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Longlands is a historic district within
Residential properties are nearly exclusively tenement blocks of a cottage style influenced by the
Bradford
Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...
City Centre, West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...
, England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
. It lies on the north west edge of the City Centre with boundaries roughly the equivalent of Sunbridge Road to the west, Grattan Road to the south, Westgate to the east and City Road to the north. The district is often mistakenly referred to as the "Chain Street Estate" after one of the local residential streets or falsely amalgamated with the adjacent Goitside district which lies further down the hill towards the Bradford Beck
Bradford Beck is a river that flows through Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, (then Bradford Dale) and on to the River Aire at Shipley. As it reaches Bradford city centre it runs underground after being built over in the 19th century. It is ...
.
Buildings
Residential properties are nearly exclusively tenement blocks of a cottage style influenced by the Garden city movement
The garden city movement was a 20th century urban planning movement promoting satellite communities surrounding the central city and separated with Green belt, greenbelts. These Garden Cities would contain proportionate areas of residences, i ...
although only three have survived today from a much larger original number and in a highly modified form. The majority of other land in the district is now occupied by industrial and office buildings. Other notable surviving facilities in Longlands include the "Harp of Erin" pub
A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the late 17th century, to differentiate private ho ...
, which was constructed to serve the estate, the New Beehive Inn and the Bradford Irish Club.
History
Social reform
The original Longlands neighbourhood consisted of back-to-back terraced houses and was populated mainly by Irish migrant workers. By the late 19th century the district had become overpopulated and was suffering from health and crime issues. After over a decade of campaigning on the issue, social reformer Fred Jowett, a member of the council and chair of its health committee, persuaded Bradford Council to use powers under the Housing of the Working Classes Act 1890 ( 53 & 54 Vict. c. 70) to declare Longlands "insanitary" so the land could be compulsorily purchased, the old housing demolished and a new scheme of social housing and supporting amenities built there instead.Council housing
Longlands is important historically in the social development of Bradford as it was the site of the City's second onlycouncil housing
Public housing in the United Kingdom, also known as council housing or social housing, provided the majority of rented accommodation until 2011, when the number of households in private rental housing surpassed the number in social housing. D ...
scheme which was also arguably the first major scheme. The only older council housing, the Faxfleet Estate to the south of Bradford, was constructed simply to relocate the residents of the original Longlands district and was a much smaller development.
The whole of the BD1 Postcode area, which includes Goitside, Little Germany and Longlands, was listed as one of the top ten areas in the United Kingdom for buy to let property investment.
References