CULTURE SHOCK
ON 1 January Bradford became the 2025 UK city of culture. Last September Eye 1632 reported that more than £50m had been spent converting the city’s derelict Odeon Cinema into the 3,800-seater venue Bradford Live – meant to be a flagship for city of culture events.
Alas, the NEC Group, the company that was announced in 2017 as operator of the venue, had pulled out and the council had not found anyone else to take on the job. That is still the case, and cultural festivities have kicked off across the city without a sound coming from the empty Bradford Live.