According to major media reports, Kirkgate Shopping Centre first opened 50 years ago and was once Bradford's premier retail destination. The brutalist concrete shopping precinct has divided opinion, with some welcoming its impending closure and others feeling sentimental about the loss of a city landmark. On a cold Friday morning in late February, there appears to be little life left in Kirkgate Shopping Centre, with the number of shuttered units on the ground floor more than double that of those still open for business.
The first-floor market is closed, and many traders from there have relocated to the nearby Darley Street market, which opened last year. A staff member noted that most visitors now use Kirkgate Shopping Centre as a shortcut to reach The Broadway, which opened in 2015. ' She also commented, 'The Broadway is expensive and there's no other space to open,' and expressed dissatisfaction with Darley Street market, saying, 'Darley Street is a congested market, it's not nice.
This is how it is.
' She added, 'The Broadway, it's quite expensive for Bradfordians to shop in places like that. ' Demolition work will begin later this year, making way for the City Village development, which aims to create up to 1,000 new homes and a stronger, more welcoming, and sustainable future for Bradford. Kirkgate Shopping Centre won an international award in 1979, though the specific award is unknown.
The other day I didn't serve anyone until 2pm.