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Bradford, City of dreams


gee13

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Didn't watch it, but lived there for 3 years at University. It's changed a lot from my day in the late 90's, and most of my old haunts don't now exist.

 

Love it!!

 

Must have changed a bit more since I lived there in the 50s and early 60s...:laugh:

 

A part of the Bfd Uni was once a few back alleys and wool warehouses, one of which I served my woolclassing apprenticeship in, in Westholme St. just off Thornton Road.

 

 

Cheers, Bobj.

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I'm from the Bradford distict originally and went to school in the city. As soon as me and all my mates reached 18 we could not wait to leave and after uni unlike my dad's generation due to lack of local job opportunities we all migrated south to London and overseas.

 

Most of our contemporaries who had any kind of ambition about them also left during the 90s. There was, and is simply no real opportunities for professional people in the city a great shame unlike 30 or more years ago. It has been on the slide for a long time with local out-migration, and has just backfilled with third world immigrants from the poorer parts of poor countries, doing minimum wage jobs and who as a community have steadily become more conservative, small minded, inward looking and attitudey as the decades have worn on (perhaps even more so than the places they've come from).

 

It's now one of the most deprived and least dynamic economic areas in western europe, a massive and shocking decline with the social fabric utterly transformed for the worse. Even in the 80s there was a little joy about the place. Not any more.

Edited by jimmyay1
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I'm from the Bradford distict originally and went to school in the city. As soon as me and all my mates reached 18 we could not wait to leave and after uni unlike my dad's generation due to lack of local job opportunities we all migrated south to London and overseas.

 

Most of our contemporaries who had any kind of ambition about them also left during the 90s. There was, and is simply no real opportunities for professional people in the city a great shame unlike 30 or more years ago. It has been on the slide for a long time with local out-migration, and has just backfilled with third world immigrants from the poorer parts of poor countries, doing minimum wage jobs and who as a community have steadily become more conservative, small minded, inward looking and attitudey as the decades have worn on (perhaps even more so than the places they've come from).

 

It's now one of the most deprived and least dynamic economic areas in western europe, a massive and shocking decline with the social fabric utterly transformed for the worse. Even in the 80s there was a little joy about the place. Not any more.

 

Did you watch the program?

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I missed part 2 as well. Have to try it on catch up. Whilst I enjoyed the program you can put lipstick on a pig and it's still a pig. The "success" stories they showed were great but the juries still out and it would be interesting to visit the guys in 5 years time.

 

Really liked the 3 guys it focussed on though. The one who was driving around in the Bentley worth about 10 times as much as his house was a good guy. Great to see him go into schools and try and put some back in. The guy opening the fish and chip shops in India and all the little outlets he has already I can only wish him well. Don't know what his borrowing costs would be though and I wouldn't fancy the lifestyle.

 

The English guy who looked and acted like one of the nicest guys you could wish to meet anywhere, was presented as a success story. If that's succeeding I don't want to. He started the show coming out of a terraced house saying he'd lived there for 30 years, the mother in law lived 2 doors away and his son lived up the street. He spent the whole program in high vis work gear, driving around in a crappy truck, doubled up as the local gravedigger. That bit was funny when he was telling the people how to go on at the funeral and he was still in his work gear. Lovely bloke though.

 

It's supposed to be a success story about Bradford so they aren't going to show you the drug dealers hanging around on street corners are they.

 

Personally I wouldn't live there for a gold pig and ten younguns.

 

Made me smile when they showed the rows of terraced houses and said how they'd all had loft conversions. They needed them, there were 20 people living in every house. Reminded me of where I lived when I was at Uni. Sparkhill near Birmingham was just like that.

Edited by Paul1Perth
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