Bradford Live roles not filled six months on

Bradford Live, based at the old Odeon cinema, is partly funded by Bradford Council

Senior jobs advertised for the new Bradford Live venue appear not to have been filled six months on from when the vacancies closed.

The partly council-funded Bradford Live was due to have its first shows in November, but they were subsequently cancelled and customers were refunded.

Bradford Live is based at the former Odeon cinema, which was vacant for more than two decades before Bradford Council started funding for it to be turned into a live music venue.

NEC Group - the company in charge of recruitment and bookings - had "nothing to add" when approached by the BBC about whether the three jobs had been filled.

Brendan Stubbs, who leads the Liberal Democrat group on Bradford Council, said: "I'm worried NEC will back out, and so are thousands of other people in the district.

"The problem might be that there will not be anyone to manage Bradford Live.

"It can't fill jobs, it can't advertise gigs and it can't sell tickets.

"It's absolutely ridiculous."

The roles included a head of operations job, which was advertised with a £45,000 salary with bonuses.

Meanwhile a head of sales role and a head of marketing and PR role offered £40,000 salaries plus bonuses.

Each vacancy opened on 12 December 2023 and closed on 25 January 2024, but no one appears to have been recruited.

'Lack of transparency'

Councillor Rebecca Poulsen, the Conservative group leader, said: "The building is ready and we are on the handover stage of the operation.

"It looks great but they must be having to recruit staff now.

"It is really sad that it has got to this stage.

"It does feel like a lack of transparency on all levels.

"If more than £50m of taxpayers' money had gone into something, there needs to be openness and transparency about where it has gone."

Bradford Council said the cost of the scheme had risen to £50.5m, of which £43.75m was from its own funds - more than double the figure in 2019.

The remainder is from West Yorkshire Combined Authority, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

According to Councillor Alex Ross-Shaw, who is a director at Bradford Live, funds would be paid back to Bradford Council through its property and screen rental income.

Ms Poulsen said: "People want to go and enjoy the building.

"There should be some excitement so it is disappointment that there is uncertainty instead."

Mr Stubbs said he did not think Bradford Live would open in 2024.

In May 2022, the DCMS announced Bradford would be the City of Culture 2025, citing Bradford Live as a contributory factor.

Since then, NEC sold tickets to two shows at Bradford Live, cancelled the shows and refunded customers.

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