Bradford

Bradford
City
Bradford Manningham Mill; Wool Exchange; City Hall; Cathedral: Alhambra Theatre: St George's Hall: and City Skyline
Coat of arms of Bradford
Bradford Location within West Yorkshire
Area	141.313 sq mi (366.00 km2)
Population	546,976 [1]
• Density	3,871/sq mi (1,495/km2)
Demonym	Bradfordian[2]
OS grid reference	SE163329
• London	174 mi (280 km) S
Metropolitan borough	Bradford
Metropolitan county	West Yorkshire
Region	Yorkshire and the Humber
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Areas of the city (2011 census BUASD)	List Allerton Apperley Bridge Barkerend Belle Vue Bierley Bolton Woods Bradford Moor Broomfields Buttershaw Clayton Cutler Heights Dudley Hill East Bowling Eccleshill Forster Square Frizinghall Girlington Great Horton Greengates Heaton Holme Wood Idle Laisterdyke Little Germany Little Horton Little London Longlands Low Moor Manningham Odsal Ravenscliffe Ripley Ville Sandy Lane Staithgate Thackley Thornbury Thornton Thorpe Edge Tong Trident Tyersal Undercliffe West Bowling Wibsey Wrose Wyke
Post town	BRADFORD
Postcode district	BD1–BD24
Dialling code	01274/ 01535
Police	West Yorkshire
Fire	West Yorkshire
Ambulance	Yorkshire
UK Parliament	Bradford East Bradford West Bradford South
Website	bradford.gov.uk
List of places UK England Yorkshire 53°48′N 1°45′W / 53.800°N 1.750°W / 53.800; -1.750

Bradford is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the 1974 reform, the city status has belonged to the larger City of Bradford metropolitan borough. It had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 census, making it the second-largest subdivision of the West Yorkshire Built-up Area after Leeds, which is approximately 9 miles (14 km) to the east. The borough had a population of 552,644, making it the 9th most populous district in England.

Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the city grew in the 19th century as an international centre of textile manufacture, particularly wool. It was a boomtown of the Industrial Revolution, and amongst the earliest industrialised settlements, rapidly becoming the "wool capital of the world"; this in turn gave rise to the nicknames "Woolopolis" and "Wool City".^[3] Lying in the eastern foothills of the Pennines, the area's access to supplies of coal, iron ore and soft water facilitated the growth of a manufacturing base, which, as textile manufacture grew, led to an explosion in population and was a stimulus to civic investment. There is a large amount of listed Victorian architecture in the city including the grand Italianate city hall.^[4]

From the mid-20th century, deindustrialisation caused the city's textile sector and industrial base to decline and, since then, it has faced similar economic and social challenges to the rest of post-industrial Northern England, including poverty, unemployment and social unrest. It is the third-largest economy within the Yorkshire and the Humber region at around £10 billion, which is mostly provided by financial and manufacturing industries. It is also a tourist destination, the first UNESCO City of Film and it has the National Science and Media Museum, a city park, the Alhambra theatre and Cartwright Hall. The city is the UK City of Culture for 2025 having won the designation on 31 May 2022.^[5]