FAMILY and friends gathered at a Bradford city centre pub to remember a man who was the visionary behind the £1.9 million underground complex Sunbridgewells.
Bradford man Graham Hall sadly died at the age of 54 on December 27, 2022, and yesterday (Wednesday), his family and friends gathered for a drink to raise a glass in memory of the property developer who made his Sunbridgewells vision into reality.
His son, Harry Hall, reflected on his dad’s passing a year ago.
“It’s been difficult,” he said. “There’s no blueprint on how to do it. You work it out as you go along.
“Dad wanted people to genuinely care about Bradford.
“This building was for Bradford and he wanted people to come from all over to Bradford. He was proud of this city.
“Sunbridgewells was his world of imagination. Dad wanted it to be a one stop shop for everyone.
“He was so proud of what he did here. He liked to show the place off and take people on tours of the building.
“No one else could have done what he did here. If it wasn’t for my dad this would still be a derelict tunnel."
Harry also spoke about how important Wallers Brewery was to his dad, who had his own seat behind the bar.
“Wallers Brewery is the beating heart of Sunbridgewells and we want Sunbridgewells to be the beating heart of Bradford.”
His sister, Karen Hall, who is now director of Wallers Brewery alongside Rebecca Dakin, said: “This pub is the heart of Sunbridgewells and we want to put it back to how it was originally.
“If you walk from one end of Sunbridgewells to the other side, you will walk through a bar.
“He loved his history and always had a passion for bringing things back to life.
She also said Graham was an entrepreneur from a young age.
“My parents converted our garage in Eccleshill so Graham could have his mates around.
“He put pinball machines in but you had to put coins in them, so Graham knew what he was doing.
“He just loved Bradford and wanted to give something back to the city.”
One of Graham’s friends and colleagues, Roy Stone, who is now a DJ at Wallers Brewery, spoke about his memories of Graham.
“I’ve known Graham since the beginning of Sunbridgewells.
“He was precious about Bradford and always had a vision for this place.
“He described it as a living museum and was always quite keen explaining Bradford’s history.
“He collected things he found in the rubble when it was under construction that are on display today.”
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