Back-to back home at Industrial Museum given 70s makeover

Bradford Industrial Museum, based in the former Moorside Mills building in Eccleshill, is home to a row of back-to-back homes that were once common around the city’s mills.

Each of the properties at the museum is decorated to reflect a different decade – showing how mill workers lived at different times in history – often in cramped conditions.

They include a home showing the austerity of wartime British life and another featuring Victorian home décor.

One of the buildings shows what life was like in the 1970s – the decade the Industrial Museum opened.

The dining area of the back to back (Image: Bradford Council)

To mark the 50th anniversary of the museum, the 1970s home has been re-decorated to reflect the home of a family who came to Bradford from Pakistan in the 1960s.

It was in this period that local textile mills needed workers, and encouraged individuals from South Asian countries to fill these roles.

The display offers a glimpse into the home life of a British Pakistani family in the 1970s and touches on various aspects of life during that time.

The back to back homes at the Industrial Museum (Image: Bradford Council)

The new migrants developed thriving communities in many areas of the city linked to the textile trade.

Although some back to back housing still remains in the city, much of it has been cleared over the years, replaced with The museum celebrates the anniversary with a special event next weekend (September 14 and 15).

The kitchen area in the back to back home (Image: Bradford Council)

Bradford Council’s museums and galleries team has organised a free weekend full of events on Saturday, September 14 and Sunday, September 15 from 11am until 4pm.  As well as all the usual displays and exhibitions, there will be a DJ playing music from the 1970s, vintage stalls, food and coffee vans, family activities as well as 1970s Bollywood-style dancing.

Bradford Industrial Musuem (Image: T&A)

Councillor Sarah Ferriby, Bradford Council’s executive member for healthy people and places said: “We’re rightly proud of our Industrial Museum which celebrates the rich heritage of our district. Please come along, get dressed up 70s style, and help us celebrate the museum’s 50th birthday.”

This event is also part of the national Heritage Open Days scheme which is England’s largest free community-led festival of history and culture, involving thousands of local volunteers and organisations.

For more information about this event and the other Bradford District Museums and Galleries visit bradfordmuseums.org