I WAS at school in Bradford when the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television opened in a blaze of glory.

That such a venue, housing Europe's first IMAX screen, was located outside London was a major coup, for Bradford and the North, and it caused a buzz of excitement.

The focus was on images and image-making, with interactive installations allowing visitors to step into TV and film production. Reading the news, operating cameras in a mock-up studio, discovering early photographic gems, getting nostalgic with TV Heaven and losing yourself in a sweeping made-for-IMAX film made a pretty exciting day out.

The re-branding of 2006, when it became the National Media Museum, was a reflection of what lay at the heart of the museum in the 21st century, but it retained the essence of what gives visitors a sense of awe. There's nowhere else, even in London, where you can get close up to John Logie Baird's original apparatus, the earliest photography negative and a set from an Oscar-winning Wallace and Gromit film.

The NMM has weathered storms, not least a closure threat, but the current asset-stripping that has prompted such an outcry is particularly unsettling.

Its decision to abandon the Bradford International Film Festival, after 20 years, is at the very least an embarrassment for a place granted the world's first UNESCO City of Film title. A title the museum helped to bid for.

And the transfer of 400,000 photographs to London's V&A Museum, described by Conservative group leader Councillor Simon Cooke as "cultural vandalism", is a significant blow to Bradford, and the North.

The NMM says the move reinforces its shifting focus on science, technology, engineering and maths and its collections will be used to inspire future scientists and engineers.

But shifting 10per cent of its photography collection to London reinforces a north/south cultural divide and a lack of confidence in Bradford.

Now it has emerged that the NMM could be re-named, with Science Museum North said to be an option. With a name like that, it wouldn't have got me through the door as a youngster.

Yes, the museum must focus on science and technology for funding, but to remain a vibrant cultural attraction with a decent footfall it must also cater for wider interests, not least weekend family visits and tourists who generate spin-off economic benefits in the city.

It has become a less appealing venue over the decades, with the loss of its upstairs restaurant, overlooking a panoramic city view, and the scaling-down of its shop to accommodate a frankly dull internet exhibition in the entrance. But ultimately the NMM remains an inspiring place, with national status. Let's hope this jewel doesn't end up falling out of Bradford's crown.