Sitting on the boundary between Bradford and the City of Leeds, Thornbury occupies a corner of West Yorkshire where urban history and modern commerce meet. The area borders Laisterdyke and Fagley in the Eccleshill ward, and runs alongside Pudsey, which forms part of the Leeds conurbation. Thornbury falls within the Bradford Moor ward and the Bradford East parliamentary constituency. The main roads converging here – the A647 Leeds Road, the B6381 Leeds Old Road, Gain Lane, and Dick Lane – meet at Thornbury roundabout, reportedly the largest roundabout in Yorkshire, where a roughly triangular green space sits at the centre of the junction. The nearest railway station is New Pudsey, approximately one mile to the east, and several bus services connect the area including First Bradford’s 72, X11, and X6 routes.
From Village to City District
Thornbury began as a distinct village before becoming a civil parish in 1894, formed from part of the parish of Calverley with Farsley within the County Borough of Bradford. That parish status lasted only a few years – on 25 March 1898 it was abolished and absorbed into Bradford. During the late 19th and early 20th century, Thornbury was home to several industrial concerns, including Crofts Engineering, John Sharp and Co textile machinery engineers, and the Phoenix Dynamo Manufacturing Company. Leeds Road once held large tramsheds and a bus depot, reflecting the era when Bradford Corporation Trams operated their own works in Thornbury, where more than 150 tram cars were built. In 1903, Buffalo Bill brought his Wild West Show to Thornbury during a tour of England. A boxing stadium and gymnasium on Leeds Old Road was converted into the Kozey Picture Hall cinema in 1912, though it closed in 1920 after competition from the larger Lyceum Cinema that opened in 1919 in nearby Laisterdyke, and the building later became a weaving shed.
Commerce, Leisure, and Education
Today, Gain Lane is home to British Bakeries’ Hovis operation and the headquarters of Wm Morrison Supermarkets. The Woodhall Retail Centre, off Leeds Old Road, contains supermarkets and the Thornbury Medical Centre. The Thornbury Centre on Leeds Old Road, opened in March 1999 with £1.19 million from the Millennium Commission, was built on the site of the demolished St. Margaret’s Church and now houses a conference centre, library, and church. On Dick Lane, the Gallagher Leisure Park contains the 13-screen Odeon Leeds-Bradford multiplex cinema, and to the east lies the Phoenix Park Golf Course. Laisterdyke Leadership Academy sits on the edge of the old Thornbury village. In sport, Thornbury Trojans reached the national final of the Amateur Baseball Cup in 1937 alongside Birmingham side Durex – a final that was ultimately never played.