Bradford Eye

Bradford 70s/80s/90s

An e-mail received from Kris Gross got my attention at the back end of January 2012. Attached to the e-mails was a series of pictures taken in the 70s and 80s. One group of pictures immediately brought back a flood of memories, and that was the Debenhams/Busby's fire on Manningham Lane 1979. I remember it well, for not being there, Wednesday afternoon was my day off and I had no mobile then to alert me to not only a disaster for Bradford in the burning of such an iconic building, but a missed opportunity to take some really dramatic pictures. Kris did that and more, taking pictures not just of the building but showing the people, their fashions, hairstyles and even the cars they drove! Rescuing these slides was a major undertaking for Kris, so I suggest you put aside any prejudices relating to colour balance etc, when you look at Kris' Debenham's Fire 1979 Gallery.

Also, why not read in his own words about the period of time when he was taking these pictures. I'm not ignoring this gallery (Bradford City Centre 70s/80s/90s) but on receiving any information regarding it from Kris, I'll see it gets pasted onto this header. Now Kris' words!

Kris Gross

Born Bradford 1952. Parents English and Polish. Worked in Bradford town centre since 1969 soon after leaving school (St Bedes). Got married in 1976. I had done summer jobs selling ice cream out of the back of a van for Rossi's - best ice cream in town I thought. In those days clothes were bright, collars wide, skirts short and cigs under 10 bob a packet (50p). Forster House was new then with very few occupants. A number of companies were recruiting so I tried my luck. Only had 2 O'levels, English and Technical Drawing. Whilst I enjoyed the latter it was not for me. and landscapes - they stay still longer than people and don't talk back. There was a large island' in the centre of Forster Square reached by subway tunnels where you could sit and admire the view amongst the traffic fumes. The views encouraged me to take up my camera again and with my trusty Cosmic Symbol took lots of shots including office parties. I dabbled a bit with B/W processing and printing locking myself in the blacked out kitchen for 6 hours at a time. I even tried a little colour but with no great success.

People seemed to like my pictures so I thought I might try a new camera. I moved on to a Zenith E bought from the shop on Market Street, quickly followed by a Cosina CSM (same shop).I was using that with a little clip on motor wind at the time when Debenhams went up in smoke.

A sad day but the scenes were enthralling it had the finest frontage left in the city and it needed remembering!

Kris Gross Gallery

Bradford 70s/80s/90s

Kris Gross