Bradford Live confirms launch date as Autumn 2024 after 'long journey'

The former Odeon building, which was once a 1930s ballroom, has been empty for over 20 years and is set to be transformed into a 3,800-capacity Bradford Live venue.

The owners, NEC group, have announced today (Dec 14) Bradford Live will open its doors for its launch season in autumn 2024 after a “long journey” to this point.

Originally the venue was due to open in late 2022, but in the Summer of that year, it was announced that several issues, including the discovery that some parts of the building needed to be replaced rather than refurbished, meant the opening date had been knocked back to Autumn 2023.

In March 2023 it was then confirmed, that while much of the work inside the venue has been completed, it would not open until 2024.

Lee Craven of Bradford Live said: “Our vision is to create a cultural hub for the region that will celebrate the city and venue’s heritage, whilst ensuring world-class event spaces for generations to come. It's been a long journey, but the launch season is now in sight.”

It is expected that Bradford Live will attract 300,000 visitors each year through hosting a calendar of 200+ events, providing the city with great live entertainment, plus conference, meeting, and banqueting spaces.

The former 1930s ballroom will become a 500-person capacity space for hosting entertainment, conferencing and banqueting events, while the main auditorium will be reinstated to house an audience of over 3,000 fans.

Councillor Alex Ross-Shaw, Portfolio Holder – Regeneration, Planning & Transport at Bradford Council added: "This is another important milestone for this amazing project that will help transform Bradford for many years to come. There’s been so much hard work to get to this point and knowing the launch season is moving ahead really brings home how exciting Bradford will be when we are UK City of Culture in 2025.”