home| newsletter | gigs 1970-2008 | history | faq | contact & links

Directions to The Topic Folk Club

at the BRADFORD IRISH CLUB, Rebecca Street, Bradford BD1 2RX

From the M62 / M606

Turn off the M62 at Junction 26 onto the M606 signposted Bradford; and proceed (slightly uphill) approximately 3 miles to the end of the motorway. (If approaching from the east, the transfer from M62 to M606 involves leaving the motorway and negotiating a large roundabout.)

At the top of the M606, keep in the left hand lane (don’t go under the bridge). This brings you up to traffic lights and a roundabout. Take the third exit off the roundabout, immediately after the petrol station. Follow this dual carriageway for about 500 yards; past a Morrisons and a Matelan, both on the left.Immediately after the Matelan is a large complex junction, at which you need to turn right – easier said than done (be careful not to find yourself being fed back the way you came). You’ll see the pub The Craven Heiffer in front of you.

If done successfully, this manoeuvre will take you down Manchester Road, a dual carriageway with a central guided bus lane, towards the city centre. Follow this as it weaves gently downhill for almost exactly a mile through various junctions and lights (either ten or eleven sets, most of which are pedestrian crossings to the central bus-lane). About two-thirds of the way down you will pass three tall blocks of flats on the left, which, if it is dark, will have elegant blue constructions on their tops. A little further, also on the left, is an igloo-shaped glass restaurant (the Sahib).

You will finally reach a roundabout (Jacobs Well). Bear slightly left, but subsequently avoid the left hand lane, which soon filters off. The main entrance to the National Media Museum (of Photography) will be to your left, followed by the Alhambra Theatre, and a dilapidated building with domes that used to be the Odeon, all on the left. There is a large brown Police Station on the right; and you might even get a glimpse of the Italianate City Hall clock tower to the right.Go straight on through the junction after the Alhambra. The road goes steeply uphill, and all traffic must turn left about 100 yards up it. Shortly afterwards (75 yards), most traffic (including you) turns sharp right again up a steep one-way street; and at the top of that (another 75 yards), you will reach a junction at which you will need to turn left. You may spot the pub “The Boy and Barrel” opposite, just as you turn.

You will now be on Westgate, close to a tall, ugly concrete building that used to be the Yorkshire Building Society. Pass this on your left (there is another Morrisons opposite on your right) and head straight on through another traffic-lit junction. You should be able to see Manningham Mill chimney on the skyline about a mile ahead (though possibly not if it is dark already). Nearer at hand, start to look for the black end-wall of a pub facing you on the left side of the road, advertising itself as the “New Beehive” in large white letters.

You are just about there: the Irish Club is directly behind the New Beehive, literally 20 yards from it.At the third traffic lights after you have achieved Westgate, and just before you actually get to the New Beehive, turn left down a small road, past a restaurant and taxi station. Immediately turn right again, and you will find yourself on Rebecca Street, and outside the Bradford Irish Club. You can park on the street; or the car park behind it (best if you have gear to bring in).

(If you fail to turn left just before the New Beehive and carry straight on, you will find yourself outside our previous venue but one: 200 yards too far and three years too late: The Melborn Hotel is now a clothes shop. But artists who came to the Topic between 1993 and 2005 may find the above directions strangely familiar)

JW 03.02.08

(Directions for those approaching from the North or Northeast can be supplied on request from me at john @john-waller.co.uk)