Alistair Hardaker | Image: The Peace Museum (NLHF)
The Peace Museum and Loading Bay will receive government investment to secure their futures after Bradford’s UK City of Culture 2025 year.
Two Bradford venues that played key roles during the city’s year as UK City of Culture 2025 are to receive a share of £1 million in government funding to secure their long-term futures.
The capital investment will be split between the Peace Museum and the Loading Bay. The funding comes on top of £15m in government investment that supported Bradford’s cultural programme of around 5,000 events, with more than 87,000 residents taking part across the year.
Culture Minister Ian Murray said: “We know that investing in culture is so important both in terms of helping to boost local economies but also to create opportunity and make people feel proud of where they live.”
The Peace Museum, which relocated to Salts Mill in Saltaire in August 2024, will receive £400,000. The museum explores the history of peace movements and the stories of peacemakers. Since the move, visitor numbers have increased from 3,000 annually to more than 60,000.
The investment will allow the museum to open year-round, having previously closed for a winter break each year, and is expected to enable it to welcome an estimated 15,000 additional visitors annually. The museum is also supported by Arts Council England and the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Rachel Julian, chair of the Board of Trustees at the Peace Museum, said: “This transformational investment is a powerful vote of confidence in our mission and the vital role we play in preserving and sharing the stories of peace and social justice movements. Following the phenomenal success of Bradford’s year as UK City of Culture in 2025, heritage organisations like ours must ensure that this momentum leaves a lasting legacy of cultural engagement, pride and participation.”
The remaining funding will go towards making the Loading Bay a permanent mid-scale city-centre venue. The space, a former warehouse, was originally conceived as a temporary venue for the City of Culture year. It includes a 200-seat theatre, performance space and art gallery, and attracted more than 42,000 visitors during 2025. It is due to reopen in May 2026.
Dan Bates, executive director of Bradford Culture Company, said: “Loading Bay can now continue to be a vibrant cultural hub for Bradford voices, as well as artists from across the UK and beyond, complementing and strengthening the district’s rich and growing cultural offer.”
