Bradford is rightly known as the curry capital of the UK and now the City of Culture 2025 but where do visitors start when exploring Bradford, West Yorkshire?
In a new guide to Bradford City Centre, Mr and Mrs Yorkshire aka Danny Malin and Sophie Mei Lan share how to do Bradford in a day.
First it was wool then it was film and curries and now Bradford is renowned for all those facets as well as many more.
It’s impossible to cover the entire district which is why we’re starting off in the heart of the city.
- Bradford Cathedral
Over in the Little Germany area of the centre where German immigrants who were wool merchants set up warehouses, is Bradford Cathedral. For many centuries, the building now known as Bradford Cathedral, and formally Bradford Parish Church, has stood on the hillside above the “broad ford” that gave Bradford its name. The site itself has been a place of Christian worship for nearly 1400 years, with the current church believed to be the third church in this location
2. Bradford’s Broadway Shopping Centre
At the bottom of Little Germany, Here you’ll find a newer addition to Bradford’s retail offering with shops, a food court, a play area and coffee shops. It’s the stunning sleek thoroughfare style mall with stall lining the centre too and regular entertainment including our Danny helping turning Christmas lights on with bewitched.
3. Waterstones at The Wool Exchange
Nearby is the UK’s most beautiful bookshop.
The website says: ‘A gem of a bookshop, housed in Bradford’s Victorian Gothic Wool Exchange buildings which is one of the most captivating Waterstones shops.’
We absolutely lovely browsing here or heading upstairs for a coffee in the cafe.
4. Centenary Square
Centenary Square in the centre of Bradford is where the city discovered it had won the 2025 City of Culture bid.
‘City park is Bradford’s brilliant multi-award winning public space. The Mirror Pool is the largest urban water feature in the UK.
‘It can be a cool, tranquil and misty space, a huge reflective watery mirror, a bubbling, squirting, popping and splashing fountain display, a beautifully lit aqueous light display or a thunderous 100ft water canon.’
While I love the water feature, for me the best thing about centenary square is the fact that it’s a focal point to see some city highlights such as the city hall, Bradford Alhambra and the city centres historic pharmacy which has been going for 180 years. It’s accolades links back to the achievements of Felix Rimmington (1818-1897), sometimes dubbed the “Sherlock Holmes of forensic science”, who was the official Analytical Chemist for the city of Bradford for 25 years.
He was one of a few expert chemists involved in trying to solve London’s ‘Jack The Ripper’ murders in 1888 and he investigated many instances of poisoning, including the infamous “Humbug Billy” case of 1858, when more than 200 people suffered after sweets accidentally made with arsenic were sold from a market stall. Twenty-one victims died as a result.
Rimmington, who at one time also worked with Queen Victoria’s personal chemist, identified that 14 grains of arsenic had been added to each sweet and his work was instrumental in the passing of the Adulteration of Food Act in 1860.
5. Police museum
Hidden underneath the City Hall The Bradford Police Museum. Visitors can stand in the police cell that the famous escapologist Harry Houdini escaped from in the early years of the twentieth Century, and then climb up the dock steps to the beautifully preserved Victorian Court room used for filming by TV and film productions including Coronation Street.
Inside the gallery you can see Victorian police truncheons, uniforms, swords, weapons, memorabilia, crime scene exhibits and unique photographs covering 150 years of policing in the city.
Much of the collection has never been seen by the public before.
The Bradford Police Museum is an independent museum and registered charity. Voted one of the best small museums in the country by The Times in 2023. Winner of TripAdvisor Travellers’ Choice award 2022.
6. Bradford Alhambra
Stars from all over the world love performing at this destination theatre which has been going for over 100 years. Its architecture alone is stunning and its plays host to an awesome annual Christmas pantomime.
7. Sunbridge Wells
This is the ultimate underground leisure and entertainment venue with bars and eateries in this snug historical hideaway.
It’s a hidden underground quarter and former brewery.
8. Tickles Music Hall
From an Elvis tribute to Bad Boy Chiller Crew, this cute music hall is tucked on the outside of the city centre. You can party on a Tuesday afternoon or have a Saturday night out.
9. Curry Capital
Bradford has a well earned reputation for some of the finest Asian food in the UK. Bradford has been crowned Curry Captial of Britain for six years in a row, the only city to have ever achieved this.
Following years of success, the Bradford Curry Awards celebrates the city’s rich heritage, whilst recognising the best restaurants, and those people who work hard behind the scenes creating Bradford’s culinary craftsmanship.
10. National Science and Media Museum
The National Science and Media Museum, in the heart of Bradford, explores the science and culture of light and sound technologies and their impact on our lives. With the aim of inspiring the scientists and innovators of the future, it invites visitors to see more, hear more, think more and do more.
Check for when it reopens in the summer.
Mr and Mrs Yorkshire 