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Historic England: Bradford's Oastler Market to host café play

BBC Fountains CaféBBC
Fountains Café, situated next to Oastler Market's entrance on John Street, has proven a popular meeting spot for Bradford's residents for more than half a century

A play inspired by the customers of a West Yorkshire café will be performed before the building is demolished.

Fountains Café in Bradford's Oastler Market has been a popular meeting spot for more than 50 years, with the market set to be knocked down in 2023.

A £24,000 Historic England grant means a play celebrating working class culture in the city will be created.

Other grants will see projects funded on boxing clubs in Halifax, a workhouse in Ripon and a garage in Sheffield.

Grants of up to £25,000 have been awarded across the country to finance schemes aiming to recognise and celebrate working class histories.

The café is situated next to the market's entrance on John Street, with Oastler Market set to make way for a major development scheme.

Historic England Young boxers in HalifaxHistoric England
A project called Halifax Stars aims to explore and celebrate the working-class culture of boxing clubs around Halifax in West Yorkshire

The Fountains of Tales project will record interviews at the café, with the discussions inspiring a performance due to be held inside the market ahead of demolition.

Projects also given funding include:

  • £10,000 to create an exhibition sharing the history of boxing gyms and boxers in Halifax
  • £11,000 for the Ripon Museum Trust to run a project aiming to uncover the stories of disabled people at Ripon Workhouse from Victorian times to the 1940s
  • £20,000 to capture the stories of Gwenda's Garage, a Sheffield car workshop run by female mechanics in the 1980s

Duncan Wilson, Historic England chief executive, said: "Heritage should be for everyone, but not everyone's stories are told and not everyone's history is remembered.

"[The projects] will highlight that wherever people live they are surrounded by historic buildings, landscapes and streets, industrial and coastal heritage that can help bring communities together."

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