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What's on Loading Bay Access Visit
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.

Loading Bay

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

What's onPlan your visit

Loading Bay reopens in October 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.

See what’s coming up at Loading Bay below.

Sign up →

Coming soon at Loading Bay

A large-scale metallic robot holds someone in the palm of their hand.
FREE Part of Loading Bay

Fri 9 Oct - Sun 20 Dec 2026 (Thu - Sun) • Thu - Sat: 12pm - 5pm
Sun: 12pm - 4pm

Radical Joy

An exhibition exploring the wonderful world of street performance and outdoor arts.

Part of Loading Bay

15 & 16 Oct 2026 • 7.30pm
Doors 7pm

How Soon is Now

Box of Tricks

An indie musical about mates, music and magic – set to a live soundtrack of 90s classics.

Comedian Ricky Balshaw, wearing a blue buttoned up shirt, smiles to the camera.
Part of Loading Bay

Fri 23 Oct 2026 • 7:30pm

Loaded Laughs

BFD Comedy

Our ever-popular comedy night returns to Loading Bay

Lots of dancers bodies entwined
Part of Loading Bay

Thu 5 Nov 2026 • 7pm

Palingenesis and Non-Ordinary Services – Double-bill

D_Antidote Production

A double-bill of contemporary dance from Taiwan by The Stage award-winners D_Antidote Production.

Part of Loading Bay

6 Nov 2026 • 7.30pm

Flat & the Curves: Rosé Tinted

Award-winning comedy girl band Flat & the Curves return with their well-aged cabaret, Rosé Tinted!

Band Transglobal Underground stand in front of a rustic garage crawling with plants.
Part of Loading Bay

Fri 20 Nov 2026 • 7:30pm

Transglobal Underground

A joyful night of the diverse sounds of global fusion

Adam Z. Robinson in A Christmas Carol, standing in front off a dimly lit desk with his glasses on his head and hands raised to his head in an exasperated look.
Part of Loading Bay

Thu 3 Dec 2026 • 7:30pm

A Christmas Carol

The Book of Darkness & Light Theatre Company

Marley was dead… to begin with.

Three women look into a mirror. They wear gold dresses and have drawings on their faces. One of them has a penis drawn on her forehead.
Part of Loading Bay

Fri 11 Dec 2026 • 7:30pm

Eggs Collective’s Festive Dark Night

Twisted cabaret returns for one final, festive descent into the darkness.

Part of Loading Bay

Wed 16 Dec 2026 • 7:30pm

Awake Arise

Lady Maisery and Jimmy & Sid

A Midwinter Show For Our Times

The Mad Hatter in Joss Arnott Dance's Meet The Hatter
Part of Loading Bay

Sat 19 & Sun 20 Dec • 11am & 2pm

Meet The Hatter

Joss Arnott Dance

A magical multimedia and cinematic dance family show comes to Loading Bay!

Plan your visit to Loading Bay

Loading Bay is in Bradford City Centre. Our address is:

Loading Bay
1 Duke Street
Bradford
BD1 3QR

Find out more including travel information and accessibility on our Plan your visit page.

Plan your visit →
Sign inside Loading Bay, which lists gallery, basement, toilets, lift and stairs on right side. It lists exit on the right side.

Visit Bradford District

Plan your next visit to Bradford, including where to stay, how to get here, and more things to do across our district.

Plan your stay →
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 • Thursday – Saturday: 12-6pm
Sundays: 12-4pm

Closed Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday

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 • 7.30pm

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 • 8pm

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 • Various times

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 • Wednesday – Sunday: 12-6pm

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 • From 1pm

7 hours, 30 minutes (with intervals)

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 • 7.30pm (80 minutes)

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 • 7.30pm

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 • 7pm

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 • 2pm
1hr15 show + 45 min Q&A

The 56

LUNG

‘Nobody dies in football matches'

PAST Part of Loading Bay

31 May 2025 • 10pm-2.30am

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 • Thursday – Saturday: 12-6pm
Sundays: 12-4pm

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 • 7.30pm

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 • 3pm - 11.30pm

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 • 7.30pm

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 • 6.30pm

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 • Thursday – Saturday: 12-6pm
Sundays: 12-4pm

Closed Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday

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 • 6pm

My Thousand Year Old Land (A Song for BiH)

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

Purple Flag status

Bradford City Centre has been awarded Purple Flag accreditation for its dynamic, safe and vibrant night-time economy.