As someone who was born, and grew up in Bradford,it was sad to see the state it was in when I moved away. What wasonce the Odeon had been abandoned and become an eyesore. So I waspleased to hear that work had begun on repairing the building, withpossible plans for it to become a live music venue.(Bradford doesalready have St George Hall but the venue is relatively small).
Of course the city centre has a few nicefeatures, such as the entertainment complex with a Cineworld andvarious places to eat. Centenary Square has more places to eat or gofor a drink.
All this would have been a nice touch if there were moreplaces to shop. When I left there were just a lot of indoor marketstalls, pound shops and abandoned buildings because the rent was too high. The amount of shops worth buying anything from could becounted on one hand.
When I heard that a new shopping centre had beenplanned, I had mixed feelings. This could bring jobs to the area andgive locals a place to shop, as many either bought goods online ortravelled into Leeds, unable to find what they wanted to buy inBradford.
The sceptical part of me wondered if the maybe more effortshould be put into filling up the currently empty buildings. Theseare an eyesore when walking around the city centre.
However, thedevelopment which seems to be well under way, has already provided temporary work in construction and promises to create many morepermanent jobs in the retail and hospitality sectors.
Many retailershave already been confirmed, including a Burger King, (which the citycentre has been without for a number of years now) Next, Debenhamsand Yangtze.
In total the centre will host more than 70 shops.Although some of the shops such as Boots, Topshop and KFC areduplicates of existing shops in the city centre, there will be a mixand new and already existing shops to Bradford.
Only time and the opening of the shopping centre itself willtell how successful it will be and whether it will attract shoppersto the city centre, but it all sounds like a positive step for thepeople of Bradford.
