Weekend visit to #Bradford reminds me of the city's continued ability to absolutely screw up urban planning. I knew a few years back they'd squandered the opportunity to revive the centre with yet another boring Westfield shopping centre development, plonked right in the way. They could have made a pedestrian friendly space linking the City Hall in the middle to the Cathedral and Alhambra at north and south.

There are some absolutely beautiful buildings from the Victorian era, and more modern ones that came from a time before the government shut down regional development. Realistically, some of both might have needed to be demolished, and there's been times over the past 40 years when that would have had minimal impact. But now a set of motorways surrounds the best parts, and impractical blobs of ill conceived, cheap blocks are spread around. Nottingham, Sheffield and Coventry did this so much better.

Whilst they keep doing this, the centre will continue to be a rough place. Anyone who wants an enjoyable night out and a nice meal has dozens of towns and villages in this distributed metropolis.