Most liked posts in thread: Bradford

My forum name is a reference to the ex leed s player that played for leed s and city in the seventies. But I,m beginning to wonder if it was a nickname I made up myself.

 

David 'Daisy' McNiven did indeed exist......

 

Day out in town yesterday.

Brick Box on Ivegate: arty, like it.
Sunbridge: needs someone to take it forward. Eye-catching place but sticking a 'gin bar' in doesn't make it forward-thinking.
Record Cafe: picked up later in the aft. Mate bought some vinyl.
Lord Clyde: did karaoke. Good times.
Fighting *@?$: busy - can't recall what we supped.

Our Leeds contingent - not short of a bob or 2 - are making a plan to do it again with a bunch of their Leeds pals.

 

Me too, Wayne Smith hooked me for life.

Nice to physically reminisce sometimes, tbh I don't know anybody that I could pursuade to do that tour with me. It's Leeds or nothing when we go out, which is sad. I'll try the brick Box with Mrs Abbo this weekend. We go the fighting *@?$ occasionally, I am always surprised to find it still trading and even more surprised to find it always busy, it's gone from being in a very busy area (late 80's early 90's) to being in a post-industrial wasteland but is still hanging in there.

 

Little germany looks stunning tbh, what's the main user around there, residential, office. Looks like a great place to start any regeneration from. Born and bred on the south coast so not too in touch with the history up your way.

 

This thread makes interesting reading. You'd think that every other city was the epitome of incredible architecture, picturesque tree lined avenues and suburbs where everyone lived happily ever after. They aren't. Leeds is a good example. Whilst the city centre has received huge amounts of investment (it's starting to look a bit lego land like for my tastes, wait until they date) and of course Leeds has affluent areas it also has many areas that are complete shtholes - I've lived and worked in a couple of them. I think they are actually worse than anything Bradford has to offer. I mean seriously. I walked down a couple of streets in Harehills and I began to wonder if I was the one in prison or the residents. I've never ever seen the sheer number of metal bars adorning doors and windows in any street in Bradford. Hunslet is hardly uplifting. I could go on. Bradfords real problem is the number of empty retail outlets in (largely) the upper end of the city centre. Depressing. The lower end of town around city hall and market street is fine. I find it nicer (it's certainly greener) than Huddersfield (for example) but one thing I will give Huddersfield city centre: it's open.

 

Mainly residential now, i've worked in a few buildings around there now. The big modern glass building is resident to mainly low paid migrant workers as are most of the others around that area. If the area was in central Leeds it would be a really nice place to live, unfortunately it isn't. Bradford City centre is 5 minute walk but at night is a desolate shithole with no reason to go there.

 

More on reputation to the outside world. I've walked alone from North Parade to up past the Alhambra and in the other direction towards little Germany and the interchange at midnight onwards, and never had problems. But reputations stick, and Bradford's is god awful, wherever I go in the country if I jump in a taxi and tell them where I'm from people always have something to say, and it's never good. Professionals will only come to the area if that can change, it would take a lot of work, and I don't think our council is capable of doing it.

 

Yep I agree I just think they located the screen badly to then have no booze as it is directly outside Wetherspoons etc.

 

We have racial problems too, probably the biggest reason why the centre is dying on it's arse with hardly any "spenders" to be seen.

My sons have gone, neither will ettle back in Bradford, other places open their eyes. One child to go then Mrs Abbo and I are off.

 

I know Leeds quite well and, believe me, many of the inner city areas/ suburban council estates are just as run down as anywhere in Bradford. The center seems to exist in a gentrified bubble by virtue of being the biggest center in the w.yorks conurbation/ core city status it seems to attract the bulk of both public and private sector investment.
Bradford is in a kind of limbo, being too small to compete with Leeds but too big to become a ‘niche’ town. The center needs to downsize, concentrate on the ‘bottom of town’ area while the top should be residential/ light industrial.
Bradford still has a desent economy despite what the doomongers say. My sister works in London and still says Bradford is the place for fabric/ textlie specialists.
The key is to get those earning their brass in Bradford to spend it in Bradford

 

It is too big and fragmented, not just retail, but the bars, Market St bars, North Parade a good slog away and the tunnels stranded, and I'd put sq/ft actual occupancy of the centre at less than 20%!

I don't believe chain retail will save the centre, but the market moving is step in the right direction, I'd pave North Parade and have no retail above the Kirkgate centre, squash it up, make it look busy.

 

Noticed a report in the press that major town and city mall owners have been offering the councils the opportunity to buy them as an investment opportunity, The market usually knows best and if the major mall investors want out then long term the centres are in trouble.

 

Well it's no beauty that's for sure but Bradford has a long history of knocking down "big" structures, ones that give a City gravitas, and replacing them with smaller/cheaper/worse ones.............

 

https://twitter.com/blaisekatchunga/status/1100811073312182273?s=12


Disgusting scenes in city Park and also disgraceful by the ‘ security ‘