Sitting on Bradford’s eastern edge, where the city meets the boundary with the City of Leeds, Laisterdyke occupies a position that has long made it a point of transit and industry. It falls within the Bradford Moor ward and the Bradford East parliamentary constituency, with neighbouring areas including Barkerend, Bradford Moor, Thornbury, Tyersal, and Bowling. The main roads running through the area are the A647 Leeds Road, the A6177 Killinghall Road, Sticker Lane, and the B6381 Barkerend Road, with West Yorkshire Metro bus services on the Orange line 606 and 607 connecting Laisterdyke to the wider Bradford and Leeds network.
A History of Transport Firsts
Laisterdyke has an unusually significant place in British transport history. In 1911, the country’s first trolleybus service began running between Laisterdyke and Dudley Hill, a service that continued until 1972, when it became the last trolleybus service to operate anywhere in the UK. The Leeds-Bradford railway line still passes through the area, though Laisterdyke railway station closed to passengers in 1966. At one time, the junction here was controlled by the Laisterdyke East and Laisterdyke West signal boxes. In 1875, the Great Northern Railway opened a six-mile double-track branch line from Quarry Gap junction to Shipley and Windhill, passing through Eccleshill, Idle, and Thackley. The line proved uncompetitive and was reduced to single-track freight use after 1931, before closing progressively between 1966 and 1968.
Cinemas, Landmarks, and Local Life
Laisterdyke once had several small cinemas, among them the Kozey Picture Hall, the Queen’s Hall, and the Tivoli Picture Hall. The most substantial was the stone-built Lyceum Picture House on Bradford Lane, which opened in 1919 with 1,118 seats. Western Electric sound arrived there in 1930, and in 1953 it became the first cinema in Bradford to install a widescreen. It closed in 1962, later reopening as a bingo hall, cabaret venue, and eventually a snooker bar. The nearest cinema today is the Odeon Leeds-Bradford, a 13-screen multiplex at the Gallagher Leisure Park off Dick Lane in nearby Thornbury. Listed buildings in the area include properties on Killinghall Road, Mortimer Row, and Parratt Row, as well as St Peters Chaplaincy with its stable and coach house. Laisterdyke Leadership Academy on Thornbury Road was the first school in Bradford to receive Business and Enterprise specialist college status, and the area also has a public lending library off Leeds Road. Local industry includes air compressor manufacturing, engineering works, a gas distribution depot, and a vehicle dismantlers. Laisterdyke Cricket and Athletic Club has its ground and club off Sticker Lane, and a local history group publishes books documenting the area’s past.