LET'S MOVE TO: BRADFORD

Neighbourhood know-how, places and people

- Richard Darn

LOCATION, LOCATION Bradford has had its share of ups and downs and a bad press to boot, mostly entirely undeserved. Forget what you think you know and instead consider this. Together with Bath, this is arguably England’s greatest stone city. It has one of the country’s youngest populations and a multi-cultural buzz that predates recent arrivals. Church services could be heard in German in the 19th century and a superb synagogue with Moorish motifs dates to the same period. It is the world's first UNESCO City of Film, whilst Saltaire is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Proximity to Leeds makes the city and its suburbs an enticing and much cheaper alternative and it could not be better placed as a gateway to the proposed South Pennine Park and the Yorkshire Dales. A huge regeneration effort is underway with accountancy firm PwC one of the firms that have recently located here.

BAG A PROPERTY

A two-bed apartment in Little Germany – one of Yorkshire’s finest city centre conservation areas – can be rented for £550. In other central areas flats can be bought from as little as £60,000. More avant-garde rooftop penthouses built by Urban Splash at Velvet Mill are available for £150,000, which buys two bedrooms and awesome views. Desirable residential neighbourhoods include Idle, Apperley Bridge, Greengates, Frizinghall (location of Bradford Grammar School), Bingley, Shipley, Saltaire and Baildon. A five-bed semi-detached can be had for as little as £250k.

EASY ACCESS?