Time to think positive and change the image of a city with plenty to celebrate

So...the city which is home to one of Europe's largest Asian Melas is boring? The city which is home to the Wool Exchange, Lister Mills, the Alhambra Theatre and Cartwright Hall is ugly? The city that won the UNESCO accolade of the world's first City of Film is dangerous?

Most people who live or work in Bradford would not recognise these descriptions. They know the city has plenty going for it, but to those who have never been there the headlines it sometimes inspires may

strike an impression of a place as about desirable as Baghdad.

Some Bradfordians look at the kind of headlines their city attracts and sigh. Others get angry and decide to tackle them head on. That's what happened when a group of entrepreneurs met earlier this year.

"We were all at an event at Seabrook crisp factory, where we'd been asked as local business people to go and judge a Dragons' Den event for schoolchildren from across Bradford," says Jane Vincent.

"When I got there I was so angry. I said to Saleem and John 'did you see the story on GMTV this morning?' They both had and they were as angry as I was."

Jane Vincent is the MD of Bradford-based recruitment company Candelisa and also founded Horizon Recruitment in the city, which was turning over 28m before she sold it last year. The Saleem who shared her anger is Saleem Kader, MD of Bombay Stores, one of Bradford's biggest businesses, and John is John Tague, MD of Seabrook Group.

The story that riled the "dragons" was a report from a survey conducted by Travelodge – which ironically has a branch of its budget hotel chain in the city, – which said Bradford was the least desirable tourist destination in the UK. According to the report eight out of 10 people surveyed said they would "not visit Bradford due to it being an ugly and boring city which offered no attractions."

Fifty eight per cent of adults in the study said they would avoid Bradford because they perceived the city to be "dangerous as it has a high crime rate".

The dragons were breathing fire by the time they had shared their annoyance. Outspoken businesswoman Ms Vincent says: "I said to the others that I was sick of seeing Bradford attracting these headlines and being written and talked about in this way. When the city is being slagged off all the time it's little surprise that people in Bradford hang their heads when they walk around. Negativity breeds negativity."

A room full of people who believe in action was the perfect catalyst. "I said that it was all very well us whingeing about the problem, but I asked the others 'what are we going to do about it?'" says Ms Vincent.

"This conversation all happened as the children were coming in to present their Dragons' Den ideas, and the last thing Saleem said

was 'we need to do something positive'."

Saleem Kader's Bombay Stores was established by his Pakistani father, Abdul Kader, who came to Britain in 1959. The store opened in 1967 as a corner shop on Great Horton Road. Today a guided tour around the business's three acre Shearbridge Road clothing and fabric emporium takes a good half-hour. The business turns over 12m annually.

He says: "A couple of days after the event, Jane rang me and said: "Right, what are we going to do?'."

"She was right. We get angry about these stories, and we complain about them, but we decided there was no point waiting for the council to tackle it or for people to start writing positive stories. We had to do it ourselves."

It could so easily have just been people in a room, blowing off steam – and one wonders if that was what it might have remained were those two people not among Bradford's most successful entrepreneurs.

By July Mr Kader and Ms Vincent, along with business colleagues from around the city, had organised a meeting attended by 40 people where the battle plan was set out. Representatives included those from the National Media Museum, Morrisons, Bradford and Bingley, the City Council, Yorkshire Forward, Bradford University and the NHS.

A second meeting in September attracted a similar number, and the plan of action began to develop. Positive Bradford, the group that emerged from these meetings, includes a number of steering groups from sectors including business, education, community, religious organisations and charities. Mr Kader says: "It's about grabbing the opportunity provided by this motivation. It's also about putting out a positive message here in Bradford, first to make the people of the city proud of where we live. We need to engender pride here before we can change the perception from outside."

The Positive Bradford group is already planning a day of action to be held in September 2011.

"It will be held in Centenary Square, which by then will be fully redeveloped," says Mr Kader. "It will be a day of celebration, when people from across the city come together to show just how vibrant what we have here in the city really is." The day will include performances and a planned 200 businesses descending on the city centre to show their support.

Ms Vincent, who started Candelisa, her second recruitment company, last year, says: "People thought I was crazy when I opened my business in Bradford. It was about me saying that, actually, I'm proud to be a Bradfordian and I think that we have great businesses and people. From a purely business perspective, we have a fantastic cultural mix , and I know that if someone comes to me looking to recruit, that I have a great mix of people that I can supply those organisations with."

And so we come to the stickiest point: Bradford and race relations. A large part of the negativity directed towards the city comes from the perception of the antagonism between the 67 different nationalities to which the city is home.

As an Asian businessman who lives in the city, Mr Kader is qualified to discuss some of the more troubling issues that Positive Bradford, if it is to be a success, needs to face.

The city was torn apart in 2001, when 11m damage was caused by rioting youths. Mr Kader was one of the community leaders the police called upon to quell possible violence when the English Defence League came to the city last month.

He is bullish when the issue is raised. "In London areas like Wembley, which is largely Indian, or Brick Lane, where street signs are written in Bengali, attract huge numbers of tourists, and are seen as something positive.

"There are 140 Asian fabric shops in Bradford and 220 Indian

restaurants, that's something that all Bradfordians should be proud of.

" We have so much here in the city that should make us proud and that's what Positive Bradford, with next year's event and all the work we are now starting in the lead up to it, will remind people about."

Things to love about bradford

The Mela

Now 22 years old, this Asian Festival annually attracts 100,000 people over a weekend of celebration.

The Alhambra

The 1,456 capacity theatre has been labelled a jewel in the crown of the city by many people – most recently Last of the Summer Wine creator Roy Clarke, who saw his stage version of Keeping Up Appearances at the theatre earlier this year.

Lister Park

Water Gardens, a boating lake, Cartwright Hall: in 2006 it was given the prestigious award of Britain's Best Park.

Curry Houses

Fans of Mumtaz, perhaps the most famous of the 220 Indian restaurants in the city, include David Cameron, Dawn French, Shilpa Shetty and the Queen, who was reported to have said: "The food was beautiful and the atmosphere was delightful."