Most liked posts in thread: University of Bradford Stadium

The fact is Keefly, others have tried but sadly there is no energy in the Local Authority and hasn't been for at leat 20 years. Bradford Council is ingrained with average to poor across the spectrum. In November 2008 my Company hosted a business breakfast meeting at our HQ. Well attended at our Award winning building and I was one of 3 speakers. At the end the Chair asked each of us where we saw our business and the City in 10 years time. The first 2 were gushing, do this that and the other. I said in all my career dealings with each of the Home Governments, tens of Local Authorities and Local and Regional Governments abroad, Bradford was bottom of the pile. Inept Politicians and below average Officers, unless there was drastic change the City would go nowhere, I think I was right looking now. During tea one senior Politician told me I was right.
All political colours have missed the boat. I sat on a group in 2009 which had a scheme to link the two stations, drawn by an International firm of Engineers, it worked if Broadway was moved slightly but no, BMDC love affair with Westfield overuled, then the scheme got reduced in size too late, now they are obsessed with a station on the site of an earlier failure due to being too far out of town.
I was responsible for drawing up a scheme to redevlope the area from Hamm Strasse to the bottom of Kirkgate Market which combined all the markets under one roof (for food) and the household went into the market section of Kirkgate with John Street (Oastler) becoming a new store site for us. Total cost of build only at mid 90s costs £35 million all from my Company. Rubbished as too ambitious, in other words can't be bothered.
Don't get me started on Richard Dunn and the crazy ideas for that, tabled to me in 2017 which I said wouldn't work, no market for takers, etc. but no, we know better.
As for Bronc's comments on City of Culture, I hope you're right, Dave but history, Hull and now Coventry suggest otherwise, huge loss makers with hardly any benefit.
Keefly, the only revolution will come when BMDC gets some talent. Despite what we may think I know there has been some talent but seen off as a threat by those who are less talented and can only see threat instead of managing. All of which concludes with lack of progress which we see in other regenerated Cities who like us have lost their original industrial base but have moved to other things in real terms, not endless hot air and constant whining about others letting them down.
Rant over.

 

My son studied IT at Bradford and now has a good job using his degree. The University actually has good outcomes for graduate level employment. It has a very good reputation for its pharmacy courses too.
People shouldn't jump to conclusions about the quality of education on offer because of where it is.

 

In what sense do you think Bradford has a lot going for it, Simon?

It probably has the worst road and rail connections of any major city in the country. The industry that it was built around has gone. All the big white collar employers have gone bust or relocated elsewhere. Most of the decent architecture has been demolished. It's only ten miles from Leeds, which sucks in all the investment and development. It has no restaurants (other than curry houses) or nightlife to speak of, because the majority inner city population doesn't drink or eat non-halal food. The inner city population is generally poor and those with money on the outskirts go to Leeds or Harrogate, so the city centre cannot attract or retain decent retailers. The university no longer attracts young people from around the country. Etc etc.
I'm very attached to my adopted home area, but I am struggling to see how it breaks out of the cycle of decline it's stuck in. It's hard to see what will attract employers, shoppers and visitors back into Bradford centre.

 

Actual picture of Steve waiting for an answer to this question *some* time later

 

No. Where do get that nonsense from? It's not rocket science - It's a poor city. It relies heavily on government funding and specific grants which were all massively cut or removed altogether during Osborne's austerity years. Regeneration would require massive investment. The council simply doesn't have that sort of money and there's no real likelihood of the private sector doing so. The government talks about levelling up, but continues to spend squillions on London and the south while places like Bradford rot.

 

The Broadway was a massive mistake. It was never going to compete with Trinity, Briggate and the Victoria Quarter. All it's done is replicate the shops that were already in Darley Street and the Arndale, killed the top end of town and destroyed the possibility of linking Forster Square and the Interchange.

 

don’t think it’s the University I think it’s that downtown ghetto attached to it ........... I mean given the choice would you really wanna study here ?????

 

I came to Bradford in 1980 from south Essex, when I was 24, after working in London in the civil service for five years. I'd had enough of commuting and of living in a one horse town. No one in my family had ever been to uni, so I had no idea what to expect. I just wanted a big change in my life so I applied to places that were very different from home.

My A level results had been crap - playing guitar instead of revising - and I was turned down by East Anglia and Birmingham Universities. Bradford accepted me. I can still vividly remember walking from the interchange, up Great Horton Road past all these side streets of stone built terraced houses and being excited by how different it was.

Bradford Uni was a very vibrant place in the early 80s. People came from all over the country and many of the courses - engineering, pharmacy, optics, modern languages, social work -were very highly rated. The music and social scene was fantastic and I couldn't believe my luck. I really felt I'd fallen on my feet.

I did the social work training course, which involved two work placements, one of which was with the council's Social Services Department. I made friends on that placement, so it felt like a natural thing to get a job there after graduation and stay in Bradford. I've never regretted it.

I worked at Bradford Uni for four years before retiring. There's no doubt it has changed massively. The majority of students are now locals who, because of the loss of grants, live at home. Most come from Muslim backgrounds and don't drink, so nearly all the campus bars and local student clubs have gone. So the student social scene as I knew it has disappeared. I guess it's become a self-fullfilling prophesy - the more the social scene shrinks, the less attractive it becomes to non-Muslim students from around the country who want a vibrant social life at uni as well as decent courses. It's hard to see that changing really.

 

Bradford Met District, on the other hand, is a different case entirely. Loads of beautiful countryside, Saltaire, Ilkley, Haworth and surrounding villages etc. Lots of great places to live and to visit. And cheap as chips compared to London.

 

My how we get deflected. Stadium name now announced. Great work again by the commercial team.

 

Not forgetting the phone shops.

Being of a certain age like myself you will remember the fantastic architectural building that were Swan Arcade and Kirkgate Market, Swan Arcade had warm air being blow out of ducting in the floor where during winter the women congregated holding the clothing down as the warm air kept their nether regions warm.
Vandals couldn't have done any worse than past and present councils what was once a beautiful City centre is now a modern concrete monstrosity, the new Broadway blocking that great old GPO building with the Bradford Cathedral behind.

 

Sloppy ?? Ha ha , it’s a stadium naming deal, It’s no big deal . What do you want them to get the cherry picker dropped off as there writing the tweet ?

 

https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/sport/sportlatest/20584578.bradford-city-come-sixth-efl-best-fan-experience/

Not bad for a stadium that some of our own fans run down and tell us its a crap match day experience.

 

Oh I don't know. If you want to major in muggings, shootings, drug dealing, drug production, hit & run, grooming, sexual assault and bad parking then Bradford's the place.

 

Quite the journey indeed that is Dennis!

Yes it's changed a lot now in that respect. due to a mistake and subsequent cover up by SFC in my loan payments, I was awarded the minimum loan when I was actually entitled to the maximum amount. This meant I had to work 30 hours a week on top of my degree for a year and a bit whilst it was resolved. Fortunately I got what I was owed just before the pandemic hit, which meant I then couldn't work at all.

Generally with mine, the university I went to is very highly regarded for electronic music which was a big pull factor for many in my year also. Likewise an opportunity to go somewhere far away for a few years and get out there into the big wide world!

 

I wish mate. Only me to look after my mum whos not in the best of health.

 

The Leeds Road 'gateway' into Bradford is one of the most depressing sites you could wish to see.

 

Steve the decline of this one great City started long before the Tories got into government.

 

The city’s decline was down to the end of the wool trade and unlike in more recents time where mining towns were given millions of help Bradford got nothing.
The city used to have car manufacturing and was one of the first to produce tv’s and as you know plenty of Engineering all of which have disappeared.
It needs investment like the govt subsidised Nissan plant in Sunderland. There is going to be a big growth in green technology in the coming years Batteries for electric cars for instance why can’t Bradford have some of that. There used to be a good chamber of commerce in Bradford what has happened to that. The city needs a proactive mayor similar to the guy in Sheffield who fights for investment.