A great walk to a great pub: Sparrow Bier Caf

Art, industry and regeneration are all on show on a stroll that reveals the vitality and rich culture of Bradford

I’d been wanting to do a walk around Bradford months before the city was chosen as UK City of Culture 2025. I’m chuffed for West Yorkshire’s Cinderella city and hope a year in the sun allows it to show off its industrial history, architectural heritage, youthfulness and multicultural mix. The last time Bradford culture made the national news was when London’s V&A nicked the National Media Museum’s photography collections.

When it came to planning a walk, there was a glut of options. Haworth to the city centre was an obvious contender, but I recently did a wilder ramble near Brontë Country, and the route into town led through farmers’ fields and a golf club. A walk from Leeds would remind me of trips I’d made when living in Armley in the 1990s, but could be heavy with traffic as well as nostalgia. When I stumbled on an online database of 92 walks to and around Bradford, all of them looked good.