Bradford Live
2024Bradford Live is a planned entertainment venue in the heart of Bradford’s city centre. The building – which used to be the city’s Odeon cinema – holds a special place in the hearts of many of the Telegraph and Argus’ readers. The huge regeneration project had been in the pipeline for several years – and many people in the city, including the team at the Telegraph and Argus, wished it to be a success and to open in time for Bradford City of Culture next year.
The renovation work to turn the building into Bradford Live cost £50.5 million, most of which was taxpayers’ money from Bradford Council. It was previously stated that the venue would open in autumn 2024. However, Birmingham-based company the NEC Group – which had been unveiled as the operator of Bradford Live in 2017 – had failed to comment on its involvement with the massive scheme for several months despite repeated questions from the newspaper on behalf of the public.
As things stand, no opening date has been confirmed and no acts have been announced at what was promised to be a “world-class” concert venue. The future of Bradford Live remains very unclear – and this was an issue of major concern to the team and to many of their readers, raising concerns amongst local MPs.
Questions over the project started nearly half a year ago, when tickets for the first two shows announced for Bradford Live – an Abba tribute act and a Bob Marley tribute show – were removed from sale. The Telegraph and Argus later learned those shows had been cancelled.
They also learned that a major event due to be held at Bradford Live next year – during Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture – would also not go ahead. The team relentlessly began putting questions to Bradford Council, the developer Bradford Live and the NEC Group since the spring on behalf of the public. In April, they published an online story, which was also featured on the front page of their print edition with the headline ‘What’s Going On?’
In May, they asked Bradford Council to confirm how much taxpayers’ money had gone towards the Bradford Live project and also asked for confirmation of the total cost of the project. These important questions should have been answered by the council at that time – but they weren’t, so the team resorted to using the Freedom of Information Act. This FOI process was protracted as the council said it needed more time to “reach a decision on where the balance of the public interest lies”. Towards the end of July, the council finally revealed to the newspaper – and, in turn, members of the public – that the overall cost of the Bradford Live scheme had climbed to £50.5m.
The Telegraph and Argus continued with their dogged journalism by publishing this open letter to Bradford Council, Bradford Live and the NEC Group, asking seven key questions on behalf of the public. The open letter was also featured on the front page of their print edition with the headline ‘Tell Us The Truth’. However, questions and concerns lingered as the NEC Group failed to respond to the open letter.
Many readers have welcomed the newspaper’s coverage and asked the team to continue investigating and highlighting this topic.
"While this topic undoubtedly still has a long way to run, we believe the work we have produced on it so far is strong evidence of trusted, campaigning local journalism – constantly asking questions that matter, holding authorities and organisations to account, regularly showing our readers that we are standing up for them and not forgetting about an issue of phenomenal concern... They rely on us to continue keeping up the pressure and pushing for answers on the Bradford Live saga."
Team at the Bradford Telegraph and Argus