There is a small but growing sense of confidence among the retail sector in Bradford city centre as the world emerges from the shadow of the coronavirus pandemic.

By Damian Holmes

Retailers have been devastated by the lockdowns that have had to be imposed and face a real uphill struggle to restore trade to pre Covid-19 levels.

But positive work to support city centre businesses and the potential of a number of major initiatives, including the opening of Bradford Live, the bid to be City of Culture in 2025, and the possible arrival of much better transport infrastructure through Northern Powerhouse Rail, have helped foster a sense of optimism.

Bradford BID has been at the heart of that. It has appointed city ambassadors – the Bradvocates – whose main goal is to help people enjoy and rediscover Bradford.

The most recent appointments, Jo Carruthers and John Berry, act as brand ambassadors for the city centre, helping to ensure the best experience for visitors, whether they are tourists, day-trippers, shoppers or people who live and work in the city’s core central area. BID chairman Ian Ward said it is vital that those who take on these roles have a genuine passion and enthusiasm for the city.

“We call them ‘Bradvocates’ partly because we wanted to be different to other towns and cities but mainly to ensure that we attracted the right kind of people to the post,” he said.

“Our Bradvocates must be genuine advocates for Bradford, people who are really passionate about their city and enthusiastic about telling others how great they think it is, and we think John and Jo are perfect for the role.

“They’re both Bradfordians who love the city and we’re sure they will play a big part in helping people to Rediscover Bradford, to come back to the city and look at it with fresh eyes, visiting shops they may never have been in, using services like hair salons and nail bars they’ve not tried before and walking down streets they may have got into the habit of bypassing.

“Wherever they go, they’ll get a warm welcome and we’re proud and pleased that our new Bradvocates can be a part of that.”

Nikki Chadburn, the BID’s business engagement officer, agreed, saying: “They’re a really important part of our engagement with businesses as they start to re-open, allowing us to have face-to-face meetings to help support and advise them and give them a boost as they work towards their recovery.”

The BID is also working hard to make sure the city centre environment is looking at its immaculate best. It recently purchased a sunshine-yellow water bowser which will be out every week to keep the 168 hanging baskets it has installed around the city – bringing a vibrant splash of colour to many of the city’s most important thoroughfares – in tip-top condition throughout the summer.

The BID has employed a local firm, JD Cleaning Services, to operate the bowser and keep the plants fresh. That contract is part of the BID’s determination to do business with local companies wherever possible and it follows the decision to award the contract for the hanging baskets to Canal Road-based ACW Garden Centres for the second successive year. The baskets were grown and prepared by the team at ACW’s Woodbank Nurseries, in Harden Road, Harden, before being delivered to the city centre last week.

Bradford BID manager Jonny Noble said: “As it says on our new bowser, the BID is all about local companies working together to make the city centre ‘Bloomin’ Marvellous!’”

He said the relaxing of Covid restrictions allowed them to encourage more people to come into town – and it was vital it looked its best for those visitors.

As well as chairman of the BID, Ian Ward is also general manager of The Broadway shopping centre in Bradford. He recognises retailers are facing is a “challenging market” in the months and years ahead, but he is confident Bradford’s time is coming. For the Broadway, he is “massively confident” that another retailer can be brought into the space vacated when Debenhams closed, and says “strong discussions” ongoing around other vacant units.

Estabulo, a Brazilian grill restaurant, is due to be fitted out soon, and the Haute Dolci luxury dessert restaurant recently opened. But diversification is also an area of growing importance area, says Ian, with The Broadway moving more into the leisure sector with the arrival of the Ninja Warrior adventure park which is due to open later in the year.

“We fully realise that leisure is the way forward in the city centre and it has to link into the likes of Bradford Live coming along and generating the night-time economy,” Mr Ward said.

“We 100 per cent believe that we’ve got to make the most of those assets in the evening, so whether it’s St George’s Hall, The Alhambra, the National Science and Media Museum or ultimately Bradford Live, we have to make sure we’re giving customers another reason to come to the shopping centre.

“It’s not just about coming for fashion. The Broadway is about to re-look at the branding; when we branded it, we branded it to Eat, Shop, Watch. We’re now going to be adding Play to it, because we’ve got to make sure that Ninja Warrior is just the start of what that leisure would be.”

While Covid has undoubtedly had a huge impact, Ian said the pandemic has fostered a sense of working together, with the whole city starting to come together. Another part of that jigsaw referred to by Ian is the recent appointment by the BID of an evening night time co-ordinator. He says the recruitment of Elizabeth Murphy has come at a pivotal time for Bradford.

“We are on the cusp of some major developments, such as the opening of the NEC Bradford Live Arena in late 2022, that have the potential to significantly increase footfall.

“In 2019 the accounting firm PWC and thinktank Demos indicated that Bradford is the most improved place in the UK to live and work, with jobs and work-life balance highlighted in a report.

“We believe that now is the time to start building on this further by developing and supporting our night-time offer to ensure that we have excellent operational procedures and partnership working in place to support the additional footfall and high-quality offer that is in the planning stages.”

BID manager Jonny Noble said they were looking forward to working with Elizabeth to create a better city centre.

“The BID is committed to supporting businesses open between 6pm and 6am to operate to the highest standards by sharing best practice, training and intelligence.

“Through partnership working we aim to create a welcoming clean and safe environment, that has a vibrant and rich mixture of entertainment and leisure options at night, that are easy and safe to access and leave.

“It’s all about delivering a successful evening and night-time economy in Bradford city centre and to ensure that the city centre economy is thriving and open for business into the evening and night-time.”

Elizabeth said: “I’m really looking forward to going and meeting the businesses that are open after 6pm and being there solely for them – and that just doesn’t mean just pubs, bars and clubs; it’s a wide-ranging and diverse sector out there and I’d like to bring them together as a business community to work in partnership to really put Bradford on the map as the place to come and visit on an evening.”

She said she was very keen to hear what these businesses had to say about the way forward.

“It’s been a heck of a year for hospitality – and for anybody really with a city centre business – but I think we’re on the cusp of something brand new and Bradford has seen it’s there for the taking and it’s going to be a leader, rather than a follower, and people will be following what Bradford’s doing.

“It’s a great night out here already and it’s just going to get better!”

Ian said: “Everybody tells me that Bradford in the sixties and seventies was the place to be.

“Then it had the hole in the ground for a number of years, then it struggled with that, and it’s significantly now trying to play catch up, but I still remain 100 per cent committed, after working in Liverpool, Manchester and London, I think Bradford’s time is coming and I think it’s coming a bit quicker than people might think.”