Bradford market voted best in UK

Bradford's St James's market has been voted the best in the UK after cutting the amount of waste it produces by 1,600 per cent. The fruit and vegetable market was voted best wholesale market by the National Association of British Market Authorities.

The judges said they were particularly impressed by the market as it now recycles 80 percent of all its waste. St James's was in the running against big name wholesale markets like Smithfield and Billingsgate in London. Colin Wolstenholme, Bradford Council's markets manager, said St James's had been transformed since 2004 when its waste costs were "spiralling out of control".
"Working with the tenants' association we decided to look at all the different waste the market produces - things like cardboard, plastic, wood and unsold fruit and vegetable," he said.

"All the waste - about 1,500 tonnes a year - was sent to landfill. A tremendous amount of waste." The market now sells around 20 tonnes of cardboard a month to a paper producer and unsold fruit and vegetables are sent to Yorkshire Water's treatment works in Esholt.

Bradford is also the first market authority in the country to introduce a "pay-as-you-throw" scheme.

St James's Market, which is located just of the Wakefield A650 road.

Anger at proposed site for Ladbrokes

Plans for a new Ladbrokes bingo hall in one of Bradford city centre’s busiest shopping streets have sparked anger. Bradford City Centre Management, part of Bradford Council’s Department of Regeneration and Culture, has decided to opposed the plans which would see the former Woolwich bank in Kirkgate, currently occupied by fashion store Glance, turned into a bingo hall.

The building’s owners, London Investments, has applied to the Council for a change of use to allow it to be turned into a licensed bingo hall, to be occupied by “one of the UK’s leading bingo operators”. Councillor David Green, Bradford Council’s executive member for regeneration and economy, said: “Kirkgate is one of the main shopping thoroughfares in the city centre and I believe the shops there should be used for retail. There are more than sufficient bingo and amusement centres in the city centre and if we are to continue working to revive the retail offer in Bradford it is important that we try and bring as many of the empty units back into use as shops rather than amusement arcades or bingo halls, because I think it would be a lost opportunity for the city centre.”

The proposed site, currently occupied by fashion store Glance.

Another shop bites the dust

Stead & Simpson, one of Britain's oldest retailers that has had a presence in Bradford city centre for 50 years is due to close on Thursday, 20th January. The shop is one of a very small number of shoe shops left in the city centre. The shop manager, Walter Lazorky, who has been running the shop for 30 years blames the stalled Westfield centre for sounding the death knell. He also predicted many more shops could soon follow suit.

The closure of the shoe shop will leave five employees without work. News of the closure comes at a time when the council is supposedly trying to "re-engage" with city centre traders through consultations.

Mr Lazoryk also said that rather than turning the Westfield site into an urban park it should have been made into a car park, which could also have charged a small fee and he believes this would have attracted more shoppers to the area.

Mr Lazoryk said that although the shop had a loyal customer base there was no hope in attracting new customers and therefore the shop was no longer viable. Other stores such as HMV, could soon close as the music retailer has reported disappointing sales over the Christmas period.