Bradford lies at the heart of the West Yorkshire, in Northern England. It is situated in the foothills of the Pennines and
only 9 miles West of Leeds, and 16 miles North West of Wakefield. Bradford received its charter as a city in 1897.

Bradford has a population of under 300,000 Bradford forms part of the West Yorkshire and is part of the Leeds-
Bradford Larger Urban Zone (LUZ), the third largest in the UK after London and Manchester, with an estimated
population in the 2004 of 2.4 million.

Bradford rose to prominence during the 19th century as an international centre of textile manufacture, particularly
wool and rapidly becoming the wool capital of the world.

Bradford is now a tourist destination with attractions such as the National Media Museum and Cartwright Hall.

The economy has diversified and the city of Bradford is home to several major companies, notably in finance which
includes The Yorkshire Building Society and Provident Financial plc who are one of the city's biggest employers who
specialise in Home Collected Credit and owns Vanquis which offers credit cards and has created hundreds of jobs for
the City. Electronics include Pace Micro and Filtronic. Engineering companies such as NG Bailey and Powell
Switchgear are also based in Bradford. Manufacturing include Denso Marston, BASF, and Bailey Offsite and finally
the Supermarket chain Morrisons has its head office in Bradford. Also based in Bradford is the famous Thomas Cook
who has its Tour Operators Head Office, which employs about 1000 staff in the city.

There are Railway linking between Manchester and Leeds and the M606, a spur off the M62 motorway, connects
Bradford with the national motorway network with easy access to both Manchester and Leeds.

In 1931 Bradford and Leeds councils jointly opened the Leeds Bradford International Airport which is only 6 miles to
the North East of the City. There has been rapid growth especially now with the economy airline Jet2 based here, In
May 2007 the joint councils sold the airport to Bridgepoint Capital for £145.5 million. Bridgepoint announced that a
further £70 million would be invested in airport improvements aiming to boost passenger figures to over 7 million by
2015.

The University of Bradford, which has over 10,000 students, received its Royal Charter in 1966. The university covers
a wide range of subjects including technology and management science, optometry, pharmacy, medical sciences,
nursing studies, archaeology and modern languages. The University of Bradford was ranked second in the UK for
graduate employment by the Times Higher Education Supplement in 2005. Bradford University is situated in the City
and although there is a modern, compact campus there is investment opportunity with city centre student
accommodation being built.

Properties for sale in Bradford