Bradford

Bradford, West Yorkshire - darkometer rating : 1 - A city in the north of England, Great Britain , with a fairly bad, kind of "dark" reputation, though only part of this is justified, but still … > More background info > What there is to see > Location > Access and costs > Time required > Combinations with other dark destinations > Combinations with non-dark destinations > photos More background info: Bradford, believe it or not, used to be one of Great Britain 's richest cities, thanks to the once booming textile industry of the region. That's almost all long since gone and the economic decline of the whole region hit Bradford particularly hard. In addition some of the architectural crimes of the 1960s in particular disfigured much of the cityscape beyond recognition – rivalled perhaps only by Sheffield (what illness was it that beset 1960s architects in Britain and elsewhere? – I've never been able to find out …). But more than sheer ugliness in terms of looks, Bradford is especially known for being a place of a clash of cultures – it has one of the largest Asian, in this case predominantly Pakistani, communities in Britain (about 25% of the population). And on occasions there have been clashes in the quite literal sense. The "race riots" of 1995 and 2001 made nasty headlines for Bradford in the national press. What is less known is that these were in part driven by "imported" troublemakers on both fronts, right-wing nationalists and Asians alike (e.g. from Oldham near Manchester). Still, esp. the 2001 riots were violent and resulted in more riot-related arrests and sentences than any other in British legal history. Some of the scars of the riots can still be seen today.