Reader memories of Bradford's old Kirkgate Market

“The rats moved out the day they destroyed the market.”

That day, while my mother was in the town, a big army of rats was moving about, and suddenly everyone stopped and started looking in the direction of M&S. The young, powerful rats erected a barrier around the older and baby rats, keeping them safe in the center. At the same time that it was repulsive to witness, their level of organization was amazing. It had an enduring impression on those who witnessed them.

This remarkable memory, from Marta Dreifelds, came in response to this photo we published recently, of Bradford’s old Kirkgate Market when it was demolished half a century ago. The Victorian market was built in 1872 and there were protests when the much-loved building was demolished in November 1973, to be replaced by a new shopping mall. Now the Kirkgate Shopping Centre is to be demolished, bringing to an end another era of retail in the city centre.

On social media, our image of the remnants of the former Kirkgate Market has sparked nostalgia, as shown on the T&A’s We Grew up in Bradford Facebook page. To name a few, these are:

Geo Khan: “A photographer was carrying a camera and a monkey. He took my picture at Kirkgate Market’s main entrance, and my dad paid him for it. I was maybe twelve years old.

“Looks like sheet music…all that’s left of Shuttleworth’s music shop?” asked Peter Ratcliffe.

“My mum was one of the overnight protestors who was arrested but then released,” writes Jo Singh in remembrance of the demonstration.

David Sands: “There was no malice in the peaceful protest.” The cops were not the target of any hostility. It’s unfortunate that the council disregarded their advice since we could still maintain Kirkgate Market, just as Leeds does.

Shaien Akther: “It was a magnificent structure.” There aren’t many stone carvers left in the world, so once anything is destroyed, it cannot be rebuilt.”

Michael Joy: “I have memories of selling fundraising flags on those steps. The little paper ones with a pin, when I was in the Sea Cadets. Would have been circa 1963.

Colin Saul: “I remember having pie and peas in the cafes and milkshakes at the milk bar when I was a kid, then when I was a little older buying clothes from Lord Anthony’s. It was a marvellous place.”

Ian Fowler: “I used to work in Kirkgate on the jeans stall on Saturdays in the early 60s with my brother Don.”

Maureen Rebecca Smith: “I worked in Kirkgate Market as a Saturday girl on various stalls in the late 1960s, even when I got a fulltime job for some extra spending money. Yes it was cold, the roof needed fixing but the town planners ripped the heart out of our city when they decided it had to go. Where did all the stone and the gates go?”

Ann Simpson: “I worked there aged 14 in a sandwich shop that sold hot pork and chicken down the side.”

Jayne Morris: “My mother sobbed upon witnessing it partially destroyed.”

It was a beautiful market, said Jean Ann Chippendale. This historic structure ought to have been preserved rather than demolished. I had pleasant recollections there with my mother.

Chrissy Pearson: “I enjoyed going to the fish market for pie at Tom’s Diner on the weekends, along with my mother, sisters, and brothers.”

David Whithorn: “What are the chances that the new Kirkgate Market will survive past 25 years if the first one lasted 100 years and the second one will have lasted 50 years?” There’s merit to Victorian construction techniques, building materials, and architecture.

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Reader memories of Bradford’s old Kirkgate Market

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