Bradford City Park

The City of Bradford ( (listen)) is a local government district of West Yorkshire, England, with the status of a city and metropolitan borough. It is named after its largest settlement, Bradford, but covers a large area which includes the towns and villages of Keighley, Shipley, Bingley, Ilkley, Haworth, Silsden, Queensbury, Thornton and Denholme. Bradford has a population of 528,155, making it the fourth-most populous metropolitan district and the sixth-most populous local authority district in England. It forms part of the West Yorkshire Urban Area conurbation which in 2011 had a population of 1,777,934, and the city is part of the Leeds-Bradford Larger Urban Zone (LUZ), which, with a population of 2,393,300, is the fourth largest in the United Kingdom after London, Birmingham and Manchester.The city is situated on the edge of the Pennines, and is bounded to the east by the City of Leeds, the south by the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees and the south west by the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale. The Pendle borough of Lancashire lies to the west, whilst the Craven and Harrogate boroughs of North Yorkshire lie to the north west and north east of the city. Bradford is the 4th largest metropolitan district in the country, and the contiguous urban area to the north which includes the towns of Shipley and Bingley is heavily populated. The spa town of Ilkley lies further north, whilst the town of Keighley lies to the west. Roughly two thirds of the district is rural, with an environment varying from moorlands in the north and west, to valleys and floodplains formed by the river systems that flow throughout the district. More than half of Bradford's land is green open space, stretching over part of the Airedale and Wharfedale Valleys, across the hills and the Pennine moorland between. The Yorkshire Dales and the Peak District are both in close proximity.The City of Bradford has architecture designated as being of special or historic importance, most of which were constructed with local stone, with 5,800 listed buildings and 59 conservation areas. The model village of Saltaire has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Central Bradford rose to prominence during the 19th century as an international centre of textile manufacture, particularly wool. The area's access to a supply of coal, iron ore and soft water facilitated the growth of Bradford's manufacturing base, which, as textile manufacture grew, led to an explosion in population and was a stimulus to civic investment. However, Bradford has faced similar challenges to the rest of the post-industrial area of northern England, including deindustrialisation, housing problems, and economic deprivation. Wool and textiles still play an important part in the city's economy, but today's fastest-growing sectors include information technology, financial services, digital industries, environmental technologies, cultural industries, tourism and retail headquarters and distribution. Bradford has experienced significant levels of immigration throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. In the 1840s Bradford's population was significantly increased by migrants from Ireland, particularly rural Mayo and Sligo, and by 1851 around 18,000 people of Irish origin resided in the town, representing around 10% of the population, the largest proportion in Yorkshire. Around the same time there was also an influx of German Jewish migrants to the town, and by 1910 around 1,500 people of German origin resided in the city. In the 1950s there was large scale immigration from South Asia and to a lesser extent from Poland. Bradford has the second highest proportion in England and Wales outside London, in terms of population (behind Birmingham) and in percentage (behind Slough, Leicester, Luton and Blackburn with Darwen). An estimated 140,149 people of South Asian origin reside in the city, representing around 26.83% of the city's population. An estimated 352,317 of all White ethnic groups reside in the city which includes people of Polish and Irish origin, representing around 67.44% of the city's population.In 2025, Bradford will become the UK City of Culture having won the UK City of Culture designation on 31 May 2022.

Bradford City Hall is a 19th-century town hall in Centenary Square, Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. It is a Grade I listed building which has a distinctive clock tower.

Impressions Gallery is an independent contemporary photography gallery in Bradford, England. It was established in 1972 and located in York until moving to Bradford in 2007. Impressions Gallery also runs a photography bookshop, publishes its own books and sells prints. It is one of the oldest venues for contemporary photography in Europe.

Sunbridge Wells is a leisure and shopping facility and tourist attraction built in tunnels in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The centre was opened in 2016.

The Bradford Mechanics' Institute Library was established in Bradford, England, in 1832 as part of a national initiative to provide adult education especially in technical subjects for working men. The institute in Bradford was supported by numerous local worthies, including James Hanson after whom is named one of Bradford's largest high schools.

Bradford Odeon is the name applied to two different cinemas in central Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. One, in Godwin Street, was built in 1930 and survives; the other, in Manchester Road, was built in 1938 and demolished in 1969.

The Swan Arcade was a four-storey building located between Market Street and Broadway, Bradford, England and stood opposite the Wool Exchange. The Bradford Beck ran beneath.

Bradford War Memorial commemorates the 37,000 men the English city of Bradford who served in the British Armed Forces in the First World War. Many of the 5,000 dead had served in the two Bradford Pals battalions and were killed on 1 July 1916, the first day of the First Battle of the Somme. The stone pylon with bronze statues was unveiled on 1 July 1922, in Victoria Square, beside Prince's Way, to the northeast of the Grade II listed Queen Victoria Memorial. A bronze plaque was added after the Second World War, and the memorial also commemorates later conflicts. It stands between the National Media Museum and Alhambra Theatre, Bradford, and was Grade II listed in 2016. The memorial was designed by Bradford's city architect Walter Williamson, with sculpture by HH Martyn and Co of Cheltenham. It comprises a 4.35 metres (14.3 ft) high central tapering pylon made from stone from the nearby Bolton Woods quarry, topped by a stone sarcophagus. The front and rear face of the pylon are carved with a cross, the lower arm of which becomes a sword blade passing through a wreath. The front wreath has a scroll with the words "PRO PATRI MORI". Either side of the pylon bears a winged wreath with the letters "RAF". The pylon stands an oval platform, with steps down to the road passing by. Two bronze statues stand on the stepped base, one to either side of the central pylon, a soldier to the left and a sailor to the right, each lunging forward with a rifle. Historic England attributes the bronze sculptures to Robert Lindsey Clark (father of Philip Lindsey Clark) who was head sculptor at HH Martyn and Co Ltd from 1905 to 1926. The warlike pose of the soldiers was controversial when the memorial was first unveiled. Originally each rifle had a fixed bayonet; the blades were damaged in 1969 and then removed, but the hilt of each bayonet remains in place. The front of the pylon originally bore the dedicatory inscription "TO THE IMMORTAL HONOUR OF THE MEN / OF THE CITY OF BRADFORD WHO SERVED / THEIR KING AND EMPIRE IN THE GREAT / WAR, 1914 - 1918 // THIS MEMORIAL ERECTED / BY THEIR FELLOW CITIZENS IS DEDICATED / IN PROUD AND GRATEFUL REMEMBRANCE, / 1ST JULY, 1922 / UNVEILED BY ALDERMAN A. GADIE, J.P./ LIEUT-COL. T.F., LORD MAYOR 1920-21". This inscription was later covered by a bronze plaque added in 1969 to also commemorate the casualties of the Second World War, and which has been updated to commemorate subsequent conflicts, so it now read "TO THE IMMORTAL HONOUR OF / THE MEN AND WOMEN OF THE / CITY OF BRADFORD / WHO SERVED THEIR KING AND EMPIRE / 1914 - 1918 1939 - 1945/ AND IN OTHER CONFLICT / IN PROUD AND/ GRATEFUL REMEMBRANCE". Below this, the base still bears the original inscription "THEIR NAME LIVETH FOR EVERMORE". Two pals battalions of the Prince of Wales's Own (West Yorkshire Regiment) had been raised in Bradford: the 16th (Service) Battalion in September 1914 and the 18th (Service) Battalion in January 1915. The battalions both served in the 93rd Brigade in Egypt in 1915-16, and then on the Western Front in France. Around 2,000 men from Bradford went over the top to attack Serre on 1 July 1916, at the northern edge of the Allied attack on the first day of the First Battle of the Somme. Almost 1,800 were killed or wounded that day. The battalions were reformed with new recruits and continued to serve on the Western Front until February 1918. The memorial was unveiled on Saturday 1 July 1922, the sixth anniversary of the commencement of the First Battle of the Somme, in front of a crowd of 40,000 people, by Lt-Col Alderman Anthony Gadie (a former Lord Mayor of Bradford, and later MP for Bradford Central from 1924 to 1929). It was dedicated by the Archdeacon of Bradford, William Stanton Jones (later Bishop of Sodor and Man).

The National Science and Media Museum (formerly The National Museum of Photography, Film & Television, 1983–2006 and then the National Media Museum, 2006–2017), located in Bradford, West Yorkshire, is part of the national Science Museum Group in the UK. The museum has seven floors of galleries with permanent exhibitions focusing on photography, television, animation, videogaming, the Internet and the scientific principles behind light and colour. It also hosts temporary exhibitions and maintains a collection of 3.5 million pieces in its research facility. The venue has three cinemas, including Europe's first opened IMAX screen, finished in April 1983. It hosts festivals dedicated to widescreen film, video games and science. It has hosted popular film festivals, including the Bradford International Film Festival, until 2014. In September 2011 the museum was voted the best indoor attraction in Yorkshire by the public, and it is one of the most visited museums in the north of England. As of February 2016 the museum, in response to revenue shortfalls, has controversially adopted a policy of focusing on "the science and culture of light and sound"—to the exclusion of what are seen as "unsustainable" aspects of creativity and culture, such as past film festivals.In March 2016 a £7.5 million five year investment plan in the museum was revealed by the Science Museum Group. In March 2017 its name was changed from National Media Museum to National Science and Media Museum.

The 1858 Bradford sweets poisoning was the arsenic poisoning of more than 200 people in Bradford, England, when sweets accidentally made with arsenic were sold from a market stall. Twenty-one victims died as a result. The event contributed to the passage of the Pharmacy Act 1868 in the United Kingdom and legislation regulating the adulteration of foodstuffs.

The Peace Museum, Bradford is the only museum dedicated to the history and (often untold) stories of peace, peacemakers and peace movements, in the UK.The Peace Museum aims to engage, inform and inspire through: items in its collection and exhibitions of learning and education activities for all sectors of the community, schools, colleges and universities, focusing on local, national and international people, events and stories posing questions about equality, diversity, cohesion, peace and non-violence telling stories of peacemakers and peacemaking.The museum asks visitors to consider peace and peacemaking as an active, as opposed to passive endeavour, a challenge and something that requires effort, asking "What could you do?" What story will you tell".The initial idea of creating a peace museum arose in the mid-1980s from Gerald Drewett of the Give Peace a Chance Trust. In 1990 this was carried forward when Shireen Shah, an MA student at Bradford University’s Peace Studies Department, wrote a dissertation proposing a ‘Museum for Peace’. Two years on, the International Network of Museums for Peace held its first conference at the University of Bradford in 1992, during which it was proposed that a Peace Museum be established in Bradford. A committee was established to seek finance and general support for the idea. Initially called ‘The National Peace Museum Project’, the museum was established in 1994 through a five-year grant from the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Foundation and operated from a temporary site in Bradford in the Wool Exchange. In 1998 the museum moved to its present site on the top floor of 10 Piece Hall Yard, in Bradford city centre. The museum has a varied temporary exhibition programme, hosting several exhibitions and displays throughout the year. Past exhibitions have ranged from 'Challenging the Fabric of Society' showcasing the protest banners that are part of its textile collection (until March 2017), 'Remembering the Kindertransport' to commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day (until April 2017) and 'A force for peace? The History of European Cooperation' (ended 2016) exploring the peace history behind the European Union.

The Wool Exchange Building in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England is a grade I-listed building built as a wool-trading centre in the 19th century. The grandeur of its Gothic Revival architecture is symbolic of the wealth and importance that wool brought to Bradford. Today it is a Waterstones bookshop as well as a cafe.