Music venues unite in Bradford nightlife rally cry

Uncertainty over Bradford Live, roadworks disruption, and a venue closure have all dented people's perception of the city in recent weeks.

Despite this, The Underground and Nightrain have enjoyed success and are excited about what is to come.

This past week, the Duke Street bar issued a rallying cry for Bradfordians to "stop being negative Nancies" having witnessed the social media furore about the city centre's issues.

It comes at the same time Queensgate venue Nightrain rapidly sold out their joint headline gig by American rockers Alien Ant Farm and CKY.

"It is harder working with the locals"

"There is so much negativity and I do not know why because it is buzzing," Nigel Booth, owner of The Underground, said.

"People are not understanding. They become keyboard warriors.

"Those are the ones that are not going out and (in turn) making it feel negativity."

He added: "We are flying at the moment. We are getting interaction nationally (a coach full of people from Scotland attended a show last weekend).

"It is harder working with the locals."

Nigel Booth is the owner of city centre music venue The Underground (Image: Newsquest)

One punter even came across from China

Nightrain boss Keith Tempest is also keen to bang the positivity drum to encourage more people to see what they are missing out on.

"I am a Bradford lad, born and bred. I have been coming to the city centre for all my life. I am proud of where I come from," he said.

"I see different faces in our venue every week. We also have our core regulars who support us massively."

Alien Ant Farm will perform at Nightrain in November (Image: David Baldes Photos)He added: "It is the events that keep Nightrain open.

"We did initially open seven days a week (back in 2019) then we quickly learned that was not viable.

"We can have between 10 people on a Saturday night or 50-100 people. 

"We have always had a wide range of people across the map.

"We have people from all over Europe, even from China on a Wednesday night. We sold like 70 tickets that night, it was crazy."

Nightrain has loads of events on throughout the year (Image: UGC)

Let's not fit within a stereotype

Bradford At Night, a group determined to change the perception of the city's nightlife, also shares the same enthusiasm.

Director Tom Walling said: "Critics will always be the first to throw mud at the night economy in Bradford, but over the past few years, we’ve seen first-hand the resilience and enthusiasm to make a change to what nightlife can be in Bradford - and to not fit within a stereotype needs to start being seen as a positive for the future, not a negative holding us back."

Still work to be done

Although Mr Tempest appreciates work still needs to be done around the city centre for it to realise its full potential.

It is understood North Parade indie bar ReWired, which only opened in July 2023, shut its doors last month.

Mr Tempest added: "A recent review summed it up. They said I like the venue but I won't come back to Bradford.

"I am embarrassed by it. They get to the venue and go oh wow this is amazing. They don't expect it. 

"We never get any bother at our venue. I do understand it when people say I don't want to go to Bradford because it is unsafe because I see it. I can't sugarcoat it.

"General footfall is affected by how Bradford is perceived."

Inside The Underground (Image: Newsquest)

All about the bigger picture

Mr Booth can understand those concerns but feels punters need to look at the bigger picture.

He mentioned how The Underground is set to work with Darley Street Market once that is open.

A collaboration with Nightrain was also occurring over this bank holiday weekend.

Mr Booth feels punters need to look at the bigger picture (Image: Newsquest)Mr Booth said: "It is a nightmare getting around Bradford as we all know (due to all the roadworks). People are not coming in because of that.

"They can't see the bigger picture. They are just doom and gloomers - thinking it is never going to get any better when actually it is. 

"Generally, there is a lot of good stuff going off in Bradford.

"Let's focus on the things that are doing well and build on that.

"When these other things go live, which they will, it is only going to make things better."