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Iconic Hamm Strassebuilding 'will become feature of Bradford skyline'


Regeneration building projects totalling more than £250 million are now either under way or on the brink of starting in central Bradford.

The latest scheme to be revealed is a £15 million hotel, office and residential development in Hamm Strasse where construction work is about to begin in earnest.

It was one of four schemes totalling £53.5 million highlighted at the prestigious MIPM international property event in Cannes, France, just as planners in Bradford gave their backing to two other huge projects worth a combined total of £200 million.

The Liverpool-based developers behind the Hamm Strasse project, The Property Group, say the 36,000 sq ft site on elevated ground includes iconic buildings that will become features of the Bradford skyline.

And it has pledged that with a high level of interest in the project it will not be built to “gather dust”. Five national hotel chains are looking at the No 1 Hamm Strasse development which will include a 100-bed three star hotel.

And terms have been agreed for 12,000 sq foot of Grade A office space in the first phase. Construction has started on the scheme which backs on to Forster Square station with steel work being put up.

Bobbie Johnson, a partner in The Property Group, said: “We are very optimistic about the prospects for Bradford and for this project.

“Unlike some schemes, this is not based on promises but is under way now and being constructed to an 18-month timetable.

“We are very encouraged by its prospects and several potential investors are milling around.

“We have already agreed terms for 12,000 sq ft of quality office space in Hallgate House, the smaller of the two buildings planned for the site.

“Several hotel operators are showing interest in the hotel development and our local agents tell us that interest is also high in the 20 luxury apartments which we intend to sell at around £150,000 each.

“This is not a scheme intended to be built to stand and gather dust.

“We have worked closely with local agencies, including Bradford Centre Regeneration, and designed a scheme that we believe meets Bradford’s future needs. It is our first development in the city but we hope it will be the first of many.”

Bradford regeneration chiefs say the four new schemes outlined at the MIPM conference will send a strong signal that private investors are committed to the continued regeneration of Bradford in a difficult economic climate.

In addition to No.1 Hamm Strasse, they unveiled details of three other key schemes which involve a total of £50m in private sector investment in Bradford’s regeneration over the next year.

The developments, which include three hotels, more than 15,000 sq ft Grade A office space, retail, leisure and residential plans, will help underpin some of the major regeneration projects being developed by the public sector partners including Bradford Council, Yorkshire Forward, the Homes and Communities Agency and Bradford Centre Regeneration.

Councillor Adrian Naylor, Bradford Council’s executive member for regeneration and economy, said: “The news that developers are committing this amount of money in the city is very positive for the district and shows the confidence developers have in its regeneration.

“Being able to offer extensive leisure and office facilities, such as the ones planned, will have a big impact on attracting more investors to the city, as well as visitors, which will help boost our local economy.”

Maud Marshall, chief executive of Bradford Centre Regeneration added: “The potential that exists in Bradford, which is still in the early stages of regeneration, is not something that will disappear. Developers are realising this through their commitment which sends a very positive signal that the opportunities still exist.”

The other key schemes are:

  • Woolston Life and Leisure complex where Yorkshire developers The Skelwith Group and the Aspasia Group plan to create a two-phase development. It will feature a four star 142-bed hotel. The first phase is a £30m scheme to convert the old Woolston Warehouse into 106 apartments of which more than 80 per cent have already been sold to investors, which are due for completion in November.
  • High Point which sees proposals by property developer Manoj Aggarwal about to be submitted for planning consideration to turn the former headquarters of the Yorkshire Building Society into a £7m mixed-used leisure scheme, including a 96-bed hotel with office and retail space.
  • North West based developer Oakglade has nearly finished its Manningham development of 30 apartments. The £1.5m project is converting a derelict building into a mix of studio, one and two bed homes.

e-mail: chris.holland@telegraphandargus.co.uk


Comments(46)

St.Albans Bantam says...
8:51am Wed 11 Mar 09

Looks like an incongruous effigy to an architects ego!

crispy says...
9:00am Wed 11 Mar 09

wow flowery language-must have a cse!,come on lads start moaning

CITY MADNESS says...
9:24am Wed 11 Mar 09

crispy wrote:
wow flowery language-must have a cse!,come on lads start moaning
What I want to know is why do we need so many hotels in Bradford?

dazbot says...
9:44am Wed 11 Mar 09

Lets hope they go ahead, that high points been stewing for ages.

Horton Lad says...
9:45am Wed 11 Mar 09

wow, another hotel For the illegals to work in and asylum seekers to live in.

emma72 says...
10:01am Wed 11 Mar 09

crispy wrote:
wow flowery language-must have a cse!,come on lads start moaning
Here's a few non flowery statements for you then:

Another eyesore for the Bradford skyline

I'll believe it when I see it!!!

Hasn't westfield been on the "brink of development" for the last 4 years

"Five national hotel chains are looking at the No 1 Hamm Strasse development which will include a 100-bed three star hotel " - didn't we hear somthing similar from westfield about interested retailers

Wasn't westfield based on assurances?

StAlbans might use flowery language but at least he's not gullible enough to fall for the spin AGAIN

Bagsy says...
10:11am Wed 11 Mar 09

We haven't had a nice artists impression in the T&A for some months now so it's good to see them running one today. Will this be added to the archive of "Plans that never came to fruition"? I think most Bradfordians know the answer. The T&A should produce a book of all these artists impressions from over the years, it'd make interesting reading, the title could be "Bradford - An artist's impression of what might have been"

emma72 says...
10:16am Wed 11 Mar 09

Perhaps we should rename the town 'artists impression '

Pull down all the old buildings and replace them with billboards of what the town could look like!!!

crispy says...
10:46am Wed 11 Mar 09

why not have a big depressing black hole and you cheery lot could all live together in it and spend eternity moaning-for gods sake cheer up!

Dear John says...
10:49am Wed 11 Mar 09

emma72 wrote:
Perhaps we should rename the town 'artists impression '

Pull down all the old buildings and replace them with billboards of what the town could look like!!!
Isnt that what has happened?

Welcome To The New World Order says...
10:57am Wed 11 Mar 09

Even if this does go ahead, it will only provide a temporary financial boost for those already in the highly paid Construction Industry & allied trades, and won't benefit anyone else. Oh, apart from the Hotel staff who get to slave for Minimum Wage no doubt.

Welcome To The New World Order says...
10:59am Wed 11 Mar 09

St.Albans Bantam wrote:
Looks like an incongruous effigy to an architects ego!
A modern version of the Tower of Babel.

Welcome To The New World Order says...
11:00am Wed 11 Mar 09

CITY MADNESS wrote:
crispy wrote:
wow flowery language-must have a cse!,come on lads start moaning
What I want to know is why do we need so many hotels in Bradford?
Most hotels in Bradford are DSS doss-houses or brothels.

emma72 says...
11:08am Wed 11 Mar 09

crispy wrote:
why not have a big depressing black hole and you cheery lot could all live together in it and spend eternity moaning-for gods sake cheer up!
Big depressing black hole - got that!!

ItchyBungle says...
12:15pm Wed 11 Mar 09

emma72 wrote:
Perhaps we should rename the town 'artists impression ' Pull down all the old buildings and replace them with billboards of what the town could look like!!!
This has already been done. There is a sign with a picture of a bulding that is supposed to being built next to the Ring O' Bells public house on Bolton Road.

It somes up a lot of these things in delightful Bradford as it has been there for quite some years now and will probably never be built.

Does anyone know of where there are any more?

CITY MADNESS says...
12:25pm Wed 11 Mar 09

crispy wrote:
why not have a big depressing black hole and you cheery lot could all live together in it and spend eternity moaning-for gods sake cheer up!
The problem is that our beloved councillors do absolutely nothing to try and cheer us up as you put it. In case you have not noticed we allready have a big depressing black hole right bank in the centre of the City. It appears now that we are doomed to get several more.
If you read the posts on this site you will clearly see that all the general public are asking is for something to finish in Bradford. It is all very well having all these regeneration bods jetting round the world but at the end of the day all they have brought upon the city is NOTHING.

tyker says...
12:38pm Wed 11 Mar 09

a great artist's impression:no doubt part of the million quid or so spent on such: why another story like this: it's a weekly event or hope, aspiration and little else.!!

I will believe when work actually commences in teh building site/bomb site called Bradford!!!

crispy says...
12:46pm Wed 11 Mar 09

popes got a balcony,bears do it in the woods and you guys never stop bleating,some things never change,think i'm signing off for good as its sooo boring

CITY MADNESS says...
1:00pm Wed 11 Mar 09

crispy wrote:
popes got a balcony,bears do it in the woods and you guys never stop bleating,some things never change,think i'm signing off for good as its sooo boring
I am sure I can speak for all the other users on this site when I say thank goodness. You will not be missed.

Joedavid says...
1:05pm Wed 11 Mar 09

What more hotels, more artists impressions, more promises, more of Bradford Regeneration!

What about WESTFIELD.
What about the ODEON

A fine mess you made Maude.

Thee Voice of Reason says...
1:10pm Wed 11 Mar 09

FIRST YORKSHIREMAN:
Aye, very passable, that, very passable bit of risotto.
SECOND YORKSHIREMAN:
Nothing like a good glass of Château de Chasselas, eh, Josiah?
THIRD YORKSHIREMAN:
You're right there, Obadiah.
FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN:
Who'd have thought thirty year ago we'd all be sittin' here drinking Château de Chasselas, eh?
FIRST YORKSHIREMAN:
In them days we was glad to have the price of a cup o' tea.
SECOND YORKSHIREMAN:
A cup o' cold tea.
FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN:
Without milk or sugar.
THIRD YORKSHIREMAN:
Or tea.
FIRST YORKSHIREMAN:
In a cracked cup, an' all.
FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN:
Oh, we never had a cup. We used to have to drink out of a rolled up newspaper.
SECOND YORKSHIREMAN:
The best we could manage was to suck on a piece of damp cloth.
THIRD YORKSHIREMAN:
But you know, we were happy in those days, though we were poor.
FIRST YORKSHIREMAN:
Because we were poor. My old Dad used to say to me, "Money doesn't buy you happiness, son".
FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN:
Aye, 'e was right.
FIRST YORKSHIREMAN:
Aye, 'e was.
FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN:
I was happier then and I had nothin'. We used to live in this tiny old house with great big holes in the roof.
SECOND YORKSHIREMAN:
House! You were lucky to live in a house! We used to live in one room, all twenty-six of us, no furniture, 'alf the floor was missing, and we were all 'uddled together in one corner for fear of falling.
THIRD YORKSHIREMAN:
Eh, you were lucky to have a room! We used to have to live in t' corridor!
FIRST YORKSHIREMAN:
Oh, we used to dream of livin' in a corridor! Would ha' been a palace to us. We used to live in an old water tank on a rubbish tip. We got woke up every morning by having a load of rotting fish dumped all over us! House? Huh.
FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN:
Well, when I say 'house' it was only a hole in the ground covered by a sheet of tarpaulin, but it was a house to us.
SECOND YORKSHIREMAN:
We were evicted from our 'ole in the ground; we 'ad to go and live in a lake.
THIRD YORKSHIREMAN:
You were lucky to have a lake! There were a hundred and fifty of us living in t' shoebox in t' middle o' road.
FIRST YORKSHIREMAN:
Cardboard box?
THIRD YORKSHIREMAN:
Aye.
FIRST YORKSHIREMAN:
You were lucky. We lived for three months in a paper bag in a septic tank. We used to have to get up at six in the morning, clean the paper bag, eat a crust of stale bread, go to work down t' mill, fourteen hours a day, week-in week-out, for sixpence a week, and when we got home our Dad would thrash us to sleep wi' his belt.
SECOND YORKSHIREMAN:
Luxury. We used to have to get out of the lake at six o'clock in the morning, clean the lake, eat a handful of 'ot gravel, work twenty hour day at mill for tuppence a month, come home, and Dad would thrash us to sleep with a broken bottle, if we were lucky!
THIRD YORKSHIREMAN:
Well, of course, we had it tough. We used to 'ave to get up out of shoebox at twelve o'clock at night and lick road clean wit' tongue. We had two bits of cold gravel, worked twenty-four hours a day at mill for sixpence every four years, and when we got home our Dad would slice us in two wit' bread knife.
FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN:
Right. I had to get up in the morning at ten o'clock at night half an hour before I went to bed, drink a cup of sulphuric acid, work twenty-nine hours a day down mill, and pay mill owner for permission to come to work, and when we got home, our Dad and our mother would kill us and dance about on our graves singing Hallelujah.
FIRST YORKSHIREMAN:
And you try and tell the young people of today that ..... they won't believe you.
ALL:
They won't!

CITY MADNESS says...
1:54pm Wed 11 Mar 09

Thee Voice of Reason wrote:
FIRST YORKSHIREMAN: Aye, very passable, that, very passable bit of risotto. SECOND YORKSHIREMAN: Nothing like a good glass of Château de Chasselas, eh, Josiah? THIRD YORKSHIREMAN: You're right there, Obadiah. FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN: Who'd have thought thirty year ago we'd all be sittin' here drinking Château de Chasselas, eh? FIRST YORKSHIREMAN: In them days we was glad to have the price of a cup o' tea. SECOND YORKSHIREMAN: A cup o' cold tea. FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN: Without milk or sugar. THIRD YORKSHIREMAN: Or tea. FIRST YORKSHIREMAN: In a cracked cup, an' all. FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN: Oh, we never had a cup. We used to have to drink out of a rolled up newspaper. SECOND YORKSHIREMAN: The best we could manage was to suck on a piece of damp cloth. THIRD YORKSHIREMAN: But you know, we were happy in those days, though we were poor. FIRST YORKSHIREMAN: Because we were poor. My old Dad used to say to me, "Money doesn't buy you happiness, son". FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN: Aye, 'e was right. FIRST YORKSHIREMAN: Aye, 'e was. FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN: I was happier then and I had nothin'. We used to live in this tiny old house with great big holes in the roof. SECOND YORKSHIREMAN: House! You were lucky to live in a house! We used to live in one room, all twenty-six of us, no furniture, 'alf the floor was missing, and we were all 'uddled together in one corner for fear of falling. THIRD YORKSHIREMAN: Eh, you were lucky to have a room! We used to have to live in t' corridor! FIRST YORKSHIREMAN: Oh, we used to dream of livin' in a corridor! Would ha' been a palace to us. We used to live in an old water tank on a rubbish tip. We got woke up every morning by having a load of rotting fish dumped all over us! House? Huh. FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN: Well, when I say 'house' it was only a hole in the ground covered by a sheet of tarpaulin, but it was a house to us. SECOND YORKSHIREMAN: We were evicted from our 'ole in the ground; we 'ad to go and live in a lake. THIRD YORKSHIREMAN: You were lucky to have a lake! There were a hundred and fifty of us living in t' shoebox in t' middle o' road. FIRST YORKSHIREMAN: Cardboard box? THIRD YORKSHIREMAN: Aye. FIRST YORKSHIREMAN: You were lucky. We lived for three months in a paper bag in a septic tank. We used to have to get up at six in the morning, clean the paper bag, eat a crust of stale bread, go to work down t' mill, fourteen hours a day, week-in week-out, for sixpence a week, and when we got home our Dad would thrash us to sleep wi' his belt. SECOND YORKSHIREMAN: Luxury. We used to have to get out of the lake at six o'clock in the morning, clean the lake, eat a handful of 'ot gravel, work twenty hour day at mill for tuppence a month, come home, and Dad would thrash us to sleep with a broken bottle, if we were lucky! THIRD YORKSHIREMAN: Well, of course, we had it tough. We used to 'ave to get up out of shoebox at twelve o'clock at night and lick road clean wit' tongue. We had two bits of cold gravel, worked twenty-four hours a day at mill for sixpence every four years, and when we got home our Dad would slice us in two wit' bread knife. FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN: Right. I had to get up in the morning at ten o'clock at night half an hour before I went to bed, drink a cup of sulphuric acid, work twenty-nine hours a day down mill, and pay mill owner for permission to come to work, and when we got home, our Dad and our mother would kill us and dance about on our graves singing Hallelujah. FIRST YORKSHIREMAN: And you try and tell the young people of today that ..... they won't believe you. ALL: They won't!
Well done T & A on finding the first full blown fool.

rubberball says...
2:17pm Wed 11 Mar 09

CITY MADNESS wrote:
Thee Voice of Reason wrote: FIRST YORKSHIREMAN: Aye, very passable, that, very passable bit of risotto. SECOND YORKSHIREMAN: Nothing like a good glass of Château de Chasselas, eh, Josiah? THIRD YORKSHIREMAN: You're right there, Obadiah. FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN: Who'd have thought thirty year ago we'd all be sittin' here drinking Château de Chasselas, eh? FIRST YORKSHIREMAN: In them days we was glad to have the price of a cup o' tea. SECOND YORKSHIREMAN: A cup o' cold tea. FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN: Without milk or sugar. THIRD YORKSHIREMAN: Or tea. FIRST YORKSHIREMAN: In a cracked cup, an' all. FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN: Oh, we never had a cup. We used to have to drink out of a rolled up newspaper. SECOND YORKSHIREMAN: The best we could manage was to suck on a piece of damp cloth. THIRD YORKSHIREMAN: But you know, we were happy in those days, though we were poor. FIRST YORKSHIREMAN: Because we were poor. My old Dad used to say to me, "Money doesn't buy you happiness, son". FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN: Aye, 'e was right. FIRST YORKSHIREMAN: Aye, 'e was. FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN: I was happier then and I had nothin'. We used to live in this tiny old house with great big holes in the roof. SECOND YORKSHIREMAN: House! You were lucky to live in a house! We used to live in one room, all twenty-six of us, no furniture, 'alf the floor was missing, and we were all 'uddled together in one corner for fear of falling. THIRD YORKSHIREMAN: Eh, you were lucky to have a room! We used to have to live in t' corridor! FIRST YORKSHIREMAN: Oh, we used to dream of livin' in a corridor! Would ha' been a palace to us. We used to live in an old water tank on a rubbish tip. We got woke up every morning by having a load of rotting fish dumped all over us! House? Huh. FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN: Well, when I say 'house' it was only a hole in the ground covered by a sheet of tarpaulin, but it was a house to us. SECOND YORKSHIREMAN: We were evicted from our 'ole in the ground; we 'ad to go and live in a lake. THIRD YORKSHIREMAN: You were lucky to have a lake! There were a hundred and fifty of us living in t' shoebox in t' middle o' road. FIRST YORKSHIREMAN: Cardboard box? THIRD YORKSHIREMAN: Aye. FIRST YORKSHIREMAN: You were lucky. We lived for three months in a paper bag in a septic tank. We used to have to get up at six in the morning, clean the paper bag, eat a crust of stale bread, go to work down t' mill, fourteen hours a day, week-in week-out, for sixpence a week, and when we got home our Dad would thrash us to sleep wi' his belt. SECOND YORKSHIREMAN: Luxury. We used to have to get out of the lake at six o'clock in the morning, clean the lake, eat a handful of 'ot gravel, work twenty hour day at mill for tuppence a month, come home, and Dad would thrash us to sleep with a broken bottle, if we were lucky! THIRD YORKSHIREMAN: Well, of course, we had it tough. We used to 'ave to get up out of shoebox at twelve o'clock at night and lick road clean wit' tongue. We had two bits of cold gravel, worked twenty-four hours a day at mill for sixpence every four years, and when we got home our Dad would slice us in two wit' bread knife. FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN: Right. I had to get up in the morning at ten o'clock at night half an hour before I went to bed, drink a cup of sulphuric acid, work twenty-nine hours a day down mill, and pay mill owner for permission to come to work, and when we got home, our Dad and our mother would kill us and dance about on our graves singing Hallelujah. FIRST YORKSHIREMAN: And you try and tell the young people of today that ..... they won't believe you. ALL: They won't!
Well done T & A on finding the first full blown fool.
Can you get up to Wibsey they are in need of a village idiot.

CITY MADNESS says...
2:25pm Wed 11 Mar 09

rubberball wrote:
CITY MADNESS wrote:
Thee Voice of Reason wrote: FIRST YORKSHIREMAN: Aye, very passable, that, very passable bit of risotto. SECOND YORKSHIREMAN: Nothing like a good glass of Château de Chasselas, eh, Josiah? THIRD YORKSHIREMAN: You're right there, Obadiah. FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN: Who'd have thought thirty year ago we'd all be sittin' here drinking Château de Chasselas, eh? FIRST YORKSHIREMAN: In them days we was glad to have the price of a cup o' tea. SECOND YORKSHIREMAN: A cup o' cold tea. FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN: Without milk or sugar. THIRD YORKSHIREMAN: Or tea. FIRST YORKSHIREMAN: In a cracked cup, an' all. FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN: Oh, we never had a cup. We used to have to drink out of a rolled up newspaper. SECOND YORKSHIREMAN: The best we could manage was to suck on a piece of damp cloth. THIRD YORKSHIREMAN: But you know, we were happy in those days, though we were poor. FIRST YORKSHIREMAN: Because we were poor. My old Dad used to say to me, "Money doesn't buy you happiness, son". FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN: Aye, 'e was right. FIRST YORKSHIREMAN: Aye, 'e was. FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN: I was happier then and I had nothin'. We used to live in this tiny old house with great big holes in the roof. SECOND YORKSHIREMAN: House! You were lucky to live in a house! We used to live in one room, all twenty-six of us, no furniture, 'alf the floor was missing, and we were all 'uddled together in one corner for fear of falling. THIRD YORKSHIREMAN: Eh, you were lucky to have a room! We used to have to live in t' corridor! FIRST YORKSHIREMAN: Oh, we used to dream of livin' in a corridor! Would ha' been a palace to us. We used to live in an old water tank on a rubbish tip. We got woke up every morning by having a load of rotting fish dumped all over us! House? Huh. FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN: Well, when I say 'house' it was only a hole in the ground covered by a sheet of tarpaulin, but it was a house to us. SECOND YORKSHIREMAN: We were evicted from our 'ole in the ground; we 'ad to go and live in a lake. THIRD YORKSHIREMAN: You were lucky to have a lake! There were a hundred and fifty of us living in t' shoebox in t' middle o' road. FIRST YORKSHIREMAN: Cardboard box? THIRD YORKSHIREMAN: Aye. FIRST YORKSHIREMAN: You were lucky. We lived for three months in a paper bag in a septic tank. We used to have to get up at six in the morning, clean the paper bag, eat a crust of stale bread, go to work down t' mill, fourteen hours a day, week-in week-out, for sixpence a week, and when we got home our Dad would thrash us to sleep wi' his belt. SECOND YORKSHIREMAN: Luxury. We used to have to get out of the lake at six o'clock in the morning, clean the lake, eat a handful of 'ot gravel, work twenty hour day at mill for tuppence a month, come home, and Dad would thrash us to sleep with a broken bottle, if we were lucky! THIRD YORKSHIREMAN: Well, of course, we had it tough. We used to 'ave to get up out of shoebox at twelve o'clock at night and lick road clean wit' tongue. We had two bits of cold gravel, worked twenty-four hours a day at mill for sixpence every four years, and when we got home our Dad would slice us in two wit' bread knife. FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN: Right. I had to get up in the morning at ten o'clock at night half an hour before I went to bed, drink a cup of sulphuric acid, work twenty-nine hours a day down mill, and pay mill owner for permission to come to work, and when we got home, our Dad and our mother would kill us and dance about on our graves singing Hallelujah. FIRST YORKSHIREMAN: And you try and tell the young people of today that ..... they won't believe you. ALL: They won't!
Well done T & A on finding the first full blown fool.
Can you get up to Wibsey they are in need of a village idiot.
Well said

Thee Voice of Reason says...
2:47pm Wed 11 Mar 09

Hehe, didn't come out as planned silly no edit facility. Was supposed to be just the part about living in a hole in the road with the reply going "Oh you live in that westfield development in Bradford, Aye I know it!"

spanglishbull.uk says...
2:47pm Wed 11 Mar 09


Nice one Mr Editor.Some more crap to fill your Front Page up.

Waynus says...
2:51pm Wed 11 Mar 09

CITY MADNESS wrote:
rubberball wrote:
CITY MADNESS wrote:
Thee Voice of Reason wrote: FIRST YORKSHIREMAN: Aye, very passable, that, very passable bit of risotto. SECOND YORKSHIREMAN: Nothing like a good glass of Château de Chasselas, eh, Josiah? THIRD YORKSHIREMAN: You're right there, Obadiah. FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN: Who'd have thought thirty year ago we'd all be sittin' here drinking Château de Chasselas, eh? FIRST YORKSHIREMAN: In them days we was glad to have the price of a cup o' tea. SECOND YORKSHIREMAN: A cup o' cold tea. FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN: Without milk or sugar. THIRD YORKSHIREMAN: Or tea. FIRST YORKSHIREMAN: In a cracked cup, an' all. FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN: Oh, we never had a cup. We used to have to drink out of a rolled up newspaper. SECOND YORKSHIREMAN: The best we could manage was to suck on a piece of damp cloth. THIRD YORKSHIREMAN: But you know, we were happy in those days, though we were poor. FIRST YORKSHIREMAN: Because we were poor. My old Dad used to say to me, "Money doesn't buy you happiness, son". FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN: Aye, 'e was right. FIRST YORKSHIREMAN: Aye, 'e was. FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN: I was happier then and I had nothin'. We used to live in this tiny old house with great big holes in the roof. SECOND YORKSHIREMAN: House! You were lucky to live in a house! We used to live in one room, all twenty-six of us, no furniture, 'alf the floor was missing, and we were all 'uddled together in one corner for fear of falling. THIRD YORKSHIREMAN: Eh, you were lucky to have a room! We used to have to live in t' corridor! FIRST YORKSHIREMAN: Oh, we used to dream of livin' in a corridor! Would ha' been a palace to us. We used to live in an old water tank on a rubbish tip. We got woke up every morning by having a load of rotting fish dumped all over us! House? Huh. FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN: Well, when I say 'house' it was only a hole in the ground covered by a sheet of tarpaulin, but it was a house to us. SECOND YORKSHIREMAN: We were evicted from our 'ole in the ground; we 'ad to go and live in a lake. THIRD YORKSHIREMAN: You were lucky to have a lake! There were a hundred and fifty of us living in t' shoebox in t' middle o' road. FIRST YORKSHIREMAN: Cardboard box? THIRD YORKSHIREMAN: Aye. FIRST YORKSHIREMAN: You were lucky. We lived for three months in a paper bag in a septic tank. We used to have to get up at six in the morning, clean the paper bag, eat a crust of stale bread, go to work down t' mill, fourteen hours a day, week-in week-out, for sixpence a week, and when we got home our Dad would thrash us to sleep wi' his belt. SECOND YORKSHIREMAN: Luxury. We used to have to get out of the lake at six o'clock in the morning, clean the lake, eat a handful of 'ot gravel, work twenty hour day at mill for tuppence a month, come home, and Dad would thrash us to sleep with a broken bottle, if we were lucky! THIRD YORKSHIREMAN: Well, of course, we had it tough. We used to 'ave to get up out of shoebox at twelve o'clock at night and lick road clean wit' tongue. We had two bits of cold gravel, worked twenty-four hours a day at mill for sixpence every four years, and when we got home our Dad would slice us in two wit' bread knife. FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN: Right. I had to get up in the morning at ten o'clock at night half an hour before I went to bed, drink a cup of sulphuric acid, work twenty-nine hours a day down mill, and pay mill owner for permission to come to work, and when we got home, our Dad and our mother would kill us and dance about on our graves singing Hallelujah. FIRST YORKSHIREMAN: And you try and tell the young people of today that ..... they won't believe you. ALL: They won't!
Well done T & A on finding the first full blown fool.
Can you get up to Wibsey they are in need of a village idiot.
Well said
I think he was referring to you being the village idiot, not his mate!

Both 'TheeVoiceOfReason' and 'rubberball' have been posting rubbish for a number of years under different guises. They have similar beliefs and are not worth reading.

I suggest you ignore both and hopefully they will go away.

Personally, I am pleased to hear more projects are planned. the Westfield project was doomed from the start, but the developments mentioned above are more likely to go ahead. That said, I agree they shouldn't all be hotel based projects.

Let's get behind the plans instead of ridiculing them. After all, this City needs something to pick it up off it's knees and it isn't fair to criticise developers for the mistakes made by Westfield.

ItchyBungle says...
3:16pm Wed 11 Mar 09

WAYNUS, Bradford is on its knees? that is optimistic ain't it? Bradford is lying on the ground bleeding heavily and getting weak and frail.

Mercury_Lime says...
3:44pm Wed 11 Mar 09

Come on guys the reason we need all these hotels is simple, its for all the people who want to work in Leeds. So when Bradford gets taken over by Leeds council and we become part of Greater Leeds... they can have a LS post code...
Put it this way they are not going to fill all the hotels in Bradford with people visiting our main attraction.... 'The Hole'

Al Spade says...
4:29pm Wed 11 Mar 09

Nice to see Maud Marshall sticking her head above the parapet again. Where was she when Westfield went west?

m.r.c says...
4:49pm Wed 11 Mar 09

I've had a belly full of reading this claptrap from these doom merchants. Yes there have been visions which have not materialised that can be said for any city. Here are developments which are not figments of the imagination but are actually happening. It must make most of you more depressed than normal. One suggestion if you don't like it here, clear off, but I suspect that most of you don't have the guts, know how or even the inclination.

CITY MADNESS says...
4:56pm Wed 11 Mar 09

m.r.c wrote:
I've had a belly full of reading this claptrap from these doom merchants. Yes there have been visions which have not materialised that can be said for any city. Here are developments which are not figments of the imagination but are actually happening. It must make most of you more depressed than normal. One suggestion if you don't like it here, clear off, but I suspect that most of you don't have the guts, know how or even the inclination.
You pose some very good arguements. Some of us were born here. Some of us work here. Some of us have children here. Some of us have families here. Enough?
'Yes there have been visions that have not materialised' yes indeed there have more than have materialised. Meanwhile we have to stay here and put up with it whilst our councillors do nothing.
One last comment perhaps if you dont like the people of Bradford expressing their views in a free society you may want to look at moving away yourself but I would doubt it.

tyker says...
5:06pm Wed 11 Mar 09

m.r.c is a plant by the council and teh various development corporations: either that or a visit to spec savers is required: surely even through rose tinted glasses, when they arrive, he/she will see the bomb site created by mismanagement.

rubberball says...
5:17pm Wed 11 Mar 09

Waynus wrote:
CITY MADNESS wrote: rubberball wrote: CITY MADNESS wrote: Thee Voice of Reason wrote: FIRST YORKSHIREMAN: Aye, very passable, that, very passable bit of risotto. SECOND YORKSHIREMAN: Nothing like a good glass of Château de Chasselas, eh, Josiah? THIRD YORKSHIREMAN: You're right there, Obadiah. FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN: Who'd have thought thirty year ago we'd all be sittin' here drinking Château de Chasselas, eh? FIRST YORKSHIREMAN: In them days we was glad to have the price of a cup o' tea. SECOND YORKSHIREMAN: A cup o' cold tea. FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN: Without milk or sugar. THIRD YORKSHIREMAN: Or tea. FIRST YORKSHIREMAN: In a cracked cup, an' all. FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN: Oh, we never had a cup. We used to have to drink out of a rolled up newspaper. SECOND YORKSHIREMAN: The best we could manage was to suck on a piece of damp cloth. THIRD YORKSHIREMAN: But you know, we were happy in those days, though we were poor. FIRST YORKSHIREMAN: Because we were poor. My old Dad used to say to me, If cm cant do it you would fill the post easily.

emma72 says...
5:18pm Wed 11 Mar 09

m.r.c wrote:
I've had a belly full of reading this claptrap from these doom merchants. Yes there have been visions which have not materialised that can be said for any city. Here are developments which are not figments of the imagination but are actually happening. It must make most of you more depressed than normal. One suggestion if you don't like it here, clear off, but I suspect that most of you don't have the guts, know how or even the inclination.
I have every right to be annoyed - I was wholeheartedly behind the project when I left a perfectly good job in london and returned to Bradford thinking that the council was marketing the 'birth of a a new city'. I've now been here 6 years - still no new city.

yes there have been visions that have not materialised -here are developments that are actually happening - so was westfield once

No I will not clear off - I'm in it for the long haul. Unlike many of our developers who aren't prepared to stick it out.

I've had a bellyful of you, council cronies

http://www.facebook.
com/groups.php?ref=s
b#/group.php?gid=497
24601709

Jammy says...
5:24pm Wed 11 Mar 09

m.r.c wrote:
I've had a belly full of reading this claptrap from these doom merchants. Yes there have been visions which have not materialised that can be said for any city. Here are developments which are not figments of the imagination but are actually happening. It must make most of you more depressed than normal. One suggestion if you don't like it here, clear off, but I suspect that most of you don't have the guts, know how or even the inclination.
And what will these developments offer the people of Bradford, not one of these developments is for retail units ,they are hotels,flats and offices,the populace are crying out for a decent shopping developments ,So unless your a window cleaner they wont offer you much either,and just for info i have guts,it takes guts to stay in Bradford...

m.r.c says...
5:43pm Wed 11 Mar 09

Its a yes to all four of your points citymadness and no I am not a council insider. What I am though is a person who is passionate about my home city and try to support it where and whenever I can. I've moved away twice living in Boston (USA) and Malaga but returned. I could slag it off and rubbish everything that gets proposed with the best of em, but that does no one any good. Here we have projects to the value of £250 million and in these troubled times should be embraced, encouraged and welcomed.

spanglishbull.uk says...
6:11pm Wed 11 Mar 09


Ignore m.r.c, everybody,he is obviously not a full shilling.

stiflers mom says...
8:21pm Wed 11 Mar 09

m.r.c wrote:
Its a yes to all four of your points citymadness and no I am not a council insider. What I am though is a person who is passionate about my home city and try to support it where and whenever I can. I've moved away twice living in Boston (USA) and Malaga but returned. I could slag it off and rubbish everything that gets proposed with the best of em, but that does no one any good. Here we have projects to the value of £250 million and in these troubled times should be embraced, encouraged and welcomed.
what made you go back to bradford m.r.c,
was it promotion in your job,if it was i take it macdonalds must have moved you up from making chips, are you on the burger section now !!!!!!

Yorkshire Lass says...
8:55pm Wed 11 Mar 09

More hotels. flats and apartments etc. Sorry is the recession over? I thought we were in the middle of a deep monetary crisis. But there again went to Leeds shopping last Saturday with lots more people from Bradford and the place was buzzing. Got everything I needed that I couldn't find in Bradford. How much longer are we going to wait for SHOPS?

mrs walker says...
9:39pm Wed 11 Mar 09

Now oddly enough, I've had a bit of a change of opinion: I think that potentially - and please note 'POTENTIALLY' - hotels could be a good idea. Bradford is ideally placed for easy access to Leeds, Manchester, the Dales, Hebden Bridge, Haworth - a multitude of places that are tourist magnets. So in this sense, lots of hotels aren't that daft an idea. HOWEVER until the city is a nicer place to be, it will hardly encourage visitors to stay here.. It actually upsets me when I see the ungodly mess that our city has been left in by a huge company that has cut the heart from our townscape and left a derelict building site in its place. Yes, Westfield, that's you.


So ostensibly I'm behind many of the developments that are planned for our city, but the Council have to do their bit, which means cleaning up the town and insisting that Westfield address the issue of severance that has made it so difficult and unpleasant to reach the beautiful area of Little Germany, which in turn has had a knock-on effect on Bradford's arts culture. The Playhouse is just one of the businesses suffering by being cut off from the centre by this abominable piece of non-planning, and Bradford as a city cannot afford to lose the cultural benefits of a resource such as this.

I love this city, but I'm ashamed of it right now. With love and effort and some backsides kicked, we CAN turn it around; it CAN be a gateway to the Dales and a beautiful and interesting place for people to come to. But until the Council shoulder their responsibilities and address the terrible mess they've presided over, people will continue to gripe and the air of negativity will continue to hang over our home town.

berealistic says...
9:49pm Wed 11 Mar 09

I really, really, cannot see why Bradford needs so many hotels.
Are all the existing ones full to capacity?


dazbot says...
10:12pm Wed 11 Mar 09

berealistic wrote:
I really, really, cannot see why Bradford needs so many hotels.
Are all the existing ones full to capacity?

Well there is a good trade not far from there.

capacioustraverse says...
12:16am Thu 12 Mar 09

Its interesting that we are all for free speech but when people suggest a dissenting opinion it is literally shouted down - the people are disparaged as stooges, spies, plants etc -- all very civilised!!!!!!!!!!

jkelly says...
8:56am Thu 12 Mar 09

To the editor - may I suggest a new feature? A 12 month review of all new developments. On the 11th March 2010 you publish an article giving details about the progress of the above schemes.

emma72 says...
6:03pm Tue 17 Mar 09


The petition to Gordon Brown calling for an inquiry into conduct of Bradford Council is now up and running on the Number 10 website. To sign it go to:

http://petitions.num
ber10.gov.uk/Bradfor
dRegen/


An artist’s impression of the £15 million development at Hamm Strasse revealed today Work on the Woolston Warehouse scheme The site in Hamm Strasse

An artist’s impression of the £15 million development at Hamm Strasse revealed today

Buy this photo icon Buy this photo » Work on the Woolston Warehouse scheme

Buy this photo icon Buy this photo » The site in Hamm Strasse



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