Bradford named among worst places to live in England in savage online poll as it's branded 'lawless'

Bradford was savaged in an online poll released last week as being rife with drug crime and career criminals. Despite boasting a university and stunning city centre architecture, some locals said the best thing they could say about the place was how quickly you could get to Leeds and Manchester.

In the shadow of the grade II listed 19th Century city hall – recently visited by King Charles – people can be seen openly drinking booze and taking drugs. And in the city’s notorious Holme Wood housing estate, locals said bus and taxi drivers daren’t venture down certain streets for fear of attacks from feckless youths.

Speaking under the condition of anonymity, one local said of the poll: “I’m surprised it wasn’t higher. I’d rate it in the top five. I’ve moved around the country and there are some rough places, but it is bad here. It’s lawless.”

Several taxi companies have listed the estate as a 'no-go' area are drivers were left with black eyes, while others were subjected to being harassed for money after their windows were smashed in. During the afternoon, young men could be seen roaming the estate on horseback, while a large pile of rubbish lies burnout on a field near a children’s play park.

The man added: “A CCTV camera has been installed in the bus stop because it’s always vandalised. It’s only been in a few days and it’s been vandalised as well. Every taxi I get, the drivers refuse to straight into the estate. Gangs of yobs will stand on the street corner and throw bricks at cars. One guy got out of the car and got a baseball bat out, then some youths came down with a sledgehammer. It has its eruptions. Violence is a regular occurrence.”

Pockets of the 1950s housing estate are in the top 5% and 1% of the Governments Index of Deprivation, but not everybody felt unsafe in the area. Nigel Wood, who runs the local chippy, said he was proud to be from Bradford and disagreed with the city’s spot in the top 10.

Nigel, 50, said: “It’s a bit rough and ready, but I’ve always lived in Bradford and I’ve lived in this estate for most of my life. The people are nice in Bradford and it’s the people that make the city. The community spirit is there.”

In the city centre, which was blasted in the poll as being full of fast food outlets and ‘the local junkie desperate for his next fix’, police could be seen speaking to those drinking in public.

A midwifery student who identified herself only as Dua, 21, said she had a friend who was stabbed to death in the city centre a couple of years ago. But she insisted she didn’t feel unsafe walking through the city centre, adding: “They actually help people here. I’ve never felt unsafe, but I do know what goes on. My friend got stabbed to death two years ago.”