Bradford 2025 opens new pop-up arts space for the UK City of Culture

Loading Bay takes over an empty storage depot on Duke Street to bring a true Bradford 2025 buzz to the heart of the city. Featuring two performance areas and a gallery spread across three atmospheric floors, Loading Bay is set to present everything from gigs and comedy nights to art, immersive theatre and even live video games.

The temporary venue is being programmed and operated by Bradford 2025 until December 2025. It opens today (13 March) with an exhibition of artwork from Extraordinary Portraits with Bill Bailey (13 Mar – 6 Apr) in partnership with the BBC and Chatterbox Media, following the new series airing on BBC One. Extraordinary Portraits with Bill Bailey pairs national artists with extraordinary sitters to create breathtaking portraits that highlight their personal and powerful stories.

Opening Loading Bay’s performance space, Loaded Laughs (14 Mar) is the first in a comedy series which will run throughout the year. The first event will be headlined by Harriet Dyer and Don Biswas, alongside rising comedians from Bradford presented by BFD Comedy. Cabaret from RuPaul’s Drag Race series 5 winner in Ginger Johnson’s Fun House (15 Mar), and a double-bill concert by folk luminaries Lady Maisery with O’Hooley and Tidow (16 Mar) complete Loading Bay’s first week.

The venue will also host immersive and site-specific performances including Public Interest (21 – 31 May), a vivid and electrifying show by Bradford-based political theatre pioneers Common/Wealth, commissioned by Bradford 2025. Taking audiences on an immersive journey from club night to courtroom and beyond, with true-life stories from young people with experience of being imprisoned for joint enterprise – and a sound-score featuring drill, bassline, grime, afrobeat and house – this world-premiere show will capture what it means to be young and criminalised in the UK today.

Commissioned by Bradford 2025, The Javaad Alipoor Company (TJAC) will bring ambitious and experimental contemporary theatre to Loading Bay with the world premiere of Elmet (October 2025). Based on the 2017 Booker Prize-shortlisted novel by Fiona Mozley, the production is conceived and directed by TJAC’s founding Artistic Director, Bradford-raised Javaad Alipoor. Elmet is an epic northern noir – an explosive story of family, revenge and the ultimate price of holding on to your dignity – set in the wilds of the West Riding.

Further events for Loading Bay’s 200-capacity seated theatre space include Blackeyed Theatre’s touring production of Dracula (21 – 23 Mar); Toxic, the critically-acclaimed new show from Dibby Theatre and Nathaniel J Hall (First Time, It’s A Sin) (9 Apr); and asses.masses, an epic video game for live audience created by Patrick Blenkarn and Milton Lim (5 Apr). On the 40th anniversary of the fire, LUNG’s award-winning play The 56 pays tribute to the fans who lost their lives at Valley Parade in 1985 (11 May) whilst Language: no broblem (17 June) is a theatrical journey into multilingualism from Marah Haj Hussein. Drag icon Wet Mess brings their wild and extraordinary cabaret TESTO (11 – 12 June), and Figs in Wigs present Little Wimmin, a cosmically catastrophic adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s classic novel (24 – 25 April).

Exhibitions commissioned by Bradford 2025 for Loading Bay’s gallery include Frontline 1984/1985, the first exhibition of work by local photographer Victor Wedderburn, which brings Black Bradford in the 1980s vividly back to life (17 Apr- 11 May). A captivating exhibition exploring Polish and Ukrainian communities in Bradford and beyond, Tu i Tam / Tyt i Tam (respectively, Polish and Ukrainian for ‘Here and There’), including many photographs by Bradford’s Tim Smith, takes over the gallery floor from 3 – 27 July.

Unspun Stories (26 – 30 Mar) is an immersive digital portrayal of Bradford’s late 20th century textile heritage, created by 509 Arts and the Colour Foundry. The installation blends archive film footage, audio recordings, projections and soundscapes with recorded interviews from those who worked in the mills during the ’70s and ’80s, collected by 509 Arts as part of their Lost Mills project. The result is an evocative journey back to a pivotal moment in Bradford’s history – just as it fades from memory.

In Tape Letters (23 May – 15 Jun), artist Wajid Yaseen looks back on life in Bradford for new arrivals in the days before technology connected us all. This free exhibition, produced by Modus Arts, unearths the practice of recording messages on cassette and sending them to friends and family, popular with Pakistani migrants to the UK from the 1960s to the ’80s.

Daniel Bates, Executive Director, Bradford 2025, comments:
“UK City of Culture offers a once in a lifetime opportunity to create lasting change in Bradford, through significant investment in the district’s cultural infrastructure. Bradford has many excellent performance venues and galleries, and we’re excited to add to the creative landscape by repurposing a derelict warehouse in the city as a pop-up arts space.

In addition to hosting events from comedy, music and cabaret to immersive theatre and exhibitions, Loading Bay will create further jobs and volunteering opportunities throughout the year, attract additional visitors into the city centre, and generate greater demand from local audiences. Our mission is to ensure that millions of people experience Bradford in 2025 and are inspired to return for years to come, as the city’s cultural legacy continues to enrich both its visitors and its communities.”

Arts Minister Sir Chris Bryant said:
“This year is a fabulous opportunity for Bradford to tell its distinctive and fascinating story to the nation. The events, exhibitions and activities show that the city is grabbing this opportunity with both hands to make what will be a truly unforgettable year.”

Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe, Bradford Council Leader said:
“Loading Bay will be a great addition to the city centre offer and night time economy. Bradford 2025 aligns with some of the most significant regeneration projects our district has ever seen. These initiatives, backed by millions in private investment, are reshaping the way we live, work, and move through our district.

The district is already home to a thriving community of artists, filmmakers, and innovators, and 2025 provides an opportunity to amplify their work, by investing in skills, infrastructure, and opportunities for our creative sector, we’re not just putting on a show, we’re building a legacy. Culture isn’t an afterthought, it’s how we’re shaping a district that’s vibrant, dynamic, and ready for a successful future.”

In addition to Loading Bay, travelling venue The Beacon, will take Bradford 2025 across the district throughout the spring and summer, spending around a month in each location. The Beacon will visit Wibsey Park (3 Apr-5 May), Bowling Park (22 May-22 June), Cliffe Castle Park (10 Jul-10 Aug)) and Lister Park (28 Aug-28 Sept).

There’ll be headline acts, music, comedy and much more, with bespoke programmes in each location, from weekday shows and weekend festivals to clubs, classes, family activities and neighbourhood get-togethers. The Beacon will be a true hub for each neighbourhood it visits with a programme that reflect the communities of Bradford District, with an invitation for local people to present their own events in this versatile space.