Little Germany, Bradford

The commercial buildings are the legacy of merchants from mainland Europe, many of them Jewish,[3] who spent large sums of money constructing imposing warehouses[4] for the storage and sale of their goods for export.

Bradford became more attractive as a centre of international trade in the aftermath of the Franco-Prussian War, which disrupted commercial relations between France and Germany.

[8] The local authority is currently promoting plans to regenerate the area by renovating and converting the interior of the old buildings into housing, hotels, offices, whilst preserving the originally Victorian distinctive architecture.

The project was originally proposed as a 17-storey landmark but was changed due to a rethink after suggestions that its height was incompatible with the surrounding Victorian buildings.

In April 2012 retail giant Freeman Grattan Holdings, now a German-owned company, secured a deal to open a new head office and house around 300 staff in a Grade-II-listed former wool warehouse in Little Germany.