Bradford: Wool Capital Turned Cultural Crossroads
Bradford built its fortune on wool. By the mid-nineteenth century, it was the undisputed worsted capital of the world, and the wealth that flowed through the town produced buildings of astonishing confidence — the Wool Exchange on Market Street, the Venetian Gothic of the city centre, the model village of Saltaire built by Sir Titus Salt along the River Aire, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Alhambra Theatre, a Frank Matcham-designed palace from 1914, still hosts the biggest touring productions outside London.
The post-war period brought migration from Pakistan and Bangladesh to fill labour shortages in the textile mills. That community is now into its third and fourth generation and forms around a quarter of the city's population. Bradford regularly wins the title of "curry capital of Britain" — the restaurants along Great Horton Road and in the city centre offer a depth and quality of South Asian cuisine that larger cities struggle to match. The annual Bradford Literature Festival has become one of the most important in the country.
Saltaire, three miles north of the city centre, is Bradford's jewel. Salt's Mill, the enormous factory building, now houses the largest collection of David Hockney's work (Hockney grew up in Bradford and attended Bradford Grammar School). The planned village around it — stone terraces, a park, an institute — is preserved almost exactly as Salt built it in the 1850s. The city's population is around 350,000 for the district, making it one of the larger local authorities in England.
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Bradford built its fortune on wool. By the mid-nineteenth century, it was the undisputed worsted capital of the world, and the wealth that flowed through the town produced buildings of astonishing confidence — the Wool Exchange on Market Street, the Venetian Gothic of the city centre, the model village of Saltaire built by Sir Titus Salt along the River Aire, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Alhambra Theatre, a Frank Matcham-designed palace from 1914, still hosts the biggest touring productions outside London.
The post-war period brought migration from Pakistan and Bangladesh to fill labour shortages in the textile mills. That community is now into its third and fourth generation and forms around a quarter of the city's population. Bradford regularly wins the title of "curry capital of Britain" — the restaurants along Great Horton Road and in the city centre offer a depth and quality of South Asian cuisine that larger cities struggle to match. The annual Bradford Literature Festival has become one of the most important in the country.
Saltaire, three miles north of the city centre, is Bradford's jewel. Salt's Mill, the enormous factory building, now houses the largest collection of David Hockney's work (Hockney grew up in Bradford and attended Bradford Grammar School). The planned village around it — stone terraces, a park, an institute — is preserved almost exactly as Salt built it in the 1850s. The city's population is around 350,000 for the district, making it one of the larger local authorities in England.
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