Glorious buildings ignored

From the archive, first published Friday 10th Feb 2006.

The new Bradford & Bronte Country brochure selling the tourism delights of the district to the world is an impressive publication. Bradford people could do worse than have a browse through a copy of it to remind themselves what a varied area this is, packed with places to go and see.

Tourism is very important to Bradford. It generates about £293 million a year and supports more than 8,000 jobs. However, given the diversity of the district there surely is plenty of scope to boost both those figures. This brochure certainly should help.

But good though it is it has missed a trick in that it gives little emphasis to the wonderful Victorian architecture which still graces parts of the city centre despite the clearances of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Apart from small images of City Hall and the Midland Hotel, and a Wool Exchange interior, there is little to let the brochure's readers know that much of Bradford was built with huge pride in the 19th century with the money made out of the finest wool-textile industry in the world.

Where are the images of Little Germany or Cheapside? Where is the exterior shot of the Wool Exchange? And where are the gems built even earlier, such as the Paper Hall and, of course, Bradford Cathedral?

Bradford tends to take its architectural treasures for granted but for outside visitors they are something special. We should make more than we do - and than this brochure does - of the attractive and interesting buildings at the heart of the city.

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