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The entrance to Loading Bay, with rows of benches under a canopy light by warm light. The entrance to Loading Bay, with rows of benches under a canopy light by warm light.

Reopening in 2026

Loading Bay

Exhibitions, theatre, music and more in Bradford City Centre.

What's onPast events

Loading Bay is back in 2026.

For Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture, we turned an old storage depot into an arts hub for Bradford – home to two performance spaces and a gallery.

Loading Bay will reopen in May 2026.

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Coming soon: Extraordinary Portraits

with Bill Bailey

Following its success in 2025, Extraordinary Portraits with Bill Bailey returns to Bradford this May. All six original artworks from the hit BBC One series will be on display at this free exhibition.

Free tickets available soon.

Find out more →
Comedian Bill Bailey wears a pale suit, standing in an opulent room. He leans on a chair. Comedian Bill Bailey wears a pale suit, standing in an opulent room. He leans on a chair.
The immersive experience Built By Sound was a 2025 highlight.
Extraordinary Portraits with Bill Bailey in 2025.
A set within the gallery - an old fashioned hutch littered with family memorabilia.
Tu I Tam / Tyt I Tam shared the stories of Bradford's Polish and Ukrainian communities.
A crowd of people applauding in the Loading Bay theatre.
Thousands of visitors joined us at Loading Bay in 2025.
A black man plays the trumpet - he is wearing a hat and a shirt jacket.
Big Brass Blowout at Loading Bay.

Past events

In 2025 this multi-story venue hosted exhibitions, dance, live music, supper clubs, comedy nights, and lots more, welcoming over 40,000 people through its doors.

Read the story of Bradford 2025 →
PAST FREE Part of Loading Bay

13 Mar – 6 Apr 2025

Extraordinary Portraits with Bill Bailey

Breathtaking portraits – incredible personal stories.

Headshot of drag queen Ginger Johnson, Curly ginger hair, screaming in a field of flowers
PAST Part of Loading Bay

15 Mar 2025

Ginger Johnson’s Fun House

Welcome to the House of Fun.

Musicians Lady Maisery in a stylised photograph, behind a blue-ish filter.
PAST Part of Loading Bay

16 Mar 2025

Lady Maisery with O’Hooley & Tidow

A double bill of English folk music royalty.

A grey-toned image showing the back of a man wearing a top hat, with a castle in the distance and a ship caught in a storm beside him.
PAST Part of Loading Bay

21–23 Mar 2025

Dracula

Blackeyed Theatre

It was fright night at Loading Bay!

The black form of a figure interrupts projected faces on pieces of fabric hanging from the ceiling.
PAST FREE Part of Loading Bay

26 – 30 Mar 2025

Unspun Stories

509 Arts

An immersive installation that explored Bradford's textile heritage.

A screen showing a video game playing on a large screen infront of an audience of people
PAST Part of Loading Bay

5 Apr 2025

asses.masses

Patrick Blenkarn & Milton Lim

This was a live video game played by you, the audience.

two men embrace surrounded by pink and green smoke
PAST Part of Loading Bay

9 Apr 2025

Toxic

Nathaniel J Hall

Sometimes, survival means knowing when to leave.

Five performers wearing orange wigs stand in a V shape, against a green background.
PAST Part of Loading Bay

24 & 25 Apr 2025

Little Wimmin

Figs in Wigs

An unorthodox, apocalyptic, cosmically catastrophic adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s classic novel.

PAST Part of Loading Bay

26 Apr 2025

Lanre Bakare – ‘We Were There’ book launch

Bradford writer Lanre Bakare joined Victor Wedderburn in conversation, chaired by Dawn Cameron.

A man stands looking away from the camera - he is wearing a tracksuit stop and trousers. He's looking at a football stadium from the pitch, and is surrounded by white.
PAST Part of Loading Bay

11 May 2025

The 56

LUNG

‘Nobody dies in football matches'

PAST Part of Loading Bay

31 May 2025

Public Interest Bassline Night

Bailey P, Mush & IFB

Common/Wealth presented a Bradford Bassline night like no other, including special guest performances from the Public Interest cast.

A man holds a plastic cassette tape.
PAST FREE Part of Loading Bay

22 May – 15 Jun 2025

Tape Letters

Modus Arts

An exhibition that explored migration on tape.

A drag performer poses under a neon red sign they are holding, that spells 'now'.
PAST Part of Loading Bay

11 & 12 Jun 2025

TESTO

Wet Mess

Wet Mess, Wet Messified transitions, testosterone and the edges of drag.

A selection of posters and flyers
PAST Part of 1 in 12

14 Jun 2025

Everything for Everyone!

Home of Metal

A celebration of resistance and building cooperation.

A performer leans into a wooden structure.
PAST Part of Loading Bay

17 Jun 2025

Language: no broblem

Marah Haj Hussein

A theatrical journey into multilingualism.

A photo of a man in glasses stood in front of shelves of books, speaking to a room of people
PAST FREE Artist Award

27 Jun 2025

The Pahari-Pothwari Literature Project

Nabeela Ahmed

New writings created in the rarely-seen Pahari-Pothwari language and English.

A group of adults and children stood a priest who is reading from a book.
PAST FREE Part of Loading Bay

3 – 27 Jul 2025

Tu i Tam/Tyt i Tam

Tim Smith & Marta Szymańska

An exhibition that documented our Polish and Ukrainian communities.

A black and white image of washing on a line, above a barn building.
PAST FREE Part of Loading Bay

8 Jul 2025

My Thousand Year Old Land (A Song for BiH)

A story of the search for truth, justice and hope through three generations of women.