Bradford walking tour

I had booked an English Heritage walking tour of Bradford weeks ago, and today was the day. Because it started relatively early, I booked myself into a Premier Inn last night, and had a walk around late afternoon/ early evening. I visited the cathedral - new to me - and although it was supposedly closed was invited in by a very friendly clergyman, who explained that there was a Compline service (which I stayed for). He also gave me an impromptu tour of the building, which was fascinating.

Today’s tour was a real whistle stop one - 90 minutes or so - and we covered a lot of ground quickly. Our blue badge guide is based at York Minster, does lots of tours across Yorkshire, but has never done a tour of Bradford before, so we were her guinea pigs. No time to linger or go into any buildings, so I did all of that later.

The image is approaching the Wool Hall, now occupied by a Waterstones. The interior is jaw dropping ( extra). The first extra is approaching the Town Hall, another great building. The tower is apparently a direct copy of the campanile of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. I’m going to have to check that claim out.

Another extra is a mural on the side of the Bradford Playhouse. It celebrates the founding of the Independent Labour Party in the city in 1893, the precursor to today’s Labour Party. Looking at it I pondered on what the founders might have made of today’s Party.

I took lots of photographs through the day. There is a lot to see and enjoy, too much to outline here. This year Bradford is the UK’s capital of culture, and the city is making a big effort to attract visitors, including those like me who have never been before. It’s clearly got its challenges - there’s a lot of deprivation, it has an image problem (which a couple of locals I talked to commented on) and it needs a big boost economically - but the foundations of a better future are there, and hopefully this year as UK Capital of Culture will help. It’s apparently one of the youngest city’s in Europe demographically, and its varied ethnic mix I guess means a lot of thought has gone into how to embrace all the different cultures in what’s planned for this year. There is a lot of lazy racial stereotyping which the city needs to get beyond.

Some temporary extras added.