Bradford: City of Dreams

Two-part documentary series exploring life in contemporary Bradford, West Yorkshire, and the entrepreneurs that are helping reignite the city’s fortunes. Bradford, once one of the richest cities in Britain, has always been a magnet for economic migrants, from the Irish rural poor who came to work in the mills in the 1800s via German Jewish merchants who traded in cloth at the turn of the 19th century and on through the Asian immigration in the second half of the 20th Century. As the mills, factories and exchanges have nearly all closed, the once grand city became a shadow of its former self, but a new breed of Bradfordians are defying the difficulties of post-industrial Bradford. These include 32-year-old Nav, who enhances some of the hottest super-cars in the world, but started with a Vauxhall Nova in his parents’ garden, and Graham, a builder by trade and a communicator by nature – whose few words of Urdu have helped him become the builder of choice for Bradford’s Asian community., Bradford, once one of the richest cities in Britain, has always been a magnet for economic migrants, from the Irish rural poor who came to work in the mills in the 1800s via German Jewish merchants who traded in cloth at the turn of the 19th century and on through the Asian immigration in the second half of the 20th Century. As the mills, factories and exchanges have nearly all closed, the once grand city became a shadow of its former self, but a new breed of Bradfordians are defying the difficulties of post-industrial Bradford. These include 32-year-old Nav, who enhances some of the hottest super-cars in the world, but started with a Vauxhall Nova in his parents’ garden, and Graham, a builder by trade and a communicator by nature – whose few words of Urdu have helped him become the builder of choice for Bradford’s Asian community., This two-part series explores contemporary life in Bradford 1/2