The gritty northern city where Wells excels

Bradford and Bermuda might not appear to have much in common — but footballing hero Nahki Wells may find more to remind him of home in the city that’s taken him to its heart than you might expect.

The northern English city, like Bermuda, has a UNESCO World Heritage site in the form of the model village Saltaire, built to house textile workers in the 1850s.

And like Bermuda, it hosts a successful annual International Film Festival and its centerpiece is a Cathedral — although Bradford’s dates back to mediaeval times.

The city — through attractions like the National Media Museum, the most visited English museum outside London — has also become UNESCO’s first City of Film.

But it’s not all good. A study in 2006 said the city had the highest level of gun violence in the country, with 12.53 crimes per 10,000 residents and it was listed as the second most dangerous city in England and Wales behind another northern city, Nottingham.

The area, part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, has also had to deal with the long-term decline of its traditional industry of textiles, which saw it become the “wool capital of the world” in the 19th century.

Bradford has now reinvented itself as a tourist destination and many of the old textile mills which dot the area have been reborn as upscale apartments and offices.

In addition, it has attracted major financial services companies, and has fast-growing information technology, digital and environmental industries

While 41 per cent of the area is among the most deprived in England and Wales, 11 per cent of the Bradford area was among the least deprived.

The area has also suffered from social unrest and ethnic violence, reflecting its long tradition of immigration from around the world.

The city has become home to waves of immigrants, starting with Germans in the 1820s, many of them from Jewish backgrounds.

And, following the Irish potato famine of the 1840s, large numbers of immigrants swelled its Irish-born population to around ten per cent.

Multicultural

Since the 1950s, large numbers of immigrants also came from India, Bangladesh and especially Pakistan, reflected in the fact that more than a fifth of the area’s residents identified themselves as Asian or British Asian in the last census.

In 1989, local conservative Muslims burned copies of controversial book The Satanic Verses, by writer Salman Rushdie, who was later condemned to death by then-Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini and spent years in hiding.

The city was rocked by race riots in 2001 as a result of tensions between ethnic minority groups and the white majority, stoked by the right-wing and racist National Front.

There were nearly 300 arrests in the aftermath and 200 convictions for offences ranging from rioting to causing violent disorder.

A later report said the city was “fragmented” and “a city of segregated ethnic communities.”

The city, however, organised Europe’s first Mela in 1988 — a celebration of Asian culture —and it remains the largest outside Asia.

It has also fostered close links with Bollywood and hosted the International Indian Film Festival Awards in 2007.

Again due to the influence of its Asian population, the city was crowned the ‘Curry Capital of Britain’ for the second year in a row in 2012, beating cities like Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow.

And — while all eyes will be on Nahki Wells and Bradford City FC — the city’s main sport is traditionally Rugby League, with the Bradford Bulls, formerly Bradford Northern, winning the World Club Championships three times since 2002.

Bradford City’s Valley Parade ground was in 1985 the scene of one of the worst sporting disasters in Britain when a wooden stand built at the start of the century was engulfed in flames, killing 56 people. A city memorial honours those who died.

Famous people from Bradford include the painter David Hockney, the composer Frederick Delius, writer JB Priestley and Nobel Prize-winning scientist Sir Edward Appleton. Joe Johnson, World Snooker Champion in 1986, is also from Bradford. The novel-writing Bronte sisters, Charlotte, Emily and Anne were all born in Thornton, now part of metropolitan Bradford.

Bradford facts...

Area: 24.85 square miles (64.4 sq km)
Population: 293,000
County: West Yorkshire (the city lies 174 miles north of London)
Climate: Average temperature, July: 19ºC. Average temp., January: 3ºC. Annual rainfall: 34.25in (870mm). Hours of sunshine a year: 1,250
Landmarks: Bradford Cathedral, Bolling Hall, Bradford City Hall, the Wool Exchange, National Media Museum
Sport: Bradford City FC, Bradford Bulls (Rugby League) Bradford Salem (Rugby Union)