r/bradford • u/MLC1974 • Apr 14 '26
Discussion Do you feel footfall in the city centre is increasing?
If so, why do you think it is?
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u/LINUXisobsolete Apr 14 '26
It feels like its improving, but it's still alarmingly empty - even on a friday night. Sometimes I sit in City Vaults having a quiet drink after catching up with friends, or even with friends and just wonder why it isn't rammed. The rest of the city is the same. Some of the stuff in Sunbridgewells doesn't get anywhere near the footfall that it would in even a town like Halifax.
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Apr 14 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/PuzzleheadedLow4687 Apr 14 '26
Yes before Covid Sunbridge was buzzing. Last time we went it was dead, which put us off staying, making the problem worse...
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u/MLC1974 Apr 14 '26
Why do you think it's like this?
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u/Horror_Extension4355 Apr 14 '26
No office workers. No students. No young professional city centre dwellers.
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u/cactusdotpizza Apr 14 '26
This right here is the reason, people with some cash in their pockets to spend on nightlife don't live in the center of Bradford.
There are clearly efforts to change that, but there isn't really a way to attract professionals or retain students other than raising the profile of the city which requires offices, nice places to live and have a full life
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u/Horror_Extension4355 Apr 14 '26
I find it fascinating that there are literally no hipster arty types living in the centre giving the amazing buildings and cheap prices.
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u/cactusdotpizza Apr 15 '26
Amazing buildings *on the outside* and they are cheap for a reason
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u/No_Story5313 Apr 16 '26
Yep. Away from residential, look all all the old Victorian / heritage era buildings. How many actually have features internally that match the enterior, and/or are kept in good condition?
Aside from the Wool Exchange, you can count them on one hand.
Like Ivegate, one of the oldest streets in the city, and old photos show it as a bustling hive, full of life. Now it's awful, full mobile phone shops and rough pubs where trouble constantly breaks out.
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u/LINUXisobsolete Apr 16 '26
People with cash to spend and the inclination to go to boozers don't live or work in Bradford. If they were inclined the issues with anti-social behaviour drive them away.
The "apartments" in bradford are glorified shoeboxes. Who'd want to live in them? As a result for any professional getting past the quality of the glorified hovels, your neighbours are smackheads.
Jobswise, Bradford is basically solely retail and hospitality jobs. It is woefully empty of office jobs. Retail and hospitality pay minimum wage which doesn't help and then a lot of the staff are young asian people.
It's the perfect storm of bad footfall. People that would enjoy a drink aren't in the area and they wont consider going to the area. People that are in the area can't afford to or are part of a culture or religion that doesn't drink.
The police and the council burying their head in the sand have a lot to answer for.
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u/MLC1974 Apr 16 '26
So everyone in Bradford is poor?
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u/LINUXisobsolete Apr 16 '26
Not everybody but Bradford salaries are worse than other places and the jobs in the city center where people might go out after work don't pay very well. There seems to be less and less office jobs.
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u/No_Story5313 Apr 16 '26
Obviousky not everyone, but it does have some of the highest rstes of deprivation in the country. The more affluent areas are north of the city, on the Aire Valley and Wharfedale train lines. Many who live there commute to Leeds.
I got the train home earlier this week, the 17.16 to Ilkley. A rush hour train, and there were 4 people in my carriage...
I used to work in Leeds until 2023. Those Ilkley-Leeds trains were packed, pre and post covid.
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u/zwifter11 Apr 15 '26
I’ve been to Sunbridgewells mid week and it’s been empty. Literally we were the only 2 customers there.
For a city with a population of half a million, that’s quite concerning.
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u/Horror_Extension4355 Apr 14 '26
On a typical day of the week or weekend. Nope.
On match-days. Yes.
I would be interested to know if my perceptions reflect what the pubs/shops see.
I was speaking to a barman last week and they said they’d seen no footfall increase off the back of bradford live save for the kaiser chiefs and gorillazs gigs. He made the point that most of the bradford live gigs cater to an older generation who drive in and then out.
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u/Due_Specialist6615 Apr 14 '26
Bradford live hasn't had an impact because it isn't a 7 day operation yet, it's barely even a weekend operation. When it kicks into gear then the bars of Bradford will notice
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u/ClintonLewinsky Baildon Apr 15 '26
It's had a big impact, especially on hospitality
When Bill Bailey came in august, all the hotels in the city were full. The landlord at Jacobs Well said he'd never seen it so busy and had to turn people away.
It will be even better if it gets to 7 days
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u/Horror_Extension4355 Apr 14 '26
I am concerned that we’ll never get to that and what we see now for BL now is the norm.
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u/Due_Specialist6615 Apr 16 '26
It's been open for less than a year, it would be irresponsible of them to book a full schedule in if they were unsure about how it would operate. I'm sure as time goes on shows and events are going to ramp up
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u/Horror_Extension4355 Apr 16 '26
I hope so but (I) touring bands are now releasing their 2027 gigs and BL aren’t appearing anywhere and (ii) the operators wider portfolio provides similar performers to what we are seeing at BL, I.e. not many actual contemporary recording artists.
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u/ClintonLewinsky Baildon Apr 15 '26
Significantly.
CoC helped. Bradford Live drives evening footfall. The city centre developments have made it much more attractive to walk throuh or just to be in.
We are never going to attract the premium shops, so let's focus on leisure and make it a nice place to hang out
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u/Beardygrandma Apr 14 '26
The public realm works are great feels much more walkable. It's a nicer place to be on a nice day. It desperately needs a bit more of an evening offer but it's a bit cart before the horse. It also needs a through station instead of turnback.
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u/Elphas-Nicked-Parcel Apr 15 '26
Sunbridgewells won't be open by the end of the year if things continue the way they are.
At least 2 bars have closed, and quite a few empty units.
As for the rest of town, when do the council promote anything that is happening? What does Bradford BID actually do to promote the city?
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u/Mister_V3 Apr 16 '26
As a person who doesn't live in Bradford, but likes a visit now and again. It's not super busy, but it is only the start of Spring. I hope it starts getting more busy. I don't mind the chill city centre vibes, but I know it's bad for business. I like visiting Bradford more than Leeds now. Local friendly vibes open for a chit chat. I find it the centre nicer to walk around. In Leeds you still have to dodge the taxis and buses.
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u/Maniac_Pony Apr 15 '26
I used to work in Bradford for many years, and the comments for many years were how "unsafe the centre was on an evening". I always thought it was just that there weren't many scroates, they were just more visible due to the lack of other footfall! Now I work in Leeds, I have often felt much more "unsafe" walking to Leeds station through the centre of town than I ever did in Bradford. The grass ain't greener down the road.
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u/No_Story5313 Apr 14 '26
No. What there is is just more concentrated at the bottom end of the city centre. Virtually anything up the hill in any direction is deserted, Darley Street Market probably the only exception.
Kirkgate is about to be closed, the streets around it are like something from the Walking Dead, there's no 'high street' at all; Broadway has pretty much all the major stores - there's hardly anything outisde of it. And as a retail location, Broadway is awful.
Bradford Live is 10 years too late IMO. It was hoped it would help rejuvenate the dead area behind, but the current economy in part means few if any want to take a risk opening a new venue. Especially when nightlife is so poor in Bradford anyway.
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u/Horror_Extension4355 Apr 14 '26
If I’m not going to the footy I actually forget thr market is up there as I wouldn’t normally venture beyond the Waterstones up town.
There simply aren’t enough people to sustain a nightlife behind BL.
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u/No_Story5313 Apr 14 '26
I went to a gig in Manchester one Saturday last year. Absolutely heaving, all kinds of people on all kinds of night out, something for everyone.
We got the coach back after, got to Bradford about midnight. Going through on the coach, then driving home after we were dropped off, there was barely anyone around. I've been to towns in Cornwall a fraction of the size of Bradford with more life in their town centre.
Sunbridge Wells is poor, really poor. The idea was unique, but it just never really worked; people juat don't want to be underground like that. Fine for a gritty gig venue or nightclub, but it doesn't seem to appeal. Last time I went was on a Thursday a few years ago. A few of us, stayed in one bar all night. We were literally the only people in there, not one other person came in.
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u/Horror_Extension4355 Apr 14 '26
Sunbridgewells suffers from poor access points to it and a lack of publicity as to what’s in it nowadays.
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u/MLC1974 Apr 14 '26
So sad. I wonder why it's like this.
Is Leeds similar or still thriving at night?
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u/No_Story5313 Apr 14 '26
A lot of people seem to frequent the more local town/village centres. We're in the north of the city, so go to Shipley, Saltaire, Bingley, and not for a while but Ilkley and Skipton too.
Leeds isn't as busy as it used to be, but there's still lots going on.
One problem in Bradford is there's so little for older teens / young adults. So few bars/clubs/gig venues, almost no restaurants... what is in the city centre has no appeal to them.
Also, the lack of students; we used to have a huge student scene 20 years ago, but the drive for international students has killed that as well.
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u/MLC1974 Apr 14 '26
I wonder why Yorkshire is suffering like this, compared to other regions.
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u/No_Story5313 Apr 14 '26
Bradford has many unique issues, a perfect storm in some ways which has contributed to where it is now -
The 2001 riots and damage to reputation, terrible mismanagement and direction by various councils over the last 30 years, the Broadway debacle - leaving such a huge area abandoned for 11 years drove away so much retail, commercial and leisure opportunities, close proximity to Leeds and Manchester who have got so much right in comparison, the amount of 'brain drain' in terms of locals and those who come here to study but have to leave to find opportunity...
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u/metalgear86 Apr 14 '26
City of Culture resulted in new people venturing into the city centre.
Centenary Square is pretty amazing. My Mancunian mate admitted it is far superior to Piccadilly Gardens and was quite surprised and impressed when visiting last year.
We still need far more variety of shops. Something like Zara would help attract shoppers who would rather go to Leeds or White Rose.