The Broadway, Bradford

The Broadway is a shopping and leisure complex in the centre of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, which opened on 5 November 2015. It was built and was operated, in its first year, by the Westfield Corporation but is owned by New River. It is currently operated by Munroe K Asset Management Ltd. Buildings were demolished and roads rerouted to make way for the development in 2004; but because of continued failure to secure buy-in from enough businesses, construction did not begin in earnest until January 2014: for most of the intervening years, the site had little apart from a deep excavation, though from 2010 the area round the edge of the site was laid out as an urban park. The "hole in the ground" was very unpopular in Bradford, and at one point the site was occupied by protestors.

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City (ward)

City is an electoral ward within the City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council. City covers the centre of Bradford within the inner ring road and the areas of Shearbridge, Lister Hills, Brown Royd, Dirk Hill, Little Horton Green and part of Lidget Green all to the west of the commercial centre. It is part of the Bradford West parliamentary constituency.

Midland Hotel, Bradford

The Midland Hotel is a 90-bedroom three-star Victorian hotel in Bradford city centre, owned and managed by Britannia Hotels. The architect was Charles Trubshaw, who was contracted to design many railway stations for Midland Railway Company. Construction of the hotel began in 1885 and took five years to complete. It was built by the Midland Railway Company as part of the original Forster Square Railway Station, as a showpiece for the company's northern operations. Following the "golden age of steam" the hotel fell into disrepair until it was bought by Bradford entrepreneur John Pennington in 1992, who restored it and the hotel re-opened as the Pennington Midland Hotel in 1993. It was sold to Peel Hotels in December 1998, who returned it back to its original name. The hotel was sold to Britannia Hotels in 2023 During its life, the hotel has played host to many famous guests, including Sir Henry Irving, an English stage actor, who died there in 1905. The corner block of the hotel on Lower Kirkgate (pictured) was made a grade II listed building in 1983.

Wool Exchange, Bradford

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.

Sieges of Bradford

The sieges of Bradford (also known as the Battle of the Steeple), were two very short-lived sieges that took place separately in the town of Bradford, Yorkshire, in December 1642 and early July 1643, just after the Royalist victories in Pontefract (1642), and the Battle of Adwalton Moor (1643) respectively. In the second siege, with the Parliamentarian forces dispersed to the west in and around Halifax, the Earl of Newcastle subjected Bradford to a brief siege to enforce rule and allegiance to the king. The first siege gave rise to the term "Bradford Quarter", apparently a misinterpretation by the defenders of Bradford who, on hearing a Royalist officer asking for quarter, assured him that they would "quarter him". The term "give them Bradford Quarter", was used by the Royalists against the defenders of the Bradford during the second siege. The second siege was noted for its apparent salvation from slaughter after the Earl of Newcastle was visited by a wraith-like figure imploring him to "pity poor Bradford...". The sieges were also notable in that to protect the church and steeple, bales of wool were hung from the tower in an effort to deflect, or deaden the impact of cannon-fire from the Royalists. The siege was said to have decimated Bradford and afterwards, famine and pestilence followed in its wake which affected Bradford for a hundred years. Some even state that as Bradford was withered, it allowed Leeds to flourish as the powerhouse in the region.