[9] A major employer was Titus Salt who in 1833 took over the running of his father's woollen business specialising in fabrics combining alpaca, mohair, cotton, and silk.

[23] Unprecedented growth created problems with over 200 factory chimneys continually churning out black, sulphurous smoke, Bradford gained the reputation of being the most polluted town in England.

[43] The 1/2nd and 2/2nd West Riding Brigades, Royal Field Artillery (TF), had their headquarters at Valley Parade in Manningham, with batteries at Bradford, Halifax and Heckmondwike.

The park cost £24.5 million to construct, and is a public space in the city centre that features numerous fountains and a mirror pool surrounded by benches and a walk way.

A mural on the back of the Bradford Playhouse (visible from Leeds Road) commemorates the centenary of the founding of the Independent Labour Party in 1893, and quotes its motto "There is no weal save commonweal".

On the 1852 Ordnance Survey map[2] it is visible as far as Sun Bridge, at the end of Tyrrell Street, and then from beside Bradford Forster Square railway station on Kirkgate.

[72] The coal measures stimulated early urban development, in the modern day, geological extraction of minerals is heavily reduced in terms of scale.

[73] As with the vast majority of the UK, Bradford experiences a maritime climate (Köppen: Cfb), with limited seasonal temperature ranges, and generally moderate rainfall throughout the year.

However, nearby smaller villages, hamlets and rural areas such as Brunthwaite, Keelham, Denholme Gate, Laycock, Esholt, Micklethwaite, Goose Eye, Stanbury, Hainworth, Tong, and Harecroft are 'washed over' by the designation.

[97] Vanquis Banking Group, formerly Provident Financial plc, has moved into a 250,000 sq ft (23,000 m2), £45 million, flagship headquarters building in the city centre.

[98] In October 2011 Plans to regenerate Bradford city centre, including the long-delayed Broadway shopping centre, was given a boost as Bradford Council secured £17.6 million of regional growth funding from the government, which it will match to create a £35 million "growth zone" in which companies would get business rate relief in exchange for helping people get training and jobs.

[99] In April 2012 retail giant Freeman Grattan Holdings secured a deal to open a new head office and house around 300 staff in the centre of Bradford.

The mail order and online retailer will transfer office staff from its Lidget Green base, where Grattan has had a presence since 1934, to a Grade II-listed former wool warehouse on the edge of Little Germany.

In addition to the regeneration projects, existing buildings within the city centre will be demolished—including demolishing the NCP car park to expand and improve the current Bradford Interchange.

The centre has undergone a multimillion-pound refurbishment recently, and plans to upgrade the facade of the 1960s building have been submitted as it anticipates competition from the long-awaited £260 million Westfield development, which opened on 5 November 2015.

Standing in a conservation area adjacent to the listed Alhambra Theatre, it closed in 2000 and was sold to developer Langtree with the intention it would be demolished and replaced with an apartment and office block.

In his successful by-election campaign for Bradford West in March 2012, George Galloway cited the restoration of the Odeon as his number one priority, later asking Prime Minister David Cameron to intervene.

[123] The architectural historian Jonathan Foyle, actresses Imelda Staunton and Jenny Agutter, and director Michael Winner all lent their support to the campaign.

The major redevelopment of the city centre in the 1960s provided an opportunity to connect the termini, this did not happen with large buildings constructed in the 1990s along the proposed line of route.

In terms of nationally recognised leading areas of research there are various departments such as Institute of Cancer Therapeutics, Bradford School of Pharmacy, Peace Studies, Archaeology, Engineering, Management, Centre for Skin Sciences amongst others.

There is also a statue of the saint in St Cuthbert's Catholic Church, Wilmer Road, also noted as the location of the famous Stations of the Cross by Eric Gill.

[145] The city has a sizeable South Asian community and the Lakshmi Narayan mandir, which opened in April 2008[146] is the largest Hindu temple in northern England.

Simon Beaufoy from Bradford, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of Slumdog Millionaire, said the city had played a crucial role in the story of cinema and deserved to be recognised.

More recently, several clubs and pubs have opened in the West End of Bradford, around the Alhambra Theatre, turning what was a previously fairly quiet area into one that is often crowded and vibrant at night.

Mela festivals include a combination of markets, funfairs, food and drink, arts and workshops, children's activities, strolling entertainment and a variety of music and dance performances on a number of stages.

[183] Jasmin Atker is a Bradford student who captained the first England team in the international Street Child Cricket World Cup, and was named one of the BBC 100 top inspiring women in 2019.

[197] In recent pop culture the former participant of The X Factor, Zayn Malik, former member of successful[198][199] boy band One Direction, was born and raised in Bradford.

[203] The Buttershaw area of the city is featured in the film Rita, Sue and Bob Too (1987), in which two 16-year-old girls are involved in a love triangle with a wealthy married man (played by George Costigan).

[206] In the BBC political satire The Amazing Mrs Pritchard (2006), the Prime Minister considers a proposal to move Parliament to Bradford, as it is closer to the geographic centre of the country than London.

Scenes for the second season of All Creatures Great and Small were filmed in Little Germany in April 2021, featuring child and adult actors from the theatre school Articulate.