BRADFORD is to stage its biggest professional city centre fireworks display “in living memory” next month.

The Business Improvement District (BID) is organising the massive show to coincide with the switching on of Bradford’s Christmas lights on November 13 and the start of the festive shopping and leisure season.

The fireworks extravaganza is so large that it should be visible to almost anyone within the A6177 Ring Road and some rockets will reach up to 750 feet high.

Concerns have been raised about anti-social firework use in the city, but this is a professionally-organised and delivered display.

It will be staged from the top of the NCP car park in Hall Ings and some city centre roads will need to be closed for safety reasons.

Ian Ward, chairman of Bradford BID, said the spectacular display may be the “biggest ever staged” in the city centre.

“We’re struggling to find anyone who can remember a huge fireworks display on this scale ever taking place in the city centre,” said Mr Ward. 

“It certainly appears to be the biggest in living memory. We really wanted to make a statement – that Bradford is back in a big way, that – although we know the Covid-19 pandemic is not over yet – it is recovering from the lockdowns and restrictions that hurt our local economy, and it’s looking forward to the city competing strongly for a place on the final shortlist for Capital of Culture 2025.

"The Christmas lights are going to be bigger and better again this year and the fireworks will follow shortly after the big switch-on in The Broadway, which will mark the start of the Christmas shopping season which is so vital to all our shops, bars, pubs, restaurants, cafes and leisure attractions.”

BID manager Jonny Noble said the display would also be significant because it marked the mid-way point of the BID’s first five-year term.

“Despite so much of the last 18 months or so being hampered by the pandemic, the BID has achieved an enormous amount in a short space of time,” said Mr Noble.

“We’re currently carrying out a mid-term review with our levy-payers, looking at what we’ve done so far and planning out what we can do between now and the end of 2023, when we will need to ballot for a second five-year term.

"So this big celebration of the city centre to launch the festive season seemed the perfect time to look ahead to the second half of our business plan and our efforts to help Bradford’s big retail and leisure heart get back into its stride and head off towards the excitement of 2025 and beyond.”

The Bradford BID fireworks spectacular will start at 7pm, 30 minutes after the big Christmas lights switch-on.

“We’re obviously at the mercy of the weather but, as they’re being launched from a high vantage point, anyone within the Ring Road with a line of sight to the city centre should be able to see the show,” said Mr Noble.

“That also means that we don’t have to have thousands of people crowded together in the city centre – they can spread out with plenty of social distancing to ensure the event is as Covid-safe as possible.

"It’s being run by a major, experienced company – Frontier Fireworks – and will certainly be the biggest display in Bradford this year.”