'In decline' - Street with nine phone shops to become heart of City Village plan
There are nine phone shops on a Bradford city centre street that has been described as “being in decline.”
But Bradford Council says James Street will soon become the “heart” of the new City Village plan, and the hundreds of new homes will boost businesses in the area.
Running between the now vacant Oastler and Kirkgate Centres, James Street was once a thriving part of Bradford – home to the city’s fish market.
But in recent years the street has been dominated by phone shops, barbers and vape shops.
A planning application for one of the empty units on the street was recently submitted to the council.
The former Nathan & Co Pawnbrokers unit has been vacant since the business moved to Bank Street, in Bradford’s recently pedestrianised area.
The new application, by Sachdev Properties Ltd, seeks to subdivide the building to create two smaller units. One of the units would then be converted into a takeaway.
The planning application says the decline of the street has made the larger unit difficult to let.
It says: “The units in their current format are difficult to let in terms of internal area and layout, and are unable to achieve current letting market rental rates under their current use class in this area of low rental value.
“The commercial premises occupying James Street typically comprise of smaller independents, those being largely mobile phone/technology retailers, pawnbroking/lending services and beauty/aesthetic services.
“In line with many similar retail streets in Bradford city centre, the area is in decline, due in part to the difficult trading conditions affecting many town and city businesses throughout the UK, as a result this area achieves lower rental values and a high turnover of start-up retailers.”
When the Local Democracy Reporting Service visited the street this week, we counted nine phone shops, two vape shops, two pawnbrokers, three empty units, two beauty units, a hairdresser and a barber.
There was also a pub, fish and chip shop, two clothes shops, a travel business and a 98p store.
Both the Kirkgate Centre and Oastler Market buildings are soon to be demolished as part of the City Village development, which will see around 1,000 new homes built in the city centre, along with public green space and ground floor business units.
James Street will link the two biggest housing schemes at the Oastler and Kirkgate sites.
When asked for a response to the application’s claim that the area was in decline, a Bradford Council spokesperson said: “High streets across the country are changing and successful city centres of the future will feature a mix of leisure and housing, as well as retail and commercial space.
“The James St area is at the heart of our plans for City Village, which will create modern, energy-efficient homes across the top of town, bringing more people into the city and introducing new opportunities for retail, leisure and businesses, as well as new public realm.
“The City Village development is just part of our wider strategic vision for Bradford, to combine community-focused development with major investment in transport infrastructure to create a safer, better-connected place with more opportunities for education and employment.”