WITH its decaying walls, litter-strewn pavements and boarded-up windows clad in graffiti, Paradise Street in Bradford couldn’t look further from its namesake.
The lane runs off Sunbridge Road, an area of the West Yorkshire city notorious as a red light zone and hotspot for prostitutes.
According to residents the commercial district - once prowled by serial killers Stephen Griffith, known as the Crossbow Cannibal, and the Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe - has deteriorated further in recent years.
Barry Brewerton, 57, who has worked at MS Accident Repair Centre - a garage round the corner from Paradise Street - for 41 years, says he regularly sees sex workers brazenly going about their business at all hours.
He tells The Sun: “A big problem around here is the prostitutes and the kerb crawlers.
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“It’s men you wouldn’t expect, like family men. And they don’t care where they are doing it.
“They will park up along our street and do it in the cars or on derelict overgrown bits of land. And then they leave their used condoms behind.
“We see it all the time. It’s awful.”
For years the area, north west of Bradford city centre, has been in dire need of an injection of cash and renovation.
Once-thriving industries in the commercial district have upped sticks, leaving empty carcasses of buildings behind, now frequented by pigeons, arsonists, drug addicts and sex workers with their clients.
The loss of businesses and footfall has sucked the life and soul out of Sunbridge Road, once the home of the thriving wool industry until its demise in the 1970s.
Now it maintains the dubious accolade of being the place to pick up a prostitute in Bradford.
One business that remains in the area since its opening in 1927 is Butterfields sign company, which supplies the likes of McDonald's and Asda.
It has caged itself with high security metal fencing topped with barbed wire, while CCTV monitors the exterior at all times to protect itself.
There are multiple CCTV cameras dotted around lamp posts in an attempt to reduce crime, but it appears to do little to deter addicts high on drugs.
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Retired Leslie Barrett, 68, says she, like many people, used to park in the area to walk into town - but now she’s reluctant to leave her car there for any length of time.
A big problem around here is the prostitutes and the kerb crawlers. It’s men you wouldn’t expect, like family men. And they don’t care where they are doing it
Barry Brewerton, local resident
“Most people will probably not want to leave their cars here anymore,” she says.
Barry says: “Cars are being broken into all the time, with nobody paying any attention to the constant alarms going off.
“You have to be careful - people walk along with a £1,000 phone in their hands, or ride along on an electric bike, and then they’re shocked when they get robbed.
“We haven’t been affected by crime ourselves because we are aware of it and know how to keep safe, but we see it all the time.
“We capture it on our CCTV and we get people coming along to ask us for the footage.”
Some locals put recent problems with drugs and anti-social behaviour down to a new homeless shelter.
Provident Financial’s 1960s Colonnade office block, which originally housed students after it closed in 2010, became a hostel for the homeless around five years ago, changing its name to Campbell House Apartments. It is now run by Concept Housing.
Barry says: “It is the same people committing the crimes because we recognise them. It’s the alcoholics and druggies who are just thrown into the old Provident building.
“We get hassled for cigs quite a bit and we’ll give them to them from time to time.”
Cars are being broken into all the time, with nobody paying any attention to the constant alarms going off
Barry Brewerton, local resident
Mohammed Nazir, 33, an estate agent in a serviced office complex down the road from the Provident apartments, adds: “It’s not a very enticing area to come into when you have a red light district and a hostel for the homeless with alcoholics and addicts.
“Opposite us there used to be a couple of businesses - AR Fabricant, that has been burnt down.
“It turned out the insurance company opposite had actually moved out and had kept the shop front as a cover for a drug den.
“It was operating for four years before it was raided.”
One man who works at BM Tyres on Paradise Street, who did not wish to be named, says he has lived there for 17 years.
“It has always been neglected, but it’s got worse around here in the past five years, when they renovated some office buildings into flats,” he tells The Sun. “Now all the wrong people live there.”
Propositioned on street
But some people The Sun speaks to who live in the hostel tell us they too are unhappy.
Resident Emma Killoran, 38, says because she does her make-up and hair every day, she can’t come out of the hostel without being propositioned.
She explains: “I was homeless and I’ve been here a month. It’s not ideal, but I don’t have any choice in the matter.
“I am placed somewhere where I am harassed every day by punters.
“Cars pull over next to me all the time and ask me if I’m working.
"We’re not allowed to smoke in our rooms so it even happens to me if I’ve come downstairs in the morning for a cig and I’m in my dressing gown.
“It never ends. It is pretty scary really. It’s not a good place to live or a good position to put people in.”
'I watch TV to distract from misery'
Others claim the area is far from ideal for those recovering from alcohol and drug addictions.
Disabled David Magee, 68, was placed in the hostel after his two-storey home was deemed unsuitable for him to live in.
He suffers with rheumatoid arthritis and can’t stand or put weight onto his legs. He gets around on a mobility scooter.
He says: “I have been here 15 weeks and I’m hoping to get out soon. I ideally need sheltered housing with some care included.
I am harassed every day by punters. Cars pull over next to me all the time and ask me if I’m working... It never ends. It is pretty scary really
Emma Killoran, local resident
“I have nothing here and it’s really difficult for me.
"I am disabled so I have a room on the ground floor, which are all reserved for disabled tenants, and I have not had any trouble, but the council is housing vulnerable disabled people with drug addicts and alcoholics.
“I don’t think they’ve got that right. It’s not a good place to be in.
“I just keep myself to myself and get out during the day, and watch TV at night to distract myself from it all.”
'Lack of empathy'
As housing support worker Hannah Payton, 39, was leaving the premises she tells us she's handed in her notice because she can’t morally look after her clients anymore in a system that “doesn’t have their interest at heart”.
She says: “There is a constant reshuffle and removal of people who are stuck in a cycle of hostel to homeless to hostel to homeless.
“There are so many rules that any breach results in them being thrown on the streets again.
“There should not be a system with such a lack of empathy that you are making people homeless.
“The people living here have complicated needs and there is not enough help for them.
“It is heartbreaking. It is like banging your head against a brick wall.
I don’t feel too unsafe here but I don’t go out at night. That’s not a good idea
Nichola Cookson, local
“There are external factors around here that do not help them in their progression, putting them in an area with drugs so easily accessible, with prostitution on your doorstep.
“I have decided to leave because I can not be part of this self-perpetuating cog that is allowing this neglect of vulnerable people to continue.”
Resident Nichola Cookson, 36, who lives in the private annex at the side of Campbell House, says another unsavoury aspect of the area is the traffic.
“Cars zoom up and down this road at all hours and are particularly noisy at 3am-4am,” she says.
“Until they got speed cameras installed there would often be cars racing side by side. It was really dangerous.
“We’ve got enough to contend with living here, then we’ve got mental drivers thrown into the mix as well.
“I don’t feel too unsafe here but I don’t go out at night. That’s not a good idea.”
Delivery driver Mirza Hussain, 49, is well and truly fed up at the lack of investment in Sunbridge Road, and struggles to see a future there.
“So many buildings around here are empty, filled only with pigeons,” he says.
“I have had enough of Bradford. I’m moving to Huddersfield. Bradford has got too many problems.”
A Bradford Council spokesperson said: "We work in partnership with a range of agencies to ensure those with immediate housing needs have access to a safe secure place to stay overnight and access to wrap around care for any health and wellbeing needs.
"We then work with individuals to find them longer term accommodation and support."
David Fensome, Chief Executive of not-for-profit Concept Housing Association, said: “Our aim is to provide a supportive, safe space for our residents to have the best chance of moving on to live stable, independent lives.
"We ensure we provide good-quality accommodation and support through regular inspections and audits. We have support workers on site throughout the working week, and Campbell House is also monitored by CCTV and has 24/7 security on site to ensure the safety of our residents.
“Concept works closely with the local authority, which has significant input into where people are housed and also any decision to remove or rehouse residents, based on their needs.
“Despite our best efforts and those of our local authority partners, there is a severe national shortage of funding, accommodation and support to help some extremely vulnerable people.
“We see ourselves as part of the solution to the challenges across the sector and are committed to continuing to raise standards for our residents.
"However, there is a clear need for further government support here – as highlighted by Concept, MPs and other campaigners.”
