A MUSIC PR director has chosen Bradford to set up office as he says he recognises the city is 'on the up'.

Simon Glacken spent the last decade as part of Leeds-based company I Like Press, focussing on the music side of the PR business.

When the company was wound down in the autumn it allowed him to set up on his own.

"I myself was always focused on the music side of things and have worked with a lot of international artists mainly in the more rock, metal, prog and left-field world," he explained.

"These include artists such as: And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead, Anathema, Mansun, Darkthrone, Nine Black Alps, Mono, TesseracT, Orange Goblin, Katatonia and Opeth as well as artists from the West Yorkshire area including Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride and Black Moth. "I’ve also been working with the legendary metal label Peaceville since 2012. They originally started out in this region over 30 years ago.

"I’ve also been able to work with 65daysofstatic, Mick Gordon and Robin Finck (Nine Inch Nails) on the soundtracks for a number of huge video games such as DOOM and No Man’s Sky."

Mr Glacken, 36, who has also been involved with festivals such as: Live at Leeds, Beacons Festival, Long Division, Best Kept Secret (Netherlands) and Be Prog! My Friend (Barcelona) added: "When we decided to wind I Like Press down as a business it allowed me to then set up on my own, bring all my music clients across and set up under the new business name of For The Lost at Bread and Roses cafe and workspace, in North Parade.

"I’m originally from Baildon but after after living in Leeds for nine or 10 years, I moved to Saltaire with my partner just over two-and-a-half years ago. "When it came to the new business I was looking at a number of options for co-working. Because the majority of my clients are based all over the world in places up and down the UK as well as in Japan, Germany, France, U.S, Norway and Sweden I can really set myself up anywhere.

"Looking at options for co-working it felt like Bradford, and North Parade more specifically, would be a good place to be. I’d already seen that Assembly Bradford was doing well and around the same time I was setting up For The Lost I read about Bread & Roses opening soon so it seemed like a good option.

"I do feel Bradford is on the up and people are pushing to make interesting and big things happen in the city, whether it be what’s happening with the Odeon, the growth of North Parade, Bradford BID getting the green light or places like Pizza Loco and Bear’s Pantry deciding to set up in Sunbridge Wells.

"The recent Glug event also showed there’s a wealth of creative people based here.

"Things are moving in the right direction so it felt like this would be the right place for me to be. Exciting things are happening and it’s good to be part of it in some small way.

"There’s also some very simple reasons for being based in Bradford such as the lower costs of co-working here and even the train ride in is short, cheaper and far less stressful."

"Since setting up in Bradford back in September one of my bands called The Pineapple Thief reached number 36 in the UK album charts as well as being number 1 in the UK rock charts. Another band called Midas Fall won the Limelight Award at the Progressive Music awards the following week. Overall the past few months have been great and I’m very happy to be working in North Parade."

Mr Glacken said it is not his job to book shows, but admitted it would be good to see some of the artists he works with playing in Bradford

He said: "Bradford has a really rich musical history and people are still putting on great stuff in the city but hopefully the refurbished former Odeon will help attract some more high profile artists and bring people over."