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City in West Yorkshire, England

Bradford

In 2009 Bradford became the world's first UNESCO City of Film. It's also the place where Victorian wool money built a Venetian-style chimney and gave Britain its curry capital.

Key information

County
West Yorkshire
Nation
England
Population
About 546,000 (2021 Census)
Known for
Wool, curry, film, Saltaire, Bradford City and the Bradford Bulls
What locals are called
Bradfordians
Famous people
David Hockney, J. B. Priestley, Frederick Delius, Zayn Malik
Football clubs
Bradford City (the Bantams), Bradford (Park Avenue)

About Bradford

The world's first City of Film

Bradford was named the world's first UNESCO City of Film in 2009. It earned the title partly through the National Science and Media Museum, which opened in 1983 as the National Museum of Photography, Film & Television. Its Pictureville cinema has one of the very few Cinerama screens left in the world. The city has long worked as a film set too, with its soot-dark stone, steep streets and mill chimneys. In 2025 Bradford was the UK City of Culture, a title that rounded off a reinvention few people predicted. The Brontës were born here as well, though not in the centre. Charlotte, Branwell, Emily and Anne all arrived in Thornton, on the western edge of Bradford, while their father Patrick was the local curate.

Why they called it Worstedopolis

In the 19th century Bradford was the wool capital of the world. Its mills spun and wove worsted cloth on a vast scale, and the city nickname Worstedopolis stuck. Population exploded as workers poured in from the Yorkshire countryside and from Ireland, and later from Germany too. German merchants left a mark on the area now known as Little Germany, with its grand warehouses. The money went into showpiece buildings. City Hall, finished in 1873, has an Italianate tower and statues of English monarchs. The same year, Manningham Mills (Lister's Mill) was completed for Samuel Cunliffe Lister. Its chimney is about 249 feet tall and still dominates the skyline. Bradford was granted city status in 1897, at the very peak of its wool wealth.

Saltaire: the mill town with no pub

Just north of the centre is Saltaire, built from 1853 by Sir Titus Salt. He moved his mill out of smoky Bradford and built a model village for his workers, with neat stone houses, a church, a hospital, baths and a school. Salt did not allow a pub in the village, although he was not a teetotaller and drank alcohol himself. Saltaire became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2001. Salts Mill is now a gallery with a big collection of works by Bradford's own David Hockney.

Britain's curry capital

After the Second World War, mills recruited workers from Pakistan, especially Mirpur, and later from other parts of South Asia. They settled in Bradford and shaped its food. Cafés and sweet centres opened along Lumb Lane and Legrams Lane, and the city won repeated awards as Britain's curry capital. The food here is more than curry. Look for karahi dishes served sizzling in the pan, fresh naan and Kashmiri tea. Sweet shops sell trays of jalebi and barfi. Pakistani, Indian and Bangladeshi traditions have all had a big influence on the city's festivals too, including the Bradford Mela. A darker food story belongs to 1858. A sweet-seller's peppermint lozenges were accidentally made with arsenic, and 21 people died. The scandal helped push through new laws on food adulteration and, in 1868, on pharmacists.

Bantams, Bulls and a record crowd

Bradford City are the Bantams and play at Valley Parade. They won the FA Cup in 1911 and spent two seasons in the Premier League, 1999–2001. On 11 May 1985 a fire at the ground killed 56 supporters. The city has remembered them ever since, and the tragedy led to major changes in stadium safety. Rugby league is just as important. The Bradford Bulls, based at Odsal, were one of the dominant Super League sides, winning the title in 1997, 2001, 2003 and 2005. Odsal also holds a remarkable record. The 1954 Challenge Cup final replay between Warrington and Halifax drew 102,569, still the biggest crowd for a rugby league match in England.

Famous Bradfordians

David Hockney, born here in 1937, went to Bradford Grammar School and Bradford School of Art before becoming one of Britain's most famous painters. Novelist and playwright J. B. Priestley was born in Manningham in 1894. The composer Frederick Delius was born in the city in 1862, to a family of wool merchants. More recently, Zayn Malik of One Direction, born in 1993, has carried the Bradford name around the world.

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