Building_Society_headquarters_but_it_will_still_need_to_look_to_Leeds/|archive-date=17 May 2017|url-status=live}}

In 2006 Wm Morrison Supermarkets opened its new headquarters in the city, the firm employs more than 5,000 people in Bradford.{{cite news|url=http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/746864.Morrisons__new_HQ_has_green_theme/|title=Morrisons' new HQ has green theme|work=Bradford Telegraph and Argus|access-date=14 June 2017}}

In June 2009 Bradford became the world's first UNESCO City of Film and became part of the Creative Cities Network since then.{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/film-news/5509928/Forget-Cannes...-Bradford-is-named-as-first-City-of-Film.html|title=Forget Cannes... Bradford is named as first City of Film|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|date=12 June 2009|access-date=3 October 2018|issn=0307-1235|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181003222449/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/film-news/5509928/Forget-Cannes...-Bradford-is-named-as-first-City-of-Film.html|archive-date=3 October 2018|url-status=live}} The city has a long history of producing both films and the technology that produces moving film—including the invention of the Cieroscope in Manningham in 1896.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/jun/12/bradford-wins-unesco-city-of-film|title=Bradford wins Unesco City of Film award|first=Martin|last=Wainwright|date=11 June 2009|access-date=14 June 2017|newspaper=The Guardian|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160423092958/http://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/jun/12/bradford-wins-unesco-city-of-film|archive-date=23 April 2016|url-status=live}}

In 2010 Provident Financial opened its new headquarters in the city. The company has been based in the city since 1880.{{cite news|url=http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/business/8406098.Provident_settle_into_new_home/|title=Provident settle into new home|work=Bradford Telegraph and Argus|access-date=14 June 2017}}

In 2012 the British Wool Marketing Board opened its new headquarters in the city.{{cite news|url=http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/business/businessbradford/businessbradfordfeatures/9861258.Bradford_wool_centre_that___s_the_only_one_like_it_in_the_world/|title=Bradford wool centre that's the only one like it in the world|work=Bradford Telegraph and Argus|access-date=14 June 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170808003455/http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/business/businessbradford/businessbradfordfeatures/9861258.Bradford_wool_centre_that___s_the_only_one_like_it_in_the_world/|archive-date=8 August 2017|url-status=live}} Also in 2012 Bradford City Park opened. The park cost £24.5 million to construct, and is a public space in the city centre that features numerous fountains and a mirror pool surrounded by benches and a walk way.{{cite news|url=http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/9609988.Bradford_s_City_Park_finally_set_to_open/|title=Bradford's City Park finally set to open|work=Bradford Telegraph and Argus|access-date=14 June 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170731062318/http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/9609988.Bradford_s_City_Park_finally_set_to_open/|archive-date=31 July 2017|url-status=live}}

In 2015 The Broadway opened, the shopping and leisure complex in the centre of Bradford cost £260 million to build and is owned by Meyer Bergman.

In 2022, Bradford was named the UK City of Culture 2025, beating Southampton, Wrexham and Durham.{{cite web |title=Celebrate your shortlisted 2025 UK City of Culture location |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/news/celebrate-your-shortlisted-2025-uk-city-of-culture-location |access-date=1 September 2023 |website=GOV.UK }}{{cite web |title=Bradford crowned UK City of Culture 2025 |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/news/bradford-crowned-uk-city-of-culture-2025 |access-date=1 September 2023 |website=GOV.UK }} The UK City of Culture bid, as of 2023, was expected to majorly stimulate the local economy and culture as well as attracting tourism to the city. By 2025, the UK City of Culture bid is expected to support potential economic growth of £389 million to the city of Bradford as well as to the surrounding local areas, creating over 7,000 jobs, attracting a significant amount of tourists to the city and providing thousands of performance opportunities for local artists.{{cite web |title=Government backs Bradford – UK City of Culture 2025 – with £10 million funding boost |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-backs-bradford-uk-city-of-culture-2025-with-10-million-funding-boost |access-date=1 September 2023 |website=GOV.UK }}

{{See also|City of Bradford}}

The city played an important part in the early history of the Labour Party. A mural on the back of the Bradford Playhouse (visible from Leeds Road) commemorates the centenary of the founding of the Independent Labour Party in 1893, and quotes its motto "There is no weal save commonweal".{{cite web |title=bradford: city for peace/site12-14 |url=http://www.cityforpeace.org.uk/htdocs/site12-14.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111007214258/http://www.cityforpeace.org.uk/htdocs/site12-14.html |archive-date=7 October 2011 |access-date=2 February 2010 |publisher=Cityforpeace.org.uk}}File:Logo of the Independent Labour Party.svgThe original Bradford Coat of Arms had the Latin words Labor omnia vincit below it, meaning "Work conquers all".{{cite web |title=Bradford |url=http://www.ngw.nl/heraldrywiki/index.php?title=Bradford |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150207024728/http://www.ngw.nl/heraldrywiki/index.php?title=Bradford |archive-date=7 February 2015 |access-date=26 December 2013 |work=ngw.nl}} A new coat of arms was emblazoned in 1976, after local government reorganisation in 1974, with the English motto "Progress, Industry, Humanity".

Bradford is represented by three MPs: for the constituencies of Bradford East (Imran Hussain, Labour Party), Bradford South (Judith Cummins, Labour), and Bradford West (Naz Shah, Labour Party).File:Labor vincit omnia (3277188166).jpg

Bradford was part of the Yorkshire and the Humber European constituency, which elected six Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) using the D'Hondt method of party-list proportional representation, until the UK exit from the European Union on 31 January 2020.

The City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council has 90 councillors (2023). As of 2023, a political party must hold more than 45 seats to control of the council. A minority-led administration occurs when all parties hold less than 45 seats on the council.{{cite web |title=The political composition of Bradford Council |url=https://www.bradford.gov.uk/your-council/about-bradford-council/the-political-composition-of-bradford-council/#:~:text=The%20main%20political%20parties%20are,Council%20changes%20after%20every%20election. |access-date=2 September 2023 |website=Bradford Metropolitan District Council}} Following local elections on 5 May 2022, Labour had majority control over Bradford council with 56 seats; this was followed by Conservatives and the Green Party with 16 and 8 seats, respectively.{{cite web |title=Current political composition |url=https://www.bradford.gov.uk/your-council/elections-and-voting/current-political-composition/ |access-date=2 September 2023 |website=Bradford Metropolitan District Council}} The council was led by council leader Susan Hinchliffe, representing the Windhill and Wrose ward, and chief executive Kersten England.{{cite web |title=Foreword |url=https://www.bradford.gov.uk/council-plan/our-council-plan/foreword/ |access-date=2 September 2023 |website=Bradford Metropolitan District Council}}

Bradford is located at {{coord|53|45|00|N|01|50|00|W|type:city(293000)_region:GB|display=inline}} (53.7500, −1.8333)¹. Topographically, it is located in the eastern foothills of the South Pennines moorland region.

Bradford is not built on any substantial body of water, but is situated at the junction of three valleys. One of the valleys, the Bradford Beck, rises in moorland to the west—swelled by its tributaries, the Horton Beck, Westbrook, Bowling Beck, and Eastbrook. At the site of the original ford, the beck turns north, and flows towards the River Aire at Shipley. Bradfordale (or Bradforddale) is a name given to this valley (see for example Firth 1997{{ref|Firth}}). It can be regarded as one of the Yorkshire Dales, though as it passes through the city, it is often not recognised as such. The beck's course through the city centre is culverted and has been since the mid-19th century. On the 1852 Ordnance Survey map{{ref|OS_1852}} it is visible as far as Sun Bridge, at the end of Tyrrell Street, and then from beside Bradford Forster Square railway station on Kirkgate. On the 1906 Ordnance Survey,{{ref|OS_1906}} it disappears at Tumbling Hill Street, off Thornton Road, and appears north of Cape Street, off Valley Road, though there are culverts as far as Queens Road.

The Bradford Canal, built in 1774, linking the city to the Leeds and Liverpool Canal took its water from Bradford Beck and its tributaries. The supply of water from the polluted Bradford Beck was often inadequate to feed the locks and heavily polluted the canal over time.{{cite web |title=History of the Bradford Canal |url=http://www.penninewaterways.co.uk/bradford/bf2.htm |access-date=2 September 2023 |website=www.penninewaterways.co.uk}} Due to the polluted state of the canal causing health problems, the council temporarily closed the canal in 1866.{{cite web |title=Bradford Canal |url=https://waterways.org.uk/waterways/discover-the-waterways/bradford-canal |access-date=2 September 2023 |website=Inland Waterways}} In 1922, the canal was permanently closed due to it not being economically viable to maintain the canal. In modern times, remnants of the canal can still be found, including by Canal Road where the route of the old canal can be seen by car.{{cite web |title=Virtual Journey along the Bradford Canal |url=http://www.penninewaterways.co.uk/bradford/bf34.htm |access-date=2 September 2023 |website=www.penninewaterways.co.uk}}

{{Geographic location

|title = Destinations from Bradford

|Northwest = The Yorkshire Dales, Skipton, Keighley, Bingley, Cottingley, Heaton

|North = The Yorkshire Dales, Ilkley, Otley, Guiseley, Baildon, Shipley, Saltaire

|Northeast = York, Wetherby, Harrogate, Leeds Bradford Airport, Greengates, Eccleshill

|West = University of Bradford, Thornton, Denholme, Oxenhope, Haworth, Hebden Bridge, Todmorden, Burnley

|Centre = Bradford

|East = Thornbury, Pudsey, Leeds, Selby

|Southwest = Wibsey, Buttershaw, Clayton, Queensbury, Halifax, Rochdale, Oldham, Manchester

|South = Wyke, Oakenshaw, Bailiff Bridge, Cleckheaton, Brighouse, Huddersfield, Holmfirth

|Southeast = East Bowling, Tong, Morley, Batley, Dewsbury, Ossett, Wakefield

}}

The underlying geology of the city is primarily carboniferous sandstones. These vary in quality from rough rock to fine, honey-coloured stone of building quality. Access to this material has had a pronounced effect on the architecture of the city.{{sfn|Sheeran|2005|p=9}} The city also lies within the north western parts of the Yorkshire Coalfield, which is mostly composed of carboniferous coal measures.{{cite web|url=http://nmrs.org.uk/mines/coal/yorkshire/index.html|access-date=9 April 2016|title=Yorkshire Coalfield|publisher=Northern Mine Research Society|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160331031137/http://nmrs.org.uk/mines/coal/yorkshire/index.html|archive-date=31 March 2016|url-status=live}} The coal measures stimulated early urban development, in the modern day, geological extraction of minerals is heavily reduced in terms of scale.{{cite web |title=BGS publications online |url=https://pubs.bgs.ac.uk/publications.html?pubID=B06092 |access-date=2 September 2023 |website=pubs.bgs.ac.uk}}

As with the vast majority of the UK, Bradford experiences a maritime climate (Köppen: Cfb), with limited seasonal temperature ranges, and generally moderate rainfall throughout the year.{{cite web|url=https://en.climate-data.org/europe/united-kingdom/england/bradford-370/|title=Bradford climate: Average Temperature, weather by month, Bradford weather averages - Climate-Data.org|website=en.climate-data.org|access-date=13 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181113170026/https://en.climate-data.org/europe/united-kingdom/england/bradford-370/|archive-date=13 November 2018|url-status=live}} Records have been collected since 1908 from the Met Office's weather station at Lister Park, a short distance north of the city centre. This constitutes one of the nation's longest unbroken records of daily data. The full record can be found on the council's website.{{cite web|url=http://online.bradford.gov.uk/ufs/ufsmain?esessionid=B919ACD7C238201F31AB9718ADEBE480_1&formid=WEATHER|title=Lister Park Weather records|access-date=20 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402212126/https://online.bradford.gov.uk/ufs/ufsmain?esessionid=B919ACD7C238201F31AB9718ADEBE480_1&formid=WEATHER|archive-date=2 April 2015|url-status=live}}

File:Lister Park weather station.JPG

The absolute maximum temperature recorded was {{convert|37.9|C|F}} in July 2022.{{cite web |title=Unprecedented extreme heatwave, July 2022 |url=https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/binaries/content/assets/metofficegovuk/pdf/weather/learn-about/uk-past-events/interesting/2022/2022_03_july_heatwave.pdf|access-date=19 July 2022 |website=www.metoffice.gov.uk}} In an 'average' year, the warmest day should attain a temperature of {{convert|27.5|C|F}},{{cite web|url=http://eca.knmi.nl/utils/calcdetail.php?seasonid=0&periodid=1981-2010&indexid=TXx&stationid=1847|title=1981-10 average warmest day|access-date=20 October 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402125738/http://eca.knmi.nl/utils/calcdetail.php?seasonid=0&periodid=1981-2010&indexid=TXx&stationid=1847|archive-date=2 April 2015|url-status=live}} with a total of 6 days{{cite web|url=http://eca.knmi.nl/utils/calcdetail.php?seasonid=0&periodid=1981-2010&indexid=SU&stationid=1847|title=1981-10 average >25c days|access-date=20 October 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140422080022/http://eca.knmi.nl/utils/calcdetail.php?seasonid=0&periodid=1981-2010&indexid=SU&stationid=1847|archive-date=22 April 2014|url-status=live}} rising to a maximum of {{convert|25.1|C|F}} or above.

The absolute minimum temperature recorded was {{convert|-13.9|C|F}} during January 1940. The weather station's elevated suburban location means exceptionally low temperatures are unknown. Typically, 41.4 nights of the year will record an air frost.{{citation needed|date=November 2018}}

Rainfall averages around {{convert|870|mm|0|abbr=on}} per year with over 1 mm falling on 139 days.{{cite web|url=http://eca.knmi.nl/utils/calcdetail.php?seasonid=0&periodid=1981-2010&indexid=RR1&stationid=1847|title=1981-10average wetdays|access-date=20 October 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140422080212/http://eca.knmi.nl/utils/calcdetail.php?seasonid=0&periodid=1981-2010&indexid=RR1&stationid=1847|archive-date=22 April 2014|url-status=live}}

Sunshine, at little in excess of 1,250 hours per year is low, as one would expect of an inland location in Northern England located amongst upland areas. All averages refer to the 1981–2010 observation period.{{citation needed|date=November 2018}}

{{Weather box|location = Bradford (Lister Park),{{efn|Weather station is located {{convert|2|mi|0|abbr=out}} from the Bradford city centre.}} elevation: {{convert|134|m|ft|0|abbr=on}}, 1991–2020 normals, extremes 1908–present

| collapsed =

| metric first = y

| single line = y

| Jan record high C = 14.6

| Feb record high C = 18.4

| Mar record high C = 21.7

| Apr record high C = 23.9

| May record high C = 26.7

| Jun record high C = 30.0

| Jul record high C = 37.9

| Aug record high C = 32.2

| Sep record high C = 27.2

| Oct record high C = 25.6

| Nov record high C = 17.1

| Dec record high C = 15.8

| Jan high C = 6.8

| Feb high C = 7.4

| Mar high C = 9.5

| Apr high C = 12.5

| May high C = 15.7

| Jun high C = 18.2

| Jul high C = 20.4

| Aug high C = 19.8

| Sep high C = 17.2

| Oct high C = 13.4

| Nov high C = 9.6

| Dec high C = 7.2

| year high C = 13.1

| Jan mean C = 4.3

| Feb mean C = 4.6

| Mar mean C = 6.2

| Apr mean C = 8.6

| May mean C = 11.5

| Jun mean C = 14.2

| Jul mean C = 16.3

| Aug mean C = 15.9

| Sep mean C = 13.5

| Oct mean C = 10.3

| Nov mean C = 6.8

| Dec mean C = 4.6

| year mean C = 9.7

| Jan low C = 1.8

| Feb low C = 1.8

| Mar low C = 2.9

| Apr low C = 4.7

| May low C = 7.2

| Jun low C = 10.1

| Jul low C = 12.2

| Aug low C = 12.0

| Sep low C = 9.9

| Oct low C = 7.1

| Nov low C = 4.1

| Dec low C = 2.0

| year low C = 6.3

| Jan record low C = -13.9

| Feb record low C = -13.3

| Mar record low C = -11.1

| Apr record low C = -10.6

| May record low C = -3.0

| Jun record low C = 0.6

| Jul record low C = 5.0

| Aug record low C = 2.8

| Sep record low C = 0.3

| Oct record low C = -4.1

| Nov record low C = -7.8

| Dec record low C = -13.1

| precipitation colour = green

| Jan precipitation mm = 88.4

| Feb precipitation mm = 73.8

| Mar precipitation mm = 64.0

| Apr precipitation mm = 57.8

| May precipitation mm = 52.0

| Jun precipitation mm = 72.5

| Jul precipitation mm = 64.2

| Aug precipitation mm = 73.7

| Sep precipitation mm = 69.5

| Oct precipitation mm = 84.4

| Nov precipitation mm = 90.3

| Dec precipitation mm = 99.0

| year precipitation mm = 889.6

| unit precipitation days = 1.0 mm

| Jan precipitation days = 14.4

| Feb precipitation days = 12.1

| Mar precipitation days = 11.3

| Apr precipitation days = 10.6

| May precipitation days = 9.9

| Jun precipitation days = 10.1

| Jul precipitation days = 10.3

| Aug precipitation days = 11.5

| Sep precipitation days = 10.7

| Oct precipitation days = 12.5

| Nov precipitation days = 14.3

| Dec precipitation days = 14.5

| year precipitation days = 142.1

| Jan sun = 43.2

| Feb sun = 67.7

| Mar sun = 105.2

| Apr sun = 142.1

| May sun = 173.3

| Jun sun = 159.4

| Jul sun = 167.2

| Aug sun = 156.1

| Sep sun = 122.8

| Oct sun = 89.7

| Nov sun = 54.9

| Dec sun = 38.0

| year sun = 1319.4

| source 1 = Met Office{{efn|Data was calculated from Met Office raw monthly long term data from 1991–2020.}}{{cite web |url=https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/pub/data/weather/uk/climate/stationdata/bradforddata.txt|title= Bradford 1981–2010 averages |access-date=6 March 2019|publisher=Met Office}}

| source 2 = ECA&D{{cite web

| url =https://www.ecad.eu/download/millennium/millennium.php| title = Indices Data – Bradford STAID 1847| access-date =29 July 2022| publisher = KNMI}}

}}

{{notelist}}

{{further|South and West Yorkshire Green Belt}}

Bradford is within a green belt region that extends into the borough and wider surrounding counties. It is in place to reduce urban sprawl, prevent the towns in the West Yorkshire Urban Area conurbation from further convergence, protect the identity of outlying communities, encourage brownfield reuse, and preserve nearby countryside. This is achieved by restricting inappropriate development within the designated areas, and imposing stricter conditions on permitted building.{{cite web|last1=Council|first1=Bradford Metropolitan District|title=Land allocations Development Plan Document|url=https://www.bradford.gov.uk/planning-and-building-control/planning-policy/land-allocations-dpd/?Folder=Green+Belt+Review+Draft+Methodology+consultation|website=Bradford Metropolitan District Council|access-date=27 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180322143259/https://www.bradford.gov.uk/planning-and-building-control/planning-policy/land-allocations-dpd/?Folder=Green+Belt+Review+Draft+Methodology+consultation|archive-date=22 March 2018|url-status=live}}

The green belt surrounds the Bradford built-up area, separating towns and villages throughout the borough. Larger outlying communities such as Bingley, Wilsden, Cottingley, and Thornton are also exempt from the green belt area. However, nearby smaller villages, hamlets and rural areas such as Brunthwaite, Keelham, Denholme Gate, Laycock, Esholt, Micklethwaite, Goose Eye, Stanbury, Hainworth, Tong, and Harecroft are 'washed over' by the designation. Much semi-rural land on the fringes is also included. The area in 2017 amounted to some {{convert|23890|ha|km2+sqmi}}.{{cite web|title=Green belt statistics – GOV.UK|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/green-belt-statistics|website=www.gov.uk|access-date=27 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180703133634/https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/green-belt-statistics|archive-date=3 July 2018|url-status=live}}

A subsidiary aim of the green belt is to encourage recreation and leisure interests, with rural landscape features, greenfield areas and facilities including Park Wood, Northcliffe park and woods, Heaton Woods, Chellow Dene woods and reservoirs, Horton Bank country park, Norr Hill, Gilstead recreation park, Stone Circle remains by Shipley Glen, Bracken Hall, River Aire valley, Leeds and Liverpool canal, and the Leeds Country Way.

{{Main|Demographics of Bradford}}

File:Population Density Bradford Metropolitan District Council Area 2011 Census.png

File:Ethnic demography of Bradford over time.gif

At the 2011 UK census, Bradford had a population of 522,452.{{cite web|url=http://www.bradford.gov.uk/bmdc/government_politics_and_public_administration/2011_census|title=2011 census |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130729183215/http://www.bradford.gov.uk/bmdc/government_politics_and_public_administration/2011_census|archive-date=29 July 2013}} There were 106,680 households in Bradford, and the population density was 4,560 inhabitants per square kilometre (11,820/sq mi). For every 100 females, there were 92.9 males.{{cite web |url=http://www.statistics.gov.uk/census2001/downloads/1991_ua.xls |title=2011 Census – ONS |publisher=Office for National Statistics |access-date=10 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629111535/http://www.statistics.gov.uk/census2001/downloads/1991_ua.xls |archive-date=29 June 2011 |url-status=live }} Bradford has the youngest, fastest growing population outside London.{{cite web|url=http://www.investinyorkshire.com/Key-Cities/Bradford.aspx |archive-url=http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110204040844/http://www.investinyorkshire.com/Key-Cities/Bradford.aspx |url-status=dead |archive-date=4 February 2011 |title=Invest in Yorkshire: Bradford |publisher=Invest in Yorkshire |access-date=2 February 2010}}

The census showed that of Bradford's total population, 67.44% (352,317) was White, 26.83% (140,149) Asian, 2.48% (12,979) Mixed Race, 1.77% (9,267) Black and 1.48% (7,740) from other races.{{cite web|url=http://observatory.bradford.gov.uk/dataviews/tabular?viewId=274&geoId=6&subsetId=|title=Home – Statistics – Ethnic Group 2011 Census Key Statistics (five categories) – Table – West Yorkshire Observatory|publisher=bradford.gov.uk|access-date=19 May 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180922122344/http://observatory.bradford.gov.uk/dataviews/tabular?viewId=274&geoId=6&subsetId=|archive-date=22 September 2018|url-status=dead}}

22.1% of the population are British South Asian (included in the 26.83% Asian figure above) the second-highest percentage of South Asians in a single settlement in England and Wales (behind the city of Leicester at 29.9%).

Nearly half of all Asians living in Yorkshire and the Humber live in Bradford, with the central wards of Bradford Moor, City, Little Horton, Manningham and Toller having large majority Asian populations, whereas outlying wards of Bradford such as Thornton and Allerton, Idle and Thackley, Eccleshill, Wibsey, Wyke, Clayton, Wrose, Tong and Royds have predominantly white populations.{{cite web |url=http://www.bcsp-web.org/mapguide_site/maingeo.cfm |title=BCSP Maps & Stats |publisher=Bcsp-web.org |access-date=2 February 2010 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101127030213/http://www.bcsp-web.org/mapguide_site/maingeo.cfm |archive-date=27 November 2010 }}{{Failed verification|date=November 2010|reason=How do you get to something that backs up the statement?}}

The Office for National Statistics Regional Trends report, published in June 2009, showed that some parts of Bradford suffer from the highest levels of deprivation in the country, while other areas of Bradford are some of the least deprived in the country.{{cite news |url=http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/4457556.District_s_Haves_and_Have_Nots_revealed/?action=complain&cid=7789328 |title=Bradford one of most deprived cities in region |work=Telegraph & Argus |date=25 June 2009 |access-date=2 February 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090629215710/http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/4457556.District_s_Haves_and_Have_Nots_revealed/?action=complain&cid=7789328 |archive-date=29 June 2009 |url-status=live }}{{cite web|url=http://www.statistics.gov.uk/articles/RegionalTrends/RT41-Article3.pdf |access-date=11 September 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090824071641/http://www.statistics.gov.uk/articles/RegionalTrends/RT41-Article3.pdf |archive-date=24 August 2009 |title=Portrait of Yorkshire and The Humber}} Infant mortality is double the national average,{{cite web |last=Dent |first=Emma |url=http://www.hsj.co.uk/born-in-bradford-project-takes-on-infant-mortality/442131.article |title=Born in Bradford project takes on infant mortality |publisher=Hsj.co.uk |date=28 January 2008 |access-date=2 February 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724102131/http://www.hsj.co.uk/born-in-bradford-project-takes-on-infant-mortality/442131.article |archive-date=24 July 2011 |url-status=live }} and life expectancy is slightly lower than in other parts of the district.{{cite web |url=http://www.bradfordairedale-pct.nhs.uk/NR/rdonlyres/A0BA3BBC-A7AD-4B00-83D0-FA43C129B8E5/76102/PublicHealthReportWEBch3.pdf |archive-url=http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20100305073128/http://www.bradfordairedale%2Dpct.nhs.uk/NR/rdonlyres/A0BA3BBC%2DA7AD%2D4B00%2D83D0%2DFA43C129B8E5/76102/PublicHealthReportWEBch3.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=5 March 2010 |title=Bradfordairedale-pct.nhs.uk |publisher=Bradfordairedale-pct.nhs.uk |access-date=5 August 2011 }}

{{See also|List of companies based in Bradford}}

Bradford's textile industry has been in decline for many years and the city has suffered from de-industrialisation. Some areas of Bradford are among the worst levels of social deprivation in the UK,{{cite web |url=http://www.bradford.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/B48020C9-38F1-4697-8BDE-1CDB96CE7E3B/0/IndexofDeprivationBradfordReport.pdf |title=Indices of Deprivation 2004 |access-date=2 February 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170704032451/https://www.bradford.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/B48020C9-38F1-4697-8BDE-1CDB96CE7E3B/0/IndexofDeprivationBradfordReport.pdf |archive-date=4 July 2017 |url-status=live }} with widespread pockets of exclusion, and rates of unemployment in some wards exceeding 25%, though other areas of Bradford are among the least deprived in the UK.{{cite web|title=The English Indices of Deprivation 2007|url=http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/communities/pdf/733520.pdf|publisher=Communities and Local Government|access-date=10 April 2012|pages=41, 59, 86–87|quote=In Bradford, almost 30% of the LSOAs are amongst the 10% most deprived while over 6% of LSOAs in Bradford are among the 10% least deprived in England.|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111213132013/http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/communities/pdf/733520.pdf|archive-date=13 December 2011}} The economy is worth around £9.5 billion, making Bradford's economy a major powerhouse in the region and is forecast to grow to more than £10 billion by 2018,{{cite web|url=http://www.leedscityregionatmipim.co.uk/wp-content/themes/MIPIM/images/MIPIM%202013%20Bradford%20Brochure.pdf|title= BRADFORD a city redefined|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222060604/http://www.leedscityregionatmipim.co.uk/wp-content/themes/MIPIM/images/MIPIM%202013%20Bradford%20Brochure.pdf|archive-date=22 February 2014|access-date=6 March 2020}} contributing around 8.4% of the region's output, and making the district the third largest (after Leeds and Sheffield) in Yorkshire & Humber. The economy has diversified and the city is home to several major companies, notably in finance (Yorkshire Building Society, Provident Financial, Santander UK), textiles (British Wool Marketing Board, Bulmer and Lumb Group), chemicals (BASF, Nufarm UK), electronics (Arris International, Filtronic), engineering (NG Bailey, Powell Switchgear), and manufacturing, (Denso Marston, Bailey Offsite, Hallmark Cards UK and Seabrook Potato Crisps). Supermarket chain Morrisons has its head office in Bradford as does water utility company Yorkshire Water.{{cite web|title=Contact Us – Morrisons|url=http://www.morrisons.co.uk/Store-finder/About-customer-services/Contact-Us/|publisher=Morrisons|access-date=23 August 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110917110750/http://www.morrisons.co.uk/Store-finder/About-customer-services/Contact-Us/|archive-date=17 September 2011|url-status=live}}

Vanquis Banking Group, formerly Provident Financial plc, has moved into a {{convert|250000|sqft|m2|abbr=on}}, £45 million, flagship headquarters building in the city centre. The building also houses a 200-bed Jurys Inn hotel.{{cite web |url=http://www.mcaleer-rushe.co.uk/2010/04/23/mcaleer-rushe-on-target-with-250000-sq-ft-bradford-development/ |title=Provident Financial: History |publisher=Mcaleer-rushe.co.uk |access-date=5 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100924234045/http://www.mcaleer-rushe.co.uk/2010/04/23/mcaleer-rushe-on-target-with-250000-sq-ft-bradford-development/ |archive-date=24 September 2010 |url-status=dead }}

In October 2011 Plans to regenerate Bradford city centre, including the long-delayed Broadway shopping centre, was given a boost as Bradford Council secured £17.6 million of regional growth funding from the government, which it will match to create a £35 million "growth zone" in which companies would get business rate relief in exchange for helping people get training and jobs.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-15518851|title=Bradford in £35m regional growth fund boost|work=BBC News|date=31 October 2011|access-date=30 April 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111225053857/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-15518851|archive-date=25 December 2011|url-status=live}}

In April 2012 retail giant Freeman Grattan Holdings secured a deal to open a new head office and house around 300 staff in the centre of Bradford. The mail order and online retailer will transfer office staff from its Lidget Green base, where Grattan has had a presence since 1934, to a Grade II-listed former wool warehouse on the edge of Little Germany.{{cite news|url=http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/local/localbrad/9656741.Freeman_Grattan_Holdings_to_open_new_head_office_in_Bradford/|title=Freeman Grattan Holdings to open new head office in Bradford|first=Chris|last=Holland|work=Bradford Telegraph and Argus|access-date=29 April 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120423222728/http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/local/localbrad/9656741.Freeman_Grattan_Holdings_to_open_new_head_office_in_Bradford/|archive-date=23 April 2012|url-status=live}}

As of 2023, Bradford is currently developing city regeneration projects in conjunction with the successful City of Culture 2025 bid. With one of the most major redevelopments being the regeneration of the local Bradford Odeon building in the city centre into "Bradford Live", a £22 million music venue with a capacity of 4,000.{{cite web |date=10 August 2023 |title=Bradford Live reveals part of restored Odeon building as scaffolding is removed |url=https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/23711996.bradford-live-reveals-part-restored-odeon-building/ |access-date=1 September 2023 |website=Bradford Telegraph and Argus }} In addition to Bradford Live, some other major projects are being developed in the city including:{{cite web |title=Darley Street |url=https://www.bradfordmarkets.com/the-markets/darley-street-coming-soon/ |access-date=1 September 2023 |website=bradfordmarkets.com}}{{cite web |title=New Darley Street Market to lead district's green regeneration |url=https://www.bradfordmarkets.com/developments/darley-street-market/ |access-date=1 September 2023 |website=bradfordmarkets.com/}}

• One City Park, a £30 million development in Bradford City Park for a major corporate office building.

• High Point, a £11 million development transforming the former Yorkshire Building Society building into residential apartments.

• Bradford Central Rail Station, a planned central rail station integrated with "mass transit".

• Darley Street Market, a £23 million commercial development including three trading floors.

In addition to the regeneration projects, existing buildings within the city centre will be demolished—including demolishing the NCP car park to expand and improve the current Bradford Interchange.{{cite web |date=5 July 2023 |title=Photos show how different Bradford city centre will look by 2025 |url=https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/23632389.photos-bradford-city-centre-plans-ahead-roadworks/ |access-date=1 September 2023 |website=Bradford Telegraph and Argus }}

File:Bradford Broadway - open at last (geograph 4795389).jpg

The Broadway is the main retail shopping facility in Bradford. It includes Next, River Island, Schuh, H&M, Khaadi, Primark, Kiko (brand), Menkind among its over 70 units.{{cite news |url=http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/13933994.THE_BROADWAY__A_sneak_peek_behind_the_scenes_of_Bradford_s___260m_shopping_centre/ |title=THE BROADWAY: A sneak peek behind the scenes of Bradford's £260m shopping centre |work=Bradford Telegraph and Argus |access-date=10 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151207200732/http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/13933994.THE_BROADWAY__A_sneak_peek_behind_the_scenes_of_Bradford_s___260m_shopping_centre/ |archive-date=7 December 2015 |url-status=live }}

Kirkgate Shopping Centre is located in Bradford city centre. It includes New Look, Bank, W H Smith, Boots, Boyes,{{cite news|url=https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/17602521.opening-date-of-boyes-store-in-kirkgate-bradford-revealed/|title=Opening date of new Boyes store revealed|work=Bradford Telegraph and Argus|access-date=28 October 2019}} SportsDirect.com, Deichmann and F. Hinds in its 65 shops, as well as an indoor market and 550 car parking spaces. The centre has undergone a multimillion-pound refurbishment recently, and plans to upgrade the facade of the 1960s building have been submitted as it anticipates competition from the long-awaited £260 million Westfield development, which opened on 5 November 2015.{{cite web|url=http://www.bradfordbroadwaydevelopment.co.uk/|title=Westfield Shopping Centres|publisher=Westfield Shopping Centres|work=bradfordbroadwaydevelopment.co.uk|access-date=7 February 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222210643/http://www.bradfordbroadwaydevelopment.co.uk/|archive-date=22 February 2014|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=http://www.kirkgate.co.uk/|title=Kirkgate Shopping|work=kirkgate.co.uk|access-date=29 July 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130811071755/http://www.kirkgate.co.uk/|archive-date=11 August 2013|url-status=live}}{{cite news|url=http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/9615880.Bradford_s_Kirkgate_Shopping_Centre_owners_plan_refurb/|title=Bradford's Kirkgate Shopping Centre owners plan refurb|first=James|last=Rush|work=Bradford Telegraph and Argus|access-date=30 July 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140225084836/http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/9615880.Bradford_s_Kirkgate_Shopping_Centre_owners_plan_refurb/|archive-date=25 February 2014|url-status=live}}{{cite news|url=http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/13217999.Westfield_s_Bradford_Broadway_shopping_centre_opening_date_revealed/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150810210638/http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/13217999.Westfield_s_Bradford_Broadway_shopping_centre_opening_date_revealed/ |archive-date=10 August 2015 |url-status=dead|title=Westfield's Bradford Broadway shopping centre opening date revealed |work= Bradford Telegraph and Argus|access-date=19 August 2016}} In 2022 it was announced that the centre would eventually be demolished for the "City Village" development and that Primark would move to The Broadway replacing the old Debenhams unit.{{cite web |title=Kirkgate Shopping Centre to be demolished as part of major city centre changes |url=https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/20863807.kirkgate-shopping-centre-demolished---primark-move-broadway/ |access-date=13 September 2022 |website=Bradford Telegraph and Argus |date=12 September 2022 }}

File:Forster Square Retail Park - geograph.org.uk - 2106074.jpg

Forster Square Shopping Park opened in 1995 and is adjacent to the Forster Square Railway Station. It includes over 20 large retail and food units which includes Next, Boots, Currys, TK Max and Asda Living.{{cite web|url=https://forstersquare.co.uk/|title=Forster Square Shopping in Bradford | Shops, Cafes and Restaurants in Bradford|website=Forster Square Bradford|accessdate=9 April 2025}}

Sunbridge Wells is an underground retail complex, it incorporates restaurants, bars and retail units. The complex is built in a series of Victorian tunnels situated in the centre of Bradford.{{cite web|url=http://www.itv.com/news/calendar/2016-12-10/bradfords-underground-shopping-centre-officially-opens/ |title=Bradfords Underground Shopping Centre opens|date=10 December 2016| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161211162600/http://www.itv.com/news/calendar/2016-12-10/bradfords-underground-shopping-centre-officially-opens/ |archive-date=11 December 2016 |publisher=ITV|access-date= 25 February 2017}}

Darley St. Market is an upcoming shopping centre opening in 2024, the new shopping centre replaces existing city centre markets including the Oastler Shopping Centre and Kirkgate Market.{{cite web |date=21 January 2022 |title=GALLERY: First look at what new city centre market will look like inside |url=https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/19866734.fresh-look-bradfords-new-darley-street-market-will-look-like/ |access-date=1 September 2023 |website=Bradford Telegraph and Argus }}

{{See also|List of Grade I listed buildings in City of Bradford}}

File:Bolling Hall.jpg]]

Bradford's oldest building is the cathedral, which for most of its life was a parish church. Few other medieval buildings have survived apart from Bolling Hall, which has been preserved as a museum.

File:Woolexchangebradford.jpg]]

There are some fine Victorian buildings: apart from the abundance of mills, there is the City Hall (with statues of rulers of England unusually including Oliver Cromwell), the former Wool Exchange, and a large Victorian cemetery at Undercliffe. Little Germany is a splendid Victorian commercial district just east of the city centre. Its name comes from 19th-century German Jewish immigrants who ran businesses from some of the many listed buildings. Following decades of decay, there have been successful conversions to office and residential use. Paper Hall was saved from demolition and renovated in the 1990s and in mid-2005 renovation began on the prominent Eastbrook Hall in Little Germany. This was opened as luxury apartments by Prince Charles in autumn 2008.{{cite news|last=Cowburn|first=Delores|title=Renovation of historic Eastbrook Hall at centre of £5m court battle|url=http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/local/localbrad/10234036.Renovation_of_historic_Eastbrook_Hall_at_centre_of___5m_court_battle/|work=Bradford Telegraph and Argus|access-date=24 September 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130928185016/http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/local/localbrad/10234036.Renovation_of_historic_Eastbrook_Hall_at_centre_of___5m_court_battle/|archive-date=28 September 2013|url-status=live}} Bradford also has a number of architecturally historic hotels that date back to the establishment of the two railway lines into the city centre, back in Victorian times. The Victoria Hotel and the Midland Hotel were built to accommodate business travellers to the city during the height of the woollen trade.

In addition to Undercliffe Cemetery, there are seven other cemeteries in Bradford, located in Bowling, Clayton, North Bierley Thornton, Queensbury, Scholemoor, Thornton and Tong, as well as a number of Council-operated cemeteries in Keighley, Wharfedale and other parts of the district.{{cite web|publisher=City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council |url=https://bradford.gov.uk/births-deaths-marriages-and-civil-partnerships/deaths/burials-and-cemeteries/ |title=Burials and cemeteries | accessdate= 28 April 2022}}

Like many cities, Bradford lost a number of notable buildings to developers in the 1960s and 1970s: particularly mourned at the time were the Swan Arcade and the old Kirkgate Market. In recent years some buildings from that era have themselves been demolished and replaced: Provincial House, next to Centenary Square, was demolished by controlled explosion in 2002,{{cite web |url=http://www.implosionworld.com/bradford.htm |title=ImplosionWorld.com |publisher=Implosionworld.com |access-date=19 September 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090123090759/http://www.implosionworld.com/bradford.htm |archive-date=23 January 2009 |url-status=live }} and Forster House was pulled down in 2005 as part of the Broadway development.

File:View from the Big Wheel (16938895535).jpg viewed from Bradford city centre]]

The high rise High Point was built as the headquarters of the Yorkshire Building Society and completed in 1972.{{cite book|first=George |last=Sheeran|title=Bradford in 50 Buildings|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2So2DwAAQBAJ|date=15 September 2017|publisher=Amberley Publishing|isbn=978-1-4456-6849-9|page=98}} It is a prominent example of Brutalist architecture.{{cite news|url=https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/17273223.high-point-building-bradford-inside/|title=High Point building, Bradford from the inside|date=4 December 2018|first=Brad |last=Deas|work=The Telegraph and Argus|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210104155055/https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/17273223.high-point-building-bradford-inside/|access-date=4 January 2020|archive-date=4 January 2021}} It has been empty for several decades and various schemes have been proposed to bring it back into use.{{cite news|url=https://www.bdonline.co.uk/bradford-backs-saving-brutalist-landmark/5092348.article|title=Bradford backs saving brutalist landmark|date=12 March 2018|first=Jim |last=Dunton|work=Building Design|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200812232959/https://www.bdonline.co.uk/bradford-backs-saving-brutalist-landmark/5092348.article|access-date=4 January 2020|archive-date=12 August 2020}}

Bradford's main art gallery is housed in the grand Edwardian Cartwright Hall in Lister Park. The National Science and Media Museum celebrates cinema and movies, and is the most visited museum outside London. It contains an Imax cinema, the Cubby Broccoli Cinema, and the Pictureville Cinema — described by David Puttnam as the best cinema in Britain.{{cite web |url=http://www.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk/FilmAndIMAX/film_detail.asp?filmid=7809&search=film |title=Making The Thing – A filmed introduction by John Carpenter |publisher=National Media Museum |access-date=9 October 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090125184359/http://www.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk/FilmAndIMAX/film_detail.asp?filmid=7809&search=film |archive-date=25 January 2009 |url-status=live }}

File:The Alhambra Theatre Bradford.jpeg frequently stages hit West End and Broadway musicals. ]]

Also in the city is The St George's Hall—a grand concert hall dating from 1853 making it the oldest concert hall in Britain and the third oldest in the whole of Europe.{{citation needed|date=May 2011}} The Alhambra theatre, built in 1914 for theatre impresario Frank Laidler, and later owned by the Moss Empire group (Oswald Stoll and Edward Moss). The theatre was refurbished in 1986.

Within the city district there are 37 parks and gardens. Lister Park, with its boating lake and Mughal Water Gardens, was voted Britain's Best Park for 2006.{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bradford/5243892.stm |title=City park voted best in Britain |work=BBC News |date=4 August 2006 |access-date=19 September 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090227151119/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bradford/5243892.stm |archive-date=27 February 2009 |url-status=live }} Bowling Park in East Bowling is the site of the annual Bradford Carnival celebrating local African and Caribbean culture.

Bradford City Park, now home to the Bradford Festival, which includes the Mela. It is a {{convert|6|acre|ha|abbr=off|adj=on|spell=in}} public space in the heart of Bradford that contains the largest man-made water feature in any UK city. A {{convert|4000|m2|sqft|abbr=on}} mirror pool features more than 100 fountains, including the tallest in any UK city at 30 m (100 ft). When the mirror pool is drained, City Park holds events such as carnivals, markets, theatre productions, screenings and community festivals. Work started on the £24 million project in February 2010 and City Park officially opened in March 2012, with thousands of people turning out for the grand opening event.

File:City Park Bradford.jpg]]

The Bradford Odeon, formerly the Gaumont and New Victoria Theatre, was built in 1930 as a music venue and cinema with a capacity of over 3,000, and was the largest UK cinema outside London at the time. (Another Odeon, always part of the Odeon Cinemas chain, was built in the city in 1938 and demolished in 1969.) Standing in a conservation area adjacent to the listed Alhambra Theatre, it closed in 2000 and was sold to developer Langtree with the intention it would be demolished and replaced with an apartment and office block. The Odeon was the subject of much controversy over these proposals, with public support in the form of a 10,000-signature petition and campaigns for its renovation. In his successful by-election campaign for Bradford West in March 2012, George Galloway cited the restoration of the Odeon as his number one priority, later asking Prime Minister David Cameron to intervene.{{cite news|last=Casci|first=Mark|url=http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/latest-news/top-stories/cameron-urged-to-help-save-bradford-odeon-1-4459853|title=Cameron urged to help save Bradford Odeon|work=Yorkshire Evening Post|date=19 April 2012|access-date=17 December 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222084616/http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/latest-news/top-stories/cameron-urged-to-help-save-bradford-odeon-1-4459853|archive-date=22 December 2015|url-status=live}} The architectural historian Jonathan Foyle, actresses Imelda Staunton and Jenny Agutter, and director Michael Winner all lent their support to the campaign.

In past centuries Bradford's location in Bradfordale made transport difficult, except from the north; this is no longer a problem.{{why|date=January 2022}}

Bradford was first connected to the developing turnpike network in 1734,{{citation needed|date=July 2013}} when the first Yorkshire turnpike was built between Manchester and Leeds via Halifax and the city.

It is now accessed by trunk roads: the A647 between Leeds and Halifax via Queensbury, the A650 between Wakefield and Keighley, the A658 to Harrogate and the A6036 to Halifax via Shelf.

The M606, a spur of the M62 motorway, connects Bradford with the national motorway network. Although originally planned to go directly into the city centre it ends at the city's ring road.

File:Bradford Trolleybus in Leeds Road, Greengates - geograph.org.uk - 1463093.jpg in Leeds Road, Greengates, May 1971.]]

File:Travel Interchange, Bradford (geograph 4315868).jpg's bus end entrance]]

On 20 June 1911, Britain's first trolleybus systems opened simultaneously in Bradford, between Laisterdyke and Dudley Hill, and in Leeds.Joyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). British Trolleybus Systems. London: Ian Allan Publishing. {{ISBN|0-7110-1647-X}}. The last service in Bradford—and Britain—ceased operation on 26 March 1972.Murray, Alan (2000). World Trolleybus Encyclopaedia. Yateley, Hampshire, UK: Trolleybooks. {{ISBN|0-904235-18-1}}. Ten Bradford trolleybuses are preserved at the Sandtoft Trolleybus Museum.{{cite web |url=http://www.sandtoft.org.uk |title=The Trolleybus Museum at Sandtoft |publisher=Sandtoft.org.uk |access-date=19 September 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081210155823/http://www.sandtoft.org.uk/ |archive-date=10 December 2008 |url-status=live }} In 1974 Bradford's municipal buses were taken over by West Yorkshire Metro. First Bradford and Arriva Yorkshire are the chief operators of buses in Bradford, with some routes using guided buses.

The Bradford Canal was a {{convert|4|mi|km|adj=on}} spur from the Leeds and Liverpool Canal at Shipley. It was built to connect Bradford with the North Riding's limestone quarries, the industrial towns on both sides of the Pennines and the ports of Liverpool and Goole. The canal opened from 1774 until 1866 and 1871 until 1922, plans to rebuild it have existed.

File:Bradford Forster Square Station, Summer 2004 - geograph.org.uk - 84057.jpg]]

File:Bradford stations.svg

The Leeds and Bradford Railway opened Forster Square railway station on 1 July 1846 with a service via Shipley to Leeds. The station was rebuilt in the early 1850s and again, in 1890 and 1990.

The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway opened a station at Drake Street on 9 May 1850, between Manchester and Leeds. The Great Northern Railway opened a third terminus at Adolphus Street in 1854, but the station was too far from the centre. The two companies built a joint station, Bradford Exchange which opened in 1867.{{cite web|url=http://www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/stations/b/bradford_exchange/index.shtml|publisher=Subterranea Britannica|access-date=5 February 2008|title=Bradford Exchange|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929135917/http://www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/stations/b/bradford_exchange/index.shtml|archive-date=29 September 2007|url-status=live}} Adolphus Street remained as a goods terminal. In 1973, Exchange station was rebuilt on a different site and in 1983 renamed Bradford Interchange and a bus station built alongside.

Forster Square and Bradford Interchange stations are part of the West Yorkshire Metro. There have been many schemes to link between Bradford's railway terminals. The major redevelopment of the city centre in the 1960s provided an opportunity to connect the termini, this did not happen with large buildings constructed in the 1990s along the proposed line of route. There is the great difference in elevation: Bradford Interchange is at the end of a long steep slope and is much higher than Forster Square. This gradient is not unprecedented in railway construction and the relocation of Forster Square further from the city centre provided additional space to facilitate the transition.

A tram system was inaugurated by Bradford Corporation in 1882. At first the vehicles were horse-drawn but were replaced by steam-driven trams in 1883, and by electric vehicles in 1898. The system ran until 1950.{{cite web | url = http://www.petergould.co.uk/local_transport_history/fleetlists/bradford1.htm | title = Bradford City Transport 1898–1974 | access-date = 27 April 2017 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100214143809/http://www.petergould.co.uk/local_transport_history/fleetlists/bradford1.htm | archive-date = 14 February 2010 | url-status = dead }}

File:Terminal Building, Leeds Bradford International Airport (geograph 2486139).jpg]]

Leeds Bradford Airport is {{convert|6|mi|km}} to the north east of the city. Bradford and Leeds councils jointly opened the airport in 1931. It is the home base of Jet2.com airlines. In May 2007 the joint councils sold the airport to Bridgepoint Capital for £145.5 million, £70 million would be invested in airport improvements by the company and expected to increase passenger usage to over 7 million by 2015.{{cite news |url=http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/1374024.airport_sold_for_145_million_to_bridgepoint/ |title=Airport sold for £145m to Bridgepoint |work=Telegraph & Argus |date=3 May 2007 |access-date=9 October 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110807064235/http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/1374024.airport_sold_for_145_million_to_bridgepoint/ |archive-date=7 August 2011 |url-status=live }}

{{See also|List of schools in Bradford}}

File:Bradford GS.jpg]]

Bradford Grammar School was in existence near the parish church in the mid-16th century and re-established by royal charter as the Free Grammar School of Charles II in 1662.{{cite web|url=http://www.bgs.bradford.sch.uk/senior-school/about-the-school/History%20of%20the%20school/Index.html|title=History of the School|publisher=Bradford Grammar School|access-date=13 July 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110905124145/http://www.bgs.bradford.sch.uk/senior-school/about-the-school/History%20of%20the%20school/Index.html|archive-date=5 September 2011|url-status=dead}}

File:University of Bradford Richmond Building.jpg]]

The University of Bradford, which has over 10,000 students, received its royal charter in 1966, but traces its history to the 1860s when it was founded as the Bradford Schools of Weaving, Design and Building. The university now covers a wide range of subjects including technology and management science, optometry, pharmacy, medical sciences, nursing studies, archaeology and modern languages. Its Peace Studies department, founded with Quaker support in 1973, was for a long time the only such institution in the UK.

In terms of nationally recognised leading areas of research there are various departments such as Institute of Cancer Therapeutics, Bradford School of Pharmacy, Peace Studies, Archaeology, Engineering, Management, Centre for Skin Sciences amongst others. The university balances academic research and teaching quality with a strong tradition of social inclusion. The University of Bradford was ranked second in the UK for graduate employment by the Times Higher Education Supplement in 2005.{{cite web|url=http://www.brad.ac.uk/admin/pr/pressreleases/2005/employment.php|title=Number 2 for Graduate Employment|publisher=University of Bradford|access-date=14 July 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726100627/http://www.brad.ac.uk/admin/pr/pressreleases/2005/employment.php|archive-date=26 July 2011|url-status=live}}

In December 2010 the university was named as the greenest in the UK for the second year running.{{cite news|url=http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/8732107.Bradford_University_wins_green_honour/|title=greenest university|work=Telegraph & Argus|access-date=11 December 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120111061415/http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/8732107.Bradford_University_wins_green_honour/|archive-date=11 January 2012|url-status=live}} In 2019, the university was named the UK's top university for social inclusion.{{cite web |date=20 September 2019 |title=Bradford named UK's University of the Year for Social Inclusion |url=https://www.bradford.ac.uk/news/archive/2019/bradford-named-uks-university-of-the-year-for-social-inclusion.php |access-date=1 September 2023 |website=University of Bradford }} Additionally, for 2021 and 2022, the university was named the top university in England for social mobility by the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI).{{cite web |date=24 March 2022 |title=Social mobility ranking system puts Bradford top in England for second year running |url=https://www.bradford.ac.uk/news/archive/2022/social-mobility-ranking-system-puts-bradford-top-in-england-for-second-year-running.php |access-date=1 September 2023 |website=University of Bradford }}

File:Bradford College.JPG founded in 1832]]

The University of Bradford School of Management was in 2011 rated the 14th best business school in the UK by the Financial Times.{{cite web |url=http://rankings.ft.com/businessschoolrankings/global-mba-rankings-2011 |title=Business school rankings from the Financial Times – Global MBA Rankings 2011 |year=2011 |access-date=8 December 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111208023101/http://rankings.ft.com/businessschoolrankings/global-mba-rankings-2011 |archive-date=8 December 2011 |url-status=live }}

Bradford College developed from the 19th-century technical college whose buildings it inherited. It offers further and higher educational courses and is an Associate College of Leeds Metropolitan University and is the UK's largest provider of higher-education courses outside the university sector, with 23,000 students and 1,800 staff.{{cite web|url=http://www.yorkshire-forward.com/our-wonderful-region/our-cities/bradford-the-facts|title=Bradford: the facts and figures|publisher=Yorkshire forward|access-date=6 November 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100701091618/http://www.yorkshire-forward.com/our-wonderful-region/our-cities/bradford-the-facts|archive-date=1 July 2010|url-status=live}} It absorbed the Art School whose most famous alumnus is David Hockney.

Whilst in Bradford after 1892, Margaret McMillan joined the Fabian Society and the Independent Labour Party. Working with her sister, Rachel, she set about improving the welfare of children living in the slums, and campaigned for free school meals. A memorial college to Margaret McMillan was opened in 1952.{{cite web|url=http://www.historytoherstory.org.uk/subject.php?id=86|title=Miriam Lord|publisher=History to Her Story|access-date=13 August 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110929040136/http://www.historytoherstory.org.uk/subject.php?id=86|archive-date=29 September 2011}}

During the 2010s, Ofsted reports ranked many Bradford schools as amongst the UK's finest.

File:Bradford Cathedral - geograph-2106999.jpg, one of the oldest churches in Bradford]]

Two carved stones, probably parts of a Saxon preaching cross, were found on the site of Bradford Cathedral. They indicate that Christians may have worshipped here since Paulinus of York came to the north of England in AD 627 on a mission to convert Northumbria. He preached in Dewsbury and it was from there that Bradford was first evangelised. The vicars of Bradford later paid dues to that parish. The most prominent Christian church in Bradford is Bradford Cathedral, originally the Parish Church of St Peter. The parish was in existence by 1283, and there was a stone church on the rock shelf above Bradford Beck by 1327. The Diocese of Bradford was created from part of the Diocese of Ripon in 1919, and the church became a cathedral at that time.

Bradford has over 150 churches and chapels.{{cite web|url=https://www.findachurch.co.uk/Search.aspx?address=bradford+%28west+yorkshire%29|title=Showing 11 churches near Bradford (West Yorkshire)|access-date=10 September 2022|work=Find A Church}}

Many of the Roman Catholic churches that are found within the city are a legacy of the large Irish population that migrated to Bradford in the 19th century.{{cite web|url=https://sites.rootsweb.com/~irlmayo2/irish_bradford_yorkshire.html|title=The Industrial Development and Subsequent Job Opportunities Created in Bradford, Yorkshire, England that Motivated the Irish to Migrate there Before, During and After the Famine|website=sites.rootsweb.com|accessdate=9 April 2025}}

The patron saint of Bradford is Saint Blaise because of his patronage of wool combing, and his statue features on the Wool Exchange in the centre of the city. There is also a statue of the saint in St Cuthbert's Catholic Church, Wilmer Road, also noted as the location of the famous Stations of the Cross by Eric Gill.{{cite web|url=https://www.bradfordmuseums.org/blog/bradford-and-st-blaise/|title=Bradford and St Blaise | Bradford Museums & Galleries Blog|website=www.bradfordmuseums.org|date=21 January 2019 |access-date=27 February 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190227060705/https://www.bradfordmuseums.org/blog/bradford-and-st-blaise/|archive-date=27 February 2019|url-status=live}}{{NHLE|num=1376263|access-date=29 January 2019}}

The district has a tradition of nonconformity, reflected in the number of chapels erected by Congregationalists, Baptists, and Methodists. The city was a centre of the House Church movement in the 1980s, and the Christian charity Christians Against Poverty was founded in the city. Other house churches in the city include El Shaddai International Christian Centre and the World Outreach Church. Bradford is also home to the LIFE Church UK, a large nonconforming church, that has around 3,000 members.{{cite web| url=http://www.ship-of-fools.com/mystery/2006/1330.html| title=Ship of Fools: The Mystery Worshipper| publisher=ship-of-fools.com| access-date=7 October 2008| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080907065255/http://www.ship-of-fools.com/mystery/2006/1330.html| archive-date=7 September 2008| url-status=live}}

File:Interior of Bradford Reform Synagogue.jpg]]

The Jewish community was strong in the middle to late 19th century and built Bradford Reform Synagogue in Manningham. This, "The oldest reform synagogue outside London",{{cite web|title=European Day of Jewish Culture and Heritage|date= 5 September 2004|url=http://www.jewisheritage.org/jh/upload/edjc/pdf/UnitedKingdom-2004.pdf |type=leaflet |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070621191739/http://www.jewisheritage.org/jh/upload/edjc/pdf/UnitedKingdom-2004.pdf |archive-date=21 June 2007 }} issued by the European Association for the Preservation and Promotion of Jewish Culture and Heritage was established by German Jews who had moved to Bradford for the wool trade. According to historian Sharman Kadish, "The city of Bradford was unique in that it boasted a reform synagogue before it acquired an orthodox one".{{cite journal| last=Kadish| first=Sharman| author-link=Sharman Kadish| title=Constructing Identity: Anglo-Jewry and Synagogue Architecture |journal=Architectural History| volume=45| pages=386–408| year=2002| doi=10.2307/1568790| issn=0066-622X| jstor=1568790}} In 1881 Russian Jews made their home in Bradford, having fled their homeland, and founded an orthodox synagogue.{{cite web|url=http://www.jtrails.org.uk/trails/bradford/history|title=Bradford|publisher=National Anglo-Jewish Heritage trail|access-date=13 August 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120328101521/http://www.jtrails.org.uk/trails/bradford/history|archive-date=28 March 2012|url-status=live}}

In 2011 the Jewish population was 299.{{cite web|url=http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/census/2011/index.html|title=2011 Census – ONS|publisher=Office for National Statistics|access-date=5 July 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140704220025/http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/census/2011/index.html|archive-date=4 July 2014|url-status=live}}

File:The new Central Mosque, Horton Park Avenue, Bradford - geograph.org.uk - 2664866.jpg on Horton Park Avenue]]

File:Hindu Temple - Leeds Road - geograph.org.uk - 1003180.jpg]]

The city has a sizeable South Asian community and the Lakshmi Narayan mandir, which opened in April 2008{{cite web |url=http://www.bradfordmandir.org/ |title=Bradford Mandir – Hindu Cultural Society – Home |publisher=Bradfordmandir.org |access-date=19 September 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081119143721/http://www.bradfordmandir.org/ |archive-date=19 November 2008 |url-status=live }} is the largest Hindu temple in northern England.{{cite news |url=http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/760410.3m_hindu_temple_soon_to_take_shape/ |title=£3m Hindu temple soon to take shape |work=Telegraph & Argus |access-date=9 October 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090123205019/http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/760410.3m_hindu_temple_soon_to_take_shape/ |archive-date=23 January 2009 |url-status=live }} There is a Hindu temple and community centre on Thornton Lane{{cite web |url=http://www.nchtuk.org/content.php?id=79 |title=The National Council of Hindu Temples (UK) |publisher=Nchtuk.org |access-date=19 September 2008 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080911204855/http://www.nchtuk.org/content.php?id=79 |archive-date=11 September 2008 }} and smaller house-based mandirs.

The city has about 100 mosques,{{cite news |last1=Gani |first1=Aisha |title=Meet Bana Gora, the woman planning Britain's first female-managed mosque |url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/jul/31/bana-gora-muslim-womens-council-bradford-mosque |access-date=7 September 2022 |work=The Guardian |date=31 July 2015 }} among which is the Bradford Grand Mosque,{{cite book |last1=Husain |first1=Ed |title=Among the Mosques: A Journey Across Muslim Britain |date=10 June 2021 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-5266-1866-5 |page=126 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DIwAEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA126 }} one of the largest mosque's by capacity in the United Kingdom.{{cite web |title=Biggest mosques in the UK 2017 {{!}} Statista |url=https://www.statista.com/statistics/753701/biggest-masjids-in-uk/ |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20250124105759/https://www.statista.com/statistics/753701/biggest-masjids-in-uk/ |archive-date=24 January 2025 |access-date=8 April 2025 |website=Statista }}{{cite web|url=https://www.reviewofreligions.org/35904/a-milestone-in-the-redevelopment-of-the-house-of-victories-the-caliph-inspects-the-new-phase-of-the-baitul-futuh-project/|title=A Milestone in the Redevelopment of the 'House of Victories' – The Caliph Inspects the New Phase of the 'Baitul Futuh' Project|first=Musa|last=Sattar|date=23 November 2021|accessdate=9 April 2025}}

The Sikh community has six gurudwaras in the city. The Sikh festival of Vaisakhi is celebrated on 14 April. Sikhs travel to each of the gurudwaras in the city in a procession called a nagar kirtan.{{cite web |url=http://www.bradfordgurdwara.com/gd0601_other_gurdwara.htm |title=Other Bradford Gurdwaras | Guru Gobind Singh Gurdwara |publisher=Bradfordgurdwara.com |access-date=5 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101202090948/http://www.bradfordgurdwara.com/gd0601_other_gurdwara.htm |archive-date=2 December 2010 |url-status=live }}

{{more citations needed section|date=September 2022}}

The National Science and Media Museum hosts the Bradford International Film Festival annually in March.

In June 2009 Bradford was designated the world's first UNESCO City of Film for its links to the production and distribution of films, its media and film museum and its "cinematographic legacy". "Becoming the world's first City of Film is the ultimate celebration of Bradford's established and dynamic history in film and media," said Colin Philpott, director of Bradford's National Media Museum. "With the UNESCO City of Film designation, Bradford will now go on to achieve inspirational projects in film." Simon Beaufoy from Bradford, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of Slumdog Millionaire, said the city had played a crucial role in the story of cinema and deserved to be recognised.{{cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-title-bradford/hollywood-bollywood-meet-bradford-city-of-film-idINTRE55B43220090612|title=Hollywood, Bollywood meet Bradford: "City of Film"|newspaper=Reuters|date=12 June 2009|access-date=23 May 2020}}

File:Nationalmediamuseum 02dec2006.jpg, Bradford]]

Bradford has developed a relationship with Bollywood, hosting the International Indian Film Festival awards in 2007.

The Bradford Animation Festival is the UK's longest-running animation festival. Held each November, the festival hosts an array of screen talks, workshops and special events. The festival culminates in the annual BAF Awards, which celebrate new animation from around the world.{{cite web|url=http://www.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk/nmem/baf/|title=The Bradford Animation Festival|access-date=10 November 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101112012046/http://www.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk/nmem/baf/|archive-date=12 November 2010|url-status=live}}

The Cottingley Fairy photographs taken by Elsie Wright and two of the cameras used are on display in the Kodak Gallery in the National Science and Media Museum in Bradford.

There are four theatres in Bradford. The Alhambra also has a smaller studio theatre in the same complex. These are operated by City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council. The Theatre in the Mill is a small studio theatre at the University of Bradford, which presents student and community shows and small-scale touring professional work. The Bradford Playhouse is a privately run venue with a medium-sized proscenium theatre and a small studio.

Among the professional theatre companies based in Bradford are Kala Sangam, the satirical madcap comedy troop, Komedy Kollective, Lost Dog (based at Theatre in the Mill) and Mind the Gap, one of the longest established, who have always worked with a mixture of disabled and able-bodied performers. Groups and organisations teaching theatre include The Asian Theatre School, Bradford Stage and Theatre School and Stage 84. There are also a number of amateur theatre groups.

St George's Hall is a concert hall dating from 1853 making it the oldest concert hall in Britain and the third oldest in Europe.{{citation needed|date=April 2011}} Bradford Festival Choral Society was founded to perform at the inaugural Bradford Musical Festival that took place in August of that year,G. F. SEWELL, A History of the Bradford Festival Choral Society, 1907 and the choir is still a part of the musical life of the city. The Hallé Orchestra have been regular visitors over the years, as have a wide range of popular musicians, bands, entertainers, comedians and theatrical productions.

In 2017 an £8.2 million renovation scheme of St George's Hall was started, after completion it is planned for the concert venue to re-open in late 2018.{{cite web|url=http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/15274049.Work_to_start_on_hall_renovation_amid_spiraling_costs_and_delays/|title=Work to start on hall renovation amid spiraling costs and delays|website=Bradford Telegraph and Argus|date=9 May 2017 |access-date=20 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171222052753/http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/15274049.Work_to_start_on_hall_renovation_amid_spiraling_costs_and_delays/|archive-date=22 December 2017|url-status=live}}

File:St Georges Hall Bradford.jpeg

Cinemas have been replaced by vast entertainment complexes with multi-screen cinemas. The Leisure Exchange in the city centre has a 16 screen Cineworld. At Thornbury, on the outskirts is the Odeon Leeds-Bradford with 13 screens, which replaced the old Odeon next to the Alhambra. The Odeon is a continuing focus of protests by Bradfordians who do not wish to see the old building demolished.{{cite web |url=http://www.bradfordodeonrescuegroup.co.uk/ |title=Home |publisher=The Bradford Odeon Rescue Group |date=26 November 2009 |access-date=2 February 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100328115318/http://www.bradfordodeonrescuegroup.co.uk/ |archive-date=28 March 2010 |url-status=live }} The University of Bradford also has a cinema run by the Students' Union, operating from the university's Great Hall.{{cite web|url=http://www.ubuonline.co.uk/content/index.php?page=31225|title=Bradford Students Union – The Home for Bradford University Students|publisher=ubuonline.co.uk|access-date=8 October 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080914190851/http://www.ubuonline.co.uk/content/index.php?page=31225|archive-date=14 September 2008|url-status=live}}

Nightlife in Bradford has traditionally centred on Manor Row and Manningham Lane. More recently, several clubs and pubs have opened in the West End of Bradford, around the Alhambra Theatre, turning what was a previously fairly quiet area into one that is often crowded and vibrant at night. North Parade has also seen several new themed bars open and is at the heart of the Independent Quarter of the city.{{cite news|url=http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/11614175.Revival_of_North_Parade_gathers_pace_as_more_new_venues_open/|title=Revival of North Parade gathers pace as more new venues open|first=Julie|last=Tickner|work=Bradford Telegraph and Argus|access-date=10 January 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141224022641/http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/11614175.Revival_of_North_Parade_gathers_pace_as_more_new_venues_open/|archive-date=24 December 2014|url-status=live}} Sunbridge Wells is an underground leisure and retail complex. It opened in Bradford city centre in 2016.

File:Sunny day in the Bradford City Park.JPG

Bradford was one of the first areas of the UK to get a local commercial radio station Pennine Radio in September 1975. Today, this is Hits Radio West Yorkshire and Greatest Hits Radio West Yorkshire. {{As of|2006}}, Bradford Community Broadcasting based in the city centre has broadcast on full-time Community Radio licence around Bradford and the Aire Valley, whilst the university radio station Ramair broadcasts to the student population. Bradford's only television station AAP TV caters for Bradford's large Asian community. The Telegraph and Argus is Bradford's daily newspaper, published six days each week from Monday to Saturday.

The Bradford Mela is now part of the bigger Bradford Festival in June.{{cite web|url=http://www.yorkshirefestivals.net/city-and-town-guides/Festivals-and-major-events-in-Bradford-in-2013|title=Festivals and Major Events in Bradford in 2013 – Yorkshire Festivals|website=www.yorkshirefestivals.net|access-date=27 February 2019}}{{Dead link|date=June 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} The word mela is Sanskrit for 'a gathering' or 'to meet'. In the UK, melas provide an opportunity for communities to come together to celebrate and share their cultures. Mela festivals include a combination of markets, funfairs, food and drink, arts and workshops, children's activities, strolling entertainment and a variety of music and dance performances on a number of stages. Bradford held the first mela in Europe in September 1988 and it is presently held in Bradford City Park.

Bradford City Park has the largest city centre water feature in the UK.{{cite news|last=Wainwright|first=Martin|title=Bradford's new 'puddle in the park' reflects burst of Yorkshire pride|url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2012/feb/19/bradford-water-feature-city-park|access-date=28 March 2012|newspaper=The Guardian|date=19 February 2012|quote=UK's largest water feature cost £24.4m and caused lots of controversy but could now bring city estimated £80m a year|location=London|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140924090243/http://www.theguardian.com/society/2012/feb/19/bradford-water-feature-city-park|archive-date=24 September 2014|url-status=live}}

File:Cartwright Hall.jpg]]

Bradford is home to the acclaimed National Science and Media Museum (previously the National Museum of Photography, Film & Television), which celebrates cinema and movies, and is the most visited museum outside London. It contains the UK's first IMAX theatre, the Cubby Broccoli Cinema, and the Pictureville Cinema — described by David Puttnam as the best cinema in Britain.

Bradford Industrial Museum was established in 1974 at Moorside Mills, a spinning mill in Eccleshill. The museum celebrates and explains the significant achievements in Bradford's industrial past, from textiles and printing to the manufacture of motor cars.{{cite web|url=http://www.bradfordmuseums.org/venues/industrialmuseum/index.php|title=Bradford Museums|publisher=Bradfordmuseums.org|access-date=26 November 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101117093656/http://www.bradfordmuseums.org/venues/industrialmuseum/index.php|archive-date=17 November 2010|url-status=live}}

A mile from the city centre is Bolling Hall Museum, a part medieval building that offers visitors a journey through the lives and times of the families that lived there for over five hundred years. Rooms are furnished and decorated to give a taste of life at different periods in the house's history.{{cite web|url=http://www.bradfordmuseums.org/venues/bollinghall/index.php|title=Bradford Museums|publisher=Bradfordmuseums.org|access-date=26 November 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716085921/http://www.bradfordmuseums.org/venues/bollinghall/index.php|archive-date=16 July 2011|url-status=live}}

Bradford's main art gallery is housed in Cartwright Hall in Lister Park. Bradford 1 Gallery is a city centre art gallery opened in October 2007 in a new building in Centenary Square. The gallery shows four temporary exhibitions a year.{{cite web|url=http://www.bradfordmuseums.org/venues/bradford1gallery/index.php|title=Bradford Museums|publisher=Bradfordmuseums.org|access-date=26 November 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716085927/http://www.bradfordmuseums.org/venues/bradford1gallery/index.php|archive-date=16 July 2011|url-status=live}}

The Bradford Museums & Galleries has a collection items relating to Herbert Morley (explorer) and Mitch the printmaker.{{cite web|title=Cliffe Castle Explorers ARTefact Hunt – Bradford Museums and Galleries|url=https://www.bradfordmuseums.org/whats-on/cliffe-castle-explorers-artefact-hunt-2019-09-08|access-date=12 January 2021|website=www.bradfordmuseums.org}}

Impressions Gallery is an independent contemporary photography gallery with a temporary exhibitions programme showing on average six exhibitions each year. The gallery moved from York to Centenary Square, Bradford, in 2007.

After a campaign in 2008, Bradford was recognised as a 'City of Sanctuary' on 18 November 2010. Bradford is "a place where a broad range of local organisations, community groups and faith communities, as well as local government, are publicly committed to welcoming and including people seeking sanctuary." The city has a history of welcoming newcomers from throughout the world. An example of this was when between December 1938 and September 1939 as part of the Kindertransport scheme, Bradford welcomed around 270 German Jewish refugee children. Many of these children were initially housed in a former hospital building on Shipley Glen, which had been converted into a temporary hostel. Later, the children were moved to private homes throughout Bradford and the surrounding areas. The purchase of the Carlton Hostel building in 1939, part of the same Kindertransport scheme, was made possible through donations from both Bradford's Jewish community and non-Jews.{{cite news|last=Clayton|first=Emma|url=http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/tahistory/featuresnostalgiapasttimes/9703926.Bradford_s_helping_hand/|title=Bradford's helping hand|work=Telegraph & Argus|date=14 May 2012|access-date=22 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131224082759/http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/tahistory/featuresnostalgiapasttimes/9703926.Bradford_s_helping_hand/|archive-date=24 December 2013|url-status=live}}{{cite news|last=O'Rourke|first=Tanya|url=http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/local/localbrad/8681412.Bradford_is_sanctuary_on_asylum_____official|title=Group wins status for city after proving community looks after refugees|work=Telegraph & Argus|date=22 November 2010|access-date=24 November 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120111063535/http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/local/localbrad/8681412.Bradford_is_sanctuary_on_asylum_____official/|archive-date=11 January 2012|url-status=live}}{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20130807060219/http://www.cityofsanctuary.org/bradford "Bradford City of Sanctuary"]}}, Cityofsanctary.org (web archive). Retrieved 24 November 2010.

Bradford is the home town of rock bands New Model Army, Anti System, Smokie, Southern Death Cult, The Cult, The Scene, Redwire, Chantel McGregor, One Minute Silence, Scars on 45, Terrorvision, My Dying Bride and hip hop groups Fun-Da-Mental and Bad Boy Chiller Crew.{{cn|date=January 2025}}

Singer-songwriters Tasmin Archer, Teddy Sinclair and Kiki Dee—the first white British artist signed by Motown—also hail from the city.

Since the 1980s, Bradford has proved influential within the UK's punk rock scene, primarily because of the 1 in 12 Club, a music venue and anarchist workers' cooperative and members' club. 1980s groups such as Sore Throat, Anti System and late-era Doom all based themselves around the club,{{cite book |last1=Glasper |first1=Ian |title=Trapped in a Scene: UK Hardcore 1985–89 |date=2009 |page=302}} as did 1990s groups such as Voorhees and Ironside.{{cite book |last1=Glasper |first1=Ian |title=Armed with Anger: How Uk Punk Survived the Nineties |date=1 July 2012 |publisher=Cherry Red Books}}

In 2002 Gareth Gates came second in the first series of Pop Idol and went on to achieve four UK number one singles before enjoying success in musical theatre. Kimberly Walsh achieved major success after winning a place in the girl band Girls Aloud in Popstars: The Rivals later in the same year, and in 2010 Zayn Malik came third in The X Factor with his boy band One Direction, who in March 2012 became the first British group to go straight to the top of the US music charts with their debut album.{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2012/mar/21/one-direction-us-no1-album |location=London |work=The Guardian |first=Alex |last=Needham |title=One Direction make transatlantic pop history with US No 1 album |date=21 March 2012 |access-date=11 December 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170305010310/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2012/mar/21/one-direction-us-no1-album |archive-date=5 March 2017 |url-status=live }}

The guitar player and composer Allan Holdsworth was born in Bradford in 1946.{{cite news|last=Fordham|first=John|title=Allan Holdsworth obituary|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/apr/19/allan-holdsworth-obituary|newspaper=The Guardian|publisher=Guardian News and Media|access-date=13 May 2017|date=19 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170514044649/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/apr/19/allan-holdsworth-obituary|archive-date=14 May 2017|url-status=live}}

In 2013 Bradford was again crowned "Curry Capital of Britain" after seeing off other strong contenders such as Glasgow and Wolverhampton. Bradford scored highly not just for the quality of food and service offered by each of the restaurants, but also for food hygiene, a deep understanding of the curry restaurant sector and its success in collectively raising funds for food charity The Curry Tree, which seeks to alleviate the plight of the poor in South East Asia. The judges were also particularly impressed by Bradford's International Food Academy and Jamie's Ministry of Food, which teaches the districts residents how to cook quick, simple, healthy and cost-effective meals.{{cite news|url=http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/10739746.Bradford_thrilled_to_win_curry_title_third_year_in_a_row/|title=Bradford thrilled to win curry title third year in a row|first=Hannah|last=Postles|work=Bradford Telegraph and Argus|access-date=28 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029212846/http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/10739746.Bradford_thrilled_to_win_curry_title_third_year_in_a_row/|archive-date=29 October 2013|url-status=live}} The city has been voted the curry capital of the UK for 6 years running.{{cite web | url=https://www.roughguides.com/articles/on-the-curry-trail-in-bradford-england/ | title=Best Curry Houses in Bradford }}

Bradford has a long sporting tradition, and Bradford Bulls, formerly Bradford Northern, is one of the most successful rugby league clubs in the world, winning the World Club Championship three times since 2002 and the Rugby Football League Championship seven times. Bradford Bulls play at the Grattan Stadium, Odsal, formerly Odsal Stadium. The city is also home to a number of rugby union clubs—Bradford Salem are based in the Heaton area and Wibsey RFC can be found to the south of the city centre. The Richard Dunn Sports Centre is close to the Odsal and the sports facilities at the university are also open to the public at certain times.

File:Valley Parade, Bradford.jpg Valley Parade football stadium]]

Bradford City Football Club was formed in 1903. James Whyte, a sub-editor of the Bradford Observer, met with Football Association representative John Brunt in January to discuss plans, and in May Manningham RFC, a rugby league team, decided to change codes to association football.{{cite book |last=Frost |first=Terry |title=Bradford City A Complete Record 1903–1988 |publisher=Breedon Books Sport |year=1988

|page=9 |isbn=978-0-907969-38-9}} The Football League subsequently elected Bradford City to the league, with a total of 30 votes, to replace Doncaster Rovers,{{cite web |url=http://www.footballsite.co.uk/Statistics/LeagueTables/Season1902-03/Div21902-03.htm |title=Division 2 1902/03 |access-date=20 February 2008 |publisher=Footballsite |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080302093310/http://www.footballsite.co.uk/Statistics/LeagueTables/Season1902-03/Div21902-03.htm |archive-date=2 March 2008 |url-status=dead }} because it saw the invitation as a chance to introduce football to the rugby-dominated county.{{cite book |last=Frost |title=Bradford City A Complete Record 1903–1988 |page=13}} Eight years after the club was elected to the league, City won the FA Cup and recorded the highest league position in its history.{{cite book |last=Frost |title=Bradford City A Complete Record 1903–1988 |page=184}} They currently compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of English football. The ground suffered one of the worst all-time sporting disasters after 56 people died at Valley Parade on 11 May 1985.{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/11/newsid_2523000/2523561.stm |title=BBC On this day – 1985: Fans killed in Bradford stadium fire |access-date=16 March 2008 |publisher=BBC Sport |date=11 May 1985 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080307113041/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/11/newsid_2523000/2523561.stm |archive-date=7 March 2008 |url-status=live }} A second club from the city, Bradford Park Avenue, played in the Football League until it dropped out in 1970, then went into liquidation in 1974. The club now plays in the Northern Premier League, in the seventh tier of English football, which means the Bradford derby has not been played in years. Bradford Park Avenue hosted county cricket for Yorkshire as well as football.

Bradford Hockey Club is a field hockey club that competes in the North Hockey League and the Yorkshire & North East Hockey League.{{cite web |url=http://www.bradfordhockeyclub.org.uk/|title=Bradford Hockey Club |access-date=4 October 2024}}{{cite web |url=https://www.englandhockey.co.uk/clubs/bradford-hc/teams|title=England Hockey – Bradford Hockey Club |access-date=4 October 2024}}

Odsal Stadium is also the home of regular national BriSCA Formula 1 Stock Cars and BriSCA Formula 2 Stock Cars race meetings. The venue has hosted stock car and banger racing in the multi-use stadium since 23 June 1945, however the end of speedway racing in 1997 brought stock car racing in Bradford to a temporary close when the shale track was removed. The sport was revived at Odsal in 2021 with a brand new track surface, and is managed by Yorstox who also host meetings at Owlerton Stadium in Sheffield.{{cite web |url=https://www.yorstox.co.uk/Home/|title=Yorstox Stock Car Racing |access-date=4 January 2025}}

The defunct Bradford Dukes speedway team raced at Odsal until 1997. Speedway was staged at Greenfields Stadium in the pioneer days, when it was known as the Autodrome in the early 1960s. Odsal opened its doors in 1945 and continued in the late 1950s. It entered a team in the 1960 Provincial League then fell dormant until the 1970s when it re-opened. The track staged a Speedway World Final. The speedway team rode under a number of names—probably the longest running was Bradford Northern—in common with the Rugby League team. This was changed to Bradford Barons, emulating the more successful Halifax Dukes. Eventually the Halifax team was brought to Bradford under the name Bradford Dukes, who raced mostly on shale surfaces until 1997, when motorsports temporarily ceased at Odsal.

The Bradford Dragons are the city's basketball team, competing in the second tier English Basketball League Division 1. The team play their home games at Bradford College.

The city also has a history of skateboarding culture; in Ian Glasper's 2012 book Armed with Anger, the city was described as "West Yorkshire's de facto skate capital".

Joe Johnson, a retired professional snooker player from Bradford, won the 1986 World Snooker Championship.{{cite news| url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/more_sport/article1736226.ece| title=Golden moments at the Crucible| work=The Times| location=UK| access-date=14 March 2011| first=Phil| last=Yates| date=16 April 2008| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629141121/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/more_sport/article1736226.ece| archive-date=29 June 2011| url-status=dead}}

Jasmin Atker is a Bradford student who captained the first England team in the international Street Child Cricket World Cup, and was named one of the BBC 100 top inspiring women in 2019.{{cite news|last=Refugees|first=United Nations High Commissioner for|title=Rohingya Star Lights up Lords in Junior Cricket Final|url=https://www.unhcr.org/uk/news/latest/2019/5/5cde7e927/rohingya-star-lights-up-lords-in-junior-cricket-final.html|access-date=11 March 2021|website=UNHCR}}

File:Bradford Royal Infirmary - geograph.org.uk - 34416.jpg]]

There are two major hospitals in Bradford: Bradford Royal Infirmary and St Luke's Hospital. Both are teaching hospitals and are operated by Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS trust. Over the years the Trust has subsumed a number of smaller hospitals; these include Woodlands Orthopaedic Hospital, Northern View and Bierley Hall.

Bradford is the focus of one of the UK's largest ever birth cohort studies, known as Born in Bradford. Partly supported by European funding, it is the result of close collaboration between the University of Bradford, the NHS and other institutions in West Yorkshire. It will track the lives of all the babies born in the city from 2006 to 2008 and aims to provide a wealth of data, allowing health researchers the opportunity to investigate many different aspects of health and wellbeing.

Bradford has been the scene of some high-profile crimes such as the shooting of Bradford PC Sharon Beshenivsky while responding to a burglary in the city.{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bradford/4451508.stm |title=Woman Pc shot on child's birthday |work=BBC News |date=20 November 2005 |access-date=2 February 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080507003559/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bradford/4451508.stm |archive-date=7 May 2008 |url-status=live }} In May 2010, Stephen Griffiths was charged with the Bradford murders.{{cite news |first=Helen |last=Carter |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2010/may/28/ukcrime |title=Bradford murder accused appears in court |work=The Guardian |location=London |access-date=5 August 2011 |date=28 May 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140529154555/http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2010/may/28/ukcrime |archive-date=29 May 2014 |url-status=live }}

The Manningham Riot occurred between 10 and 12 June 1995, in Manningham and the 2001 Bradford race riots began on 7 July 2001 as a result of tension between ethnic minority communities and the city's white majority, stoked by the Anti-Nazi League and the National Front.{{cite news |url=http://transcripts.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/europe/UK/07/09/riots.analysis/index.html |title=CNN: Far-right accused over UK riots |date=10 July 2001 |access-date=26 April 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090203181607/http://transcripts.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/europe/UK/07/09/riots.analysis/index.html |archive-date=3 February 2009 }}{{cite news |url=http://archives.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/europe/UK/07/09/riot.timeline/ |title=CNN: Race riots not new to Britain |date=10 July 2001 |access-date=26 April 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090123230120/http://archives.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/europe/UK/07/09/riot.timeline/ |archive-date=23 January 2009 }} There were 297 arrests, 187 people charged with riot, and 45 charged with violent disorder, leading to 200 jail sentences totalling 604 years.{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_yorkshire/7156619.stm |title=Last Bradford rioter is sentenced |publisher=BBC |date=21 December 2007 |access-date=21 December 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071224012816/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_yorkshire/7156619.stm |archive-date=24 December 2007 |url-status=live }}

{{Main|List of people from Bradford}}

Only a few particularly notable names are listed here.

File:Sir William Rothenstein.jpg photo by George Charles Beresford, 1902 ]]

Among Bradford born people who made significant contributions to the arts were David Hockney, painter, draughtsman, printmaker, stage designer and photographer, who was born in the city and educated at Bradford Grammar School.{{cite web| url=http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artMakerDetails?maker=3283| title=David Hockney| publisher=Paul Getty Trust| access-date=14 March 2011| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100713223152/http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artMakerDetails?maker=3283| archive-date=13 July 2010| url-status=dead }} Frederick Delius (1862–1934) was a composer born to a family of German descent in the city{{cite journal| jstor=963502| journal=The Musical Times|title=The Delius Birthplace| volume=120| pages=990–992| last1=Jones| first1=Philip| year=1979| issue=1642| doi=10.2307/963502}} and J.B. Priestley (1894–1984) was a novelist and playwright. Sir William Rothenstein was a painter, draughtsman and writer on art who was principal of the Royal College of Art from 1920 to 1935.{{cite web| title=William Rothenstein (1872–1945)| url=http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person.php?LinkID=mp03885| publisher=National Portrait Gallery| access-date=13 August 2011| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110805185237/http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person.php?LinkID=mp03885| archive-date=5 August 2011| url-status=live}} In the genre of classical music Rodney Friend is an English violinist, born (1940), in 1964 he became the youngest ever leader of the London Philharmonic Orchestra.{{cite web|url=http://www.stringscambridge.com/facultyi.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130610115807/http://www.stringscambridge.com/facultyi.htm|archive-date=10 June 2013|title=Faculty|publisher=Cambridge Strings Limited}} In the field of science and medicine, Friederich Wilhelm Eurich (1867–1945), professor of forensic medicine and bacteriologist, did much to conquer anthrax in the wool trade.

File:Appleton.jpg]] Sir Edward Appleton (1892–1965), discoverer of the ionosphere was a Nobel Prize winner.{{cite web| url=http://www.leeds.ac.uk/medicine/history/eurich.html| title=Leeds Institute of Medical Education – History: Friederich Wilhelm Eurich| publisher=Leeds Institute of Medical Education| access-date=3 August 2011| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110609095526/http://www.leeds.ac.uk/medicine/history/eurich.html| archive-date=9 June 2011| url-status=dead}} Robert Turner (1923–1990) was a pathologist who came to Bradford from Belfast, and pioneered the use of chemotherapy in the treatment of cancer at the Bradford Royal Infirmary.

In the field of industry, Sir Jacob Behrens (1806–1889) was an Anglo–German textile merchant who was instrumental in Bradford becoming a major exporter of woollen goods.{{cite web|url=http://bradfordjewish.org.uk/jacob-behrens/|title=Sir Jacob Behrens 1806–1889|work=bradfordjewish.org.uk|access-date=20 September 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222164116/http://bradfordjewish.org.uk/jacob-behrens/|archive-date=22 December 2015|url-status=live}}

A social reformer who campaigned against child labour, Richard Oastler (1789–1861), is commemorated by a statue in Northgate{{cite ODNB| title=Oastler, Richard (1789–1861)| last=Weaver|first= Stewart A.| year=2004| doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/20435| url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/20435?docPos=1| access-date=13 August 2011}} and the Oastler Shopping Centre located close to the Kirkgate Shopping Centre W.E. Forster (1818–1886), was MP for Bradford and, commemorated by statue, is the namesake of Forster Square.{{cite ODNB| title=Forster, William Edward (1818–1886)| last=Warren|first= Allen| year=2004| doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/9926| url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/9926?docPos=1| access-date=13 August 2011}}

In recent pop culture the former participant of The X Factor, Zayn Malik, former member of successful{{cite web |first=John |last=Williams |url=http://jam.canoe.ca/Music/Artists/O/One_Direction/2012/03/21/19531441.html |title=CANOE – JAM! Music – Artists – One Direction : One Direction storms N.A. charts |publisher=Jam.canoe.ca |date=21 March 2012 |access-date=22 March 2012 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120715093804/http://jam.canoe.ca/Music/Artists/O/One_Direction/2012/03/21/19531441.html |archive-date=15 July 2012 |url-status=usurped }}{{cite news|url=http://music-mix.ew.com/2012/05/16/album-sales-carrie-underwood-stays-put-at-no-1-adele-gets-a-big-mothers-day-boost/|title=Album Sales: Carrie Underwood stays put at No. 1, Adele gets a big Mother's Day boost|date=16 May 2012|access-date=22 June 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130507044050/http://music-mix.ew.com/2012/05/16/album-sales-carrie-underwood-stays-put-at-no-1-adele-gets-a-big-mothers-day-boost/|archive-date=7 May 2013|url-status=live}} boy band One Direction, was born and raised in Bradford.{{cite news|first=Emma|last=Clayton|url=http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/8431606.X_Factor_s_Zain_reigns_in_Spain/|title=East Bowling teenager Zain Malik makes it to finals, but Bradford girl band Husstle bow out|work=Bradford Telegraph & Argus|publisher=Newsquest Media Group|date=5 October 2010|access-date=5 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160128214852/http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/8431606.X_Factor_s_Zain_reigns_in_Spain/|archive-date=28 January 2016|url-status=live}} American film star Aasif Mandvi grew up in Bradford.{{cite news|last1=Garner|first1=Dwight|title=Aasif Mandvi's 'No Land's Man'|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/18/books/reviews-aasif-mandvis-no-lands-man-and-maz-jobranis-im-not-a-terrorist-but-ive-played-one-on-tv.html?ref=arts&_r=0|access-date=17 March 2015|work=The New York Times|date=17 March 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402221447/http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/18/books/reviews-aasif-mandvis-no-lands-man-and-maz-jobranis-im-not-a-terrorist-but-ive-played-one-on-tv.html?ref=arts&_r=0|archive-date=2 April 2015|url-status=live}}

{{clear}}

File:Film Set in Little Germany, Bradford (geograph 7414579).jpg]]

The city has a rich heritage in film production, and many films and TV productions have been filmed in the city. Films using Bradford as a location include Room at the Top (1959); Billy Liar (1963); The Railway Children (1970), a children's film shot around Haworth including the Bronte Parsonage; Yanks (1979), starring Richard Gere; Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (1983), with footage filmed in Lister Park;{{cite web|url=http://www.fast-rewind.com/meaningoflife.htm|title=Monty Python's The Meaning Of Life (1983)|work=80s Movies Rewind|access-date=30 March 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013015523/http://www.fast-rewind.com/meaningoflife.htm|archive-date=13 October 2007|url-status=dead}} FairyTale: A True Story (1997) starring Harvey Keitel, based on the story of the Cottingley Fairies; and East is East (1997), in which Oak Lane is shown when the family visit the city.{{cite book |last=Khan-Din |first=Ayub |title=East is East |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6Nk4hCu6tQsC |year=1997 |publisher=Nick Hern Books |isbn=978-1-85459-313-9}}

The Buttershaw area of the city is featured in the film Rita, Sue and Bob Too (1987), in which two 16-year-old girls are involved in a love triangle with a wealthy married man (played by George Costigan). The film, created by local Andrea Dunbar, was initially unpopular with local residents due to its negative image of the area, but has since earned itself a good reputation in the local community as Buttershaw's claim to fame.{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2000/aug/30/guardiansocietysupplement |title=Playing for real |work=The Guardian |location=London |first1=Chris |last1=Arnot |first2=David |last2=Brindle |date=30 August 2000 |access-date=19 September 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004232907/http://www.theguardian.com/society/2000/aug/30/guardiansocietysupplement |archive-date=4 October 2013 |url-status=live}}{{cite web |url=http://archive.thisisbradford.co.uk/1998/6/15/174311.html |title=No hard feelings, Andrea |publisher=Archive.thisisbradford.co.uk |access-date=19 September 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071009075854/http://archive.thisisbradford.co.uk/1998/6/15/174311.html |archive-date=9 October 2007 |url-status=live}} The award-winning 2013 film The Selfish Giant takes place in and around Bradford.{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/oct/24/the-selfish-giant-review |title=The Selfish Giant – review |newspaper=The Guardian |date=24 October 2013 |last=Bradshaw |first=Peter |access-date=11 December 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160130182011/http://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/oct/24/the-selfish-giant-review |archive-date=30 January 2016 |url-status=live}}

In the BBC political satire The Amazing Mrs Pritchard (2006), the Prime Minister considers a proposal to move Parliament to Bradford, as it is closer to the geographic centre of the country than London. The 2008 Spooks spin-off for BBC Three, Spooks: Code 9, was filmed in the city,{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2008/03_march/26/spooks.shtml|title=Spooks: Code 9 – a new drama for BBC Three from the team behind Spooks|publisher=British Broadcasting Corporation|date=26 March 2008|access-date=6 August 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120207153618/http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2008/03_march/26/spooks.shtml|archive-date=7 February 2012|url-status=live}} as were the television adaptation of the Red Riding works by David Peace first broadcast in 2009.{{cite web |url=http://www.visitbradford.com/leisure-attractions/BradfordCityofFilm.asp |title=Bradford City of Film |publisher=visitbradford.com |access-date=14 November 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100806172502/http://www.visitbradford.com/leisure-attractions/BradfordCityofFilm.asp |archive-date=6 August 2010 |url-status=dead }} Bradford was the focus of a 2012 Channel 4 documentary, Make Bradford British, which examined the level of integration between the city's Christian and Muslim communities.{{cite web|title=Make Bradford British|url=http://www.channel4.com/programmes/make-bradford-british/articles/home|publisher=Channel 4|access-date=12 August 2012|year=2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120809184000/http://www.channel4.com/programmes/make-bradford-british/articles/home|archive-date=9 August 2012|url-status=live}} Series 2 of The Syndicate, which aired in 2013 on BBC One, featured a syndicate involving workers at a public hospital in Bradford. Scenes for the second season of All Creatures Great and Small were filmed in Little Germany in April 2021, featuring child and adult actors from the theatre school Articulate.{{cite web|url=https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/19218727.bradford-youngsters-join-new-face-creatures-great-small/|title=Bradford youngsters join new face in All Creatures Great and Small |website=Telegraph and Argus |date=10 April 2021 |access-date=11 April 2021}} In recent years, Bradford was the filming location for popular TV shows including Peaky Blinders, Happy Valley and The Crown.{{cite web |date=20 August 2022 |title=Full list of TV shows and films shot in Bradford during 2022 so far |url=https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/20671700.see-tv-shows-films-shot-bradford-2022---crown-happy-valley/ |access-date=9 September 2023 |website=Bradford Telegraph and Argus}} Filming sites included Bradford City Hall, Leeds-Liverpool Canal and Little Germany.{{cite web |date=2 September 2023 |title=All the TV shows and films shot at City Hall – Peaky Blinders, soaps and more |url=https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/23761323.bradford-city-halls-star-role-tv-films-years/ |access-date=9 September 2023 |website=Bradford Telegraph and Argus}}{{cite web |title=Bradford |url=https://filmedinyorkshire.co.uk/locations/bradford/ |access-date=9 September 2023 |website=Filmed in Yorkshire}}

Bradford features under the name of "Broadbeck" in the best-selling 1912 novel Windyridge by Bradford novelist Willie Riley.{{cite book|last1=Copeland|first1=David|title=Windyridge: a classic Yorkshire novel|date=2010|publisher=Jeremy Mills Publishing|isbn=978-1-906600-18-1|page=xiii|edition=new|chapter=Introduction}} Link, the main character of the 1993 novel Stone Cold, by Robert E. Swindells, is from Bradford.{{cite web |last=Unknown |first=Unknown |date=9 February 2023 |title=Year 8 Knowledge Organiser Stone Cold by Robert Swindells |url=https://www.southwigston.leics.sch.uk/documents/704/Year_8_Knowledge_Organiser---Stone_Cold_by_Robert_Swindells---Spring_2.pdf |access-date=9 February 2023}}

Bradford is twinned with a number of places around the world:{{cite web |url=http://www.bradford.gov.uk/life_in_the_community/twin_towns_and_villages |title=Twin Towns and Villages Overview |publisher=Bradford Metropolitan District Council |access-date=28 August 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090628181712/http://www.bradford.gov.uk/life_in_the_community/twin_towns_and_villages |archive-date=28 June 2009 }}

• Skopje, North Macedonia (since 1963){{cite web |url=http://www.skopje.gov.mk/EN/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabindex=0&tabid=69|title=Skopje – Twin towns & Sister cities |access-date=4 November 2013 |publisher=Official portal of City of Skopje |website=www.skopje.gov.mk |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131024131101/http://www.skopje.gov.mk/EN/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabindex=0&tabid=69 |archive-date=24 October 2013}}
• Roubaix, France (since 1969){{cite web |url=http://www.completefrance.com/language-culture/twin-towns |title=British towns twinned with French towns |access-date=11 July 2013 |publisher=Archant Community Media Ltd |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130705094933/http://www.completefrance.com/language-culture/twin-towns |archive-date=5 July 2013}}
• Verviers, Belgium (since 1970)
• Mönchengladbach, Germany (since 1971)
• Galway, Ireland (since 1987)
• Mirpur, Azad Kashmir, Pakistan (friendship agreement in 1998)
• Varna, Bulgaria (since 1992){{cite web |title=Побратимени градове|url=http://live.varna.bg/bg/Varna-worldwide/pobratimeni-gradove.html|website=live.varna.bg|publisher=Varna|language=bg|access-date=29 October 2019}}

{{portal|Yorkshire}}

• Bradford City stadium fire
• List of Pals battalions
• Listed buildings in Bradford
• BD1 Gallery

{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{cite book |last=Mills |first=A. D. |title=Dictionary of English Place-Names |publisher=Oxford |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-19-280074-9 }}
• {{cite book |last=Sheeran |first=George |title=The Buildings of Bradford: An Illustrated Architectural History |publisher=Tempus |location=Stroud, UK |date=2005 |isbn=978-0-7524-3584-8}}

{{refend}}

• Valentine, S. R., Bradford City Hall: 150 Years of Civic Pride, Bradford M. D. C., 2023.
• Bradford Corporation (1856) The Acts relating to the Transfer of the Bradford Waterworks to the Corporation of Bradford.
• Cudworth, William (1882) Historical Notes on the Bradford Corporation. Republished Old Bradfordian Press
• Cudworth, William (1888) Worstedopolis. Republished Old General Books Memphis
• Cudworth, William (1891) Histories of Bolton and Bowling. Thomas Brear & Co Bradford
• Cudworth, William (1891) Condition of the Industrial Classes. Collected articles from the Bradford Observer. Republished by Mountain Press 1977

• {{note|Allen}}{{cite book| first=C. |last=Allen| year=2003| title=Fair justice: the Bradford disturbances, the sentencing and the impact| location=London| publisher=Forum Against Islamophobia and Racism}}
• {{note|bradfords_own}}{{cite book |first=Derek A. J. |last=Lister |title=Bradford's Own| publisher=Sutton| year=2004| isbn=978-0-7509-3826-6| oclc=56460838}}
• {{note|OS_1852}}{{cite book| title=Ordnance Survey 1:10,560 County Series Map: Yorkshire Sheet 216| publisher=Heritage Cartography| isbn=978-1-903004-34-0| first=Peter J. |last=Adams| year=2001| oclc=63800551}} This was surveyed between 1847 and 1850, and published in 1852, though it was reprinted at various dates with certain (unidentified) details updated. The modern edition from Heritage Cartography is 'redrawn' from the original, and titled Bradford 1849, but the railways shown indicate that it is from a printing of at least 1854.
• {{note|Firth}}{{cite book |last=Firth |first=Gary |title=A History of Bradford |publisher=Phillimore |year=1997 |isbn=978-1-86077-057-9 |oclc=44633113}}
• {{cite book |last=Wilmott |first=Elvira |title=The Ryburn Map of Victorian Bradford |publisher=Ryburn |year=1987 |isbn=978-1-85331-004-1 |oclc=63989031}} The map itself is a reproduction of the Plan of the Town of Bradford … revised and corrected to the present time by Dixon & Hindle, 1871.
• {{cite book |last=Richardson |first=C. |year=1976 |title=A Geography of Bradford |publisher=University of Bradford |isbn=0-901945-19-6}}

{{Sister project links|voy=Bradford|Bradford}}

{{EB1911 poster|Bradford (Yorkshire)|Bradford}}

• {{Official website|https://www.bradford.gov.uk}}
• {{Wikivoyage inline|Bradford}}

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