The weekend of 12 and 13 July is earmarked for the launch of Bradford’s new city centre market at Darley Street. Originally scheduled to open in 2023, and with costs rising to over £5mn more than the original budget of approximately £25mn, it is perhaps a happy coincidence that this is now happening in the middle of Bradford’s celebration as UK City of Culture.
The two markets that are being replaced are an important part of local social and cultural heritage. This transition inspired a year-long photographic project to document the life and spirit of these places before they disappear forever.
Creating an inclusive place for the whole community
The Oastler Shopping Centre (originally John Street Market) and the Kirkgate Market are just a few hundred yards apart and both occupy buildings that were opened in the 1970s. Efforts have been made to preserve Kirkgate’s Brutalist architecture, but both buildings are now showing their age. By contrast, the Darley Street Market is both modern and stunning. Built on three floors, the top floor is dedicated to a food court, the middle floor is home to shops selling meat, fruit and vegetables, and the ground floor sells clothes, jewellery, perfumes and cosmetics.
Promotional material for the new market explains it is intended to provide “a home for passionate, independent traders who want to showcase their business to a bustling, vibrant and diverse community at the heart of the city centre”.
This may seem a bold aspiration, given that the current markets have been in decline for many years. A report published by the University of Leeds in 2022 suggests there are ways for markets to become inclusive, community-oriented and holistic. However, it also points out that “existing traders and customers can often be marginalised as rents become higher, and markets change their atmosphere and offer”.
Trading Places
The photographic project, titled Trading Places, captures many details of market life. The work is available as a free-to-view and free-to-share online photobook and as a 10-minute YouTube video, featuring the voices of customers and traders, one of whom describes the old markets and their significance for the people of Bradford:
“The demographic of Bradford is a very wonderful mix of all walks of life, and that’s very important. As a grocery business dealing in fresh items, we have to service the public and there’s so many different requirements … we adapt our business as things change over the years in Bradford. It’s just nice to be a community greengrocer.”
Whether this special atmosphere can be retained remains to be seen. Initial promotion for the new market has focused on world street-food outlets and delicatessen stalls. Textiles and hardware may be less trendy, but the Trading Places project reveals that both customers and traders value the unhurried experience of wandering between market stalls, the face-to-face relationships and a sense of trust, which has developed over many years.
Photographs include informal portraits of traders, often surrounded by their carefully curated goods and produce. These range from polished fruit at long-established greengrocer Solly’s, and the dazzling display of spices at Spice World, to racks of colourful Asian clothing at Khan’s Fashions, and a huge selection of meat products at Taplins Butchers, which was founded in 1916.
Safeguarding Bradford’s face-to-face market experience
The backdrop for many of the photographs shows market stalls with the shutters closed. Even during the 12-month project, several more closed down, including the much-loved Baxendall’s café, opened by a Cypriot couple in 1991. The Joke Shop had gradually taken over several adjacent stalls for its display of fancy dress but closed after 35 years of trading.
The vibe of the markets, and the inevitability of change, is summed up by one customer on the Trading Places video:
“It has a different feel to it. It’s more laid-back … You don’t feel pushed into anything. They’re just nice old places with a bit of something about them. I just like to nosey about to see what changes have been made, for as long as they last, because nowt lasts forever does it? I just like it.”
The new market is part of an ambitious city centre regeneration programme, including plans to demolish Oastler and Kirkgate markets to make way for the Bradford City Village project, creating up to 1,000 homes over the next 10 years. Website information for the scheme explains:
“As Bradford grows into a more vibrant, liveable city, there’s a significant opportunity to introduce the kind of city centre living already thriving elsewhere … By making the city centre a place where more people can live – not just visit – we can create a stronger, more welcoming, and sustainable future for Bradford.”
While this vision for the future of the city centre was being presented, Bradford Industrial Museum announced a new display using some of the iconic and recognisable objects rescued from the Fountains Coffee House, which opened in Oastler Shopping Centre in 1968 and closed in 2023.
Soon, all traces of life in the two markets will also be consigned to history and all eyes will be on Darley Street Market, watching and hoping that it can both revitalise the economic success and retain the underlying spirit of market life in Bradford.
