Walking through Lister Park on my way to Cartwright Hall to see this year’s Turner Prize exhibition, I couldn’t help but think about how underappreciated Bradford is. Every time I venture into a new part of the city for the first time, I’m surprised by how charming Bradford and its buildings are. Cartwright Hall opened in 1904, constructed with funds from local textile industrialist Samuel Cunliffe Lister. The Neo-Baroque, purpose-built gallery is an impressive sight and a great place to host the Turner Prize for its second time in Yorkshire – not least because Bradford was one of the first British local authority museum services to collect works by South Asian and Black artists.

It’s hard to believe a place like Cartwright Hall exists in a city often dubbed by tabloids as one of the worst places to live in the UK. It’s true that Bradford, known for its civic Victorian architecture, suffered massively under incomplete regeneration plans in the 2010s. Prior to the development of the city centre, the ruins of demolished buildings sat abandoned for years – an urban scar that was nicknamed ‘Bradford Hole’. Then, the scrapping of HS2 plans left the city in the lurch yet again. It has had its fair share of bad luck and worse PR. Still, Bradford, the birthplace of David Hockney and the Brontë sisters, has never seemed to lose sight of its capacity for greatness. In 2025, it became the UK City of Culture. As someone born and raised in West Yorkshire, I appreciate every effort to bring world-class art beyond London and within arm’s reach.