Get Outside with Bradford 2025

Carmel Smickersgill, Tours & Activities Editor

Visit now

Get Outside with Bradford 2025

3 May-31 December 2025

Always double check opening hours with the venue before making a special visit.

Get Outside with Bradford 2025: An image of a large man made pool with fountains in front of a historic building with a clock tower
VisitBradford.
Book now

Bradford 2025 – UK City of Culture is in full swing, with cultural happenings blooming all over the city and the wider district. Below are just some of the ways in which you can experience the larger-scale public commissions. These site-specific works, most of which are free, are designed for the outdoors and show how world-class talent and local perspectives can combine to create remarkable experiences for everyone.

Step into the moorland above the city with the newly commissioned visual artworks that form Wild Uplands, a collection of site-specific pieces from internationally renowned artists. You can explore these while listening to Earth & Sky, a sound walk created by Opera North, combining new music, field recordings and the works of Bradford-born Frederick Delius. You can also watch the city transform with BD Walls, an ever-growing open-air gallery of new large-scale street art.

For performance with a difference, seek out The Railway Children, a spectacular production that blends theatrical magic with Yorkshire’s railway heritage. Step into the world of the Waterbury children as you board a real steam train and set off down the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway, before experiencing a fresh staging of the show in a specially built auditorium.

To get between all these outdoor happenings, check out the walking trails of Bradford on Foot, 25 curated routes showing off the best of the city and surrounding area.

Get outside with Bradford 2025. Scroll down to find out more.

Where to go near Get Outside with Bradford 2025

Manchester
Restaurant
Maki & Ramen

Japanese sushi and ramen restaurant on High Street, Northern Quarter, founded by Teddy Lee. House-made noodles, eight-hour broths, plus sushi, donburi and vegan options.

Restaurant Orme
Manchester
Restaurant
Restaurant Orme

A hidden gem in the suburbs of South Manchester, serving high-level British small plates to a soundtrack of indie rock and roll.

The Abbey
Manchester
Restaurant
The Abbey

Historic Hulme pub with a very good live gig space, brought to you by the very capable team behind YES, Gorilla, Now Wave and Manchester Psych Fest.

Manchester
Bar or Pub
Pigeon Beer Wanderer

Pigeon Beer Wanderer brings wine-level ceremony to Manchester’s new “Beermuda Triangle”, courtesy of Joshua Lightfoot and his crack team of booze experts.

Image courtesy of Unitom.
Castlefield
Gallery
UNITOM Projects

The exhibition arm of Manchester indie bookshop UNITOM is a dedicated space for contemporary visual culture in the St John’s neighbourhood.

City Centre
Restaurant
Portfolio

Portfolio is a Champagne boutique on Manchester’s Bridge Street, offering a set menu of fine-dining small bites.

Manchester
Gallery
Bridge 5 Mill

Bridge 5 Mill is a sustainable event space and community hub on Beswick Street in Ancoats, hosting independent cultural projects and ethical supper clubs.

1853 gallery 1
Manchester
Gallery
1853 Studios

1853 Studios and Gallery is a Creative Studios and community of creative professionals occupying the 3rd floors of Osborne Mill, Oldham.

Deansgate
Restaurant
Podium

Podium delivers high-end, seasonal dishes, largely geared around produce and ideas from the British Isles, but with a few deft twists and turns.

Tai Wu
Manchester
Restaurant
Tai Wu

Long-standing, trend-swerving Chinese restaurant on Manchester’s Upper Brook Street, with a reputation for authentic dim sum and traditional Cantonese cuisine.

Manchester
Food hall
BAB Korean Food

A highlight of Manchester’s K-Food space, Bab Korean Food serves up authentic, well-made dishes at the Kargo MKT food hall in MediaCity.

What's on: Festivals

Until
FestivalsChester
Storyhouse in the Park

Four open-air productions, films under the stars and frozen cocktails in the park – Chester’s doing summer right.

Free entry

Culture Guides

Food and Drink in the North

It's heatwave time, so set your small talk phasers to 'weather' and get out there and grab some cold drinks and delicious food.

Theatre in Manchester and the North
Theatre

Discover the summer's most rewarding theatre in libraries, pubs, Fringe venues and unexpected spaces across the North.

“the ripple” artwork by Crowns & Owls courtesy of Good Machine.
Music

From post-industrial romance to experimental country, here's a hot new batch of weird gigs in small venues.

Blue triangles with white clouds on them against a beige backdrop. A gold sun is in the middle.
Exhibitions

Five exhibitions worth your time this month - and between them, a lot of ground covered.

A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night
Cinema in the North

There's no shortage of great films out at the moment, whether you're looking for the latest blockbuster, that hot arthouse flick fresh from Cannes or a cosy classic.

Emily Lloyd-Saini as Grace in Space and Harrie Hayes as Lieutenant Strong in Horrible Science
Family things to do in the North

Whether you’re after storybook theatre, museum wanderings or illusion-bending play spaces, there’s plenty to keep curiosity ticking through winter and beyond.