Bradford UK City of Culture bid team brace for announcement

Bradford is bracing itself to find out later if it will become UK City of Culture 2025.

The winner will be announced at 19:00 BST live on The One Show on BBC One by Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries.

Bradford is on the shortlist alongside County Durham, Southampton and Wrexham County Borough.

Clinching the title could bring £700m and create 3,000 jobs in the city with the UK's youngest population, the team behind Bradford's bid said.

Sarah Manning, a young ambassador for the City of Culture bid team, will be in Coventry for the announcement.

She said: "Bradford has always been a bit of an underdog but we are not an underdog, we are proud to be from Bradford.

"We feel like we are ready for it. We think it's going to give us more opportunities."

The winner will take over the title from current holder Coventry.

Bradford Council leader Susan Hinchcliffe said she was feeling "a bit nervous" with just hours to go before the winner is announced.

"We have been working on this for three years now and it's been a fantastic team of people behind it.

"The whole of the district is involved. They really want to win it and it would be great to get that prize."

Jack Lynch, from the Bradford 2025 bid team, said: "A lot has been building up to this moment and it feels really surreal.

"We have the creativity, we have the youngest population, we have all the diversity and we just need something to help to bring it all together."

Bradford 2025 organisers have already backed a string of events in West Yorkshire they say give a glimpse of what to expect if the city wins, such as a new public artwork programme, a light festival visited by more than 20,000 people in November, and mentoring network FilmMakers 2025.

Ten judges, headed by screenwriter Sir Phil Redmond, visited the city earlier this month.

The panel began their tour at the National Science and Media Museum before heading to the Bradford Live development at the former Odeon, as well as Manningham's Lister Mills and the Salts Mill heritage site.

The judges also went to Keighley to visit the Keighley Creative project arts hub, and visited areas of investment and regeneration in the district, including the £23m Darley Street Market.

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