UK City of Culture 2025: 10 things you might not know about Bradford

As Bradford begins its reign as UK City of Culture 2025 and gears up for its year in the spotlight, there are a few facts that might surprise you about one of the UK’s most diverse cities.

We've compiled a list of 10 things you might not know about Bradford:

• 'Broad Ford'

Bradford's name derives from the Old English words 'brad', meaning 'broad', and 'ford' - the crossing point of a river. Originally a Saxon settlement, by the Middle Ages it had become a small town centred on Kirkgate, Westgate and Ivegate.

• The high life

Sitting at an average height of 1,065 feet above sea level, Bradford can lay claim to the title of the country's highest city. Although Sheffield has a higher single point - High Stones is 550m above sea level - Bradford is higher overall.

• Wool mammoth

Bradford was the global centre of the wool trade in the 19th century. By the 1850s around two thirds of England’s wool was produced in Bradford.

In its most successful era, Bradford’s wool industry provided 70,000 jobs, employing one in three Bradford workers. The Wool Exchange building in the city is grade I-listed and symbolises the wealth and importance that Bradford had gained by the mid nineteenth century, all on the basis of the wool trade.

• School dinner pioneer

Bradford was the first city in the country to introduce council-funded school dinners. The first meal, of scotch barley broth and fruit tart, was served to pupils at Green Lane Primary School in Manningham on 28 October 1907 - in response to children collapsing from hunger.

The initiative was soon rolled out nationally under the Provision Of School Meals Act. The meals were delivered in specially made zinc boxes which kept the food hot for hours.

• Film first

Bradford beat Cannes, Los Angeles and Venice to become the world’s first UNESCO City of Film in 2009 - bestowing international recognition on Bradford as a world centre for film.

The city has long been associated with filmmaking and television production. The crime series Peaky Blinders was partly filmed at Dalton Mills in Keighley.

• Famous faces

From literary icons to global pop stars, Bradford has given the world a host of cultural heavyweights.

One of its most famous sons is world-renowned artist David Hockney. Zayn Malik had a meteoric rise as a member of the boy band One Direction, before pursuing a successful solo career.

JB Priestley was a highly successful and prolific English novelist, playwright, screenwriter, broadcaster and social commentator. Priestley’s went on to write many well known plays such as An Inspector Calls.

And we can't forget former Girls Aloud star Kimberley Walsh and magician Steven Frayne - formerly known as Dynamo.

• Spice world

Bradford's reputation as the home to some of the finest Asian food in the UK is well earned.

It is the only city to have claimed the coveted title of Britain's Curry Capital for six consecutive years (2011-16). There are more than 200 curry restaurants in the city and they were brought together for the first time by the Bradford Curry Awards in 2018.

• Fairy tales

Between 1917 and 1920, the world was enchanted by five intriguing photographs taken in the garden of a house in the Cottingley area, which appeared to show young cousings Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths with a number of 'fairies'.

The photos caused a sensation at the time, coming to a wider audience when Sherlock Holmes author Arthur Conan Doyle published them in 1920, believing them to be authentic.

However, in a 1983 interview Elsie confessed the images were a hoax and that the fairies had been created from paper cut-outs and hatpins. There is still an air of mystery surrounding the fifth and final photograph which Frances claimed was genuine.

• Young guns

Bradford has the youngest population of any UK city, with a higher proportion of residents under 16 than any other.

Around 29% of its half a million people are aged under 20, with nearly a quarter under 16. Bradford's youthful community was a key factor in its successful bid to become the UK City of Culture in 2025.

• Shop till you drop

Bradford is home to the largest Asian department store in the UK - Bombay Stores.

Founded by Abdul Kader, who arrived in Bradford in 1957 with only £50 in his pocket, the shop has gone on to host big names from the worlds of Bollywood and Bhangra such as Anjuman, Omar Borkan Al Gala and Nafees.

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