Leeds Road Festival hailed as “Massive Success”
Leeds Road Festival 2026 has been hailed as a massive success after an estimated crowd of 65,000 people attended the weekend events at Bradford Moor Park.
Featuring a celebration of music, dance, food and culture, the festival, which is now in its second year, has brought together communities and provided entertainment for the masses.
The festival, which was newly expanded to a week-long event in 2026, has seen performances from the likes of headline act Abrar Ul-Haq, who delivered an exciting mix of dance, drumming, reggae, rap, pop, Punjabi, and Pakistani music.
Saleem Ahktar, co-founder of Leeds Road Festival said: “After the immense success of our inaugural festival in 2025, we pulled out all the stops to ensure we were back bigger and better for 2026. The crowds that gathered in Moor Park on Saturday and Sunday even surpassed our high expectations, in a fitting tribute to the Leeds Road area and the immense economic impact it delivers to the city and wider region.”
“The festival would not be possible without the hard work, dedication and energy from hundreds of volunteers, who made this year’s event something that will stay in the memory for a very long time. The organisers would also like to play tribute to our fantastic corporate and civic supporters, without whom we could not deliver something on this scale.”
“Although it will be hard to top the 2026 festival, our teams are already on the case, looking at how we can do even more next year to celebrate this special part of the city.”
Leeds Road is a major destination in Bradford, famed for its impressive food offering, and world-renowned fashion outlets – particularly catering for the South Asian wedding market. The key corridor into the city, which has previously been celebrated as ‘the curry mile’ is home to hundreds of businesses, injecting economic impetus into the district.
Sponsors of the Leeds Road festival 2026 included Ice Drinks; Regal Foods; Incommunities; Yorkshire Building Society; The Bradford Culture Company; Yorkshire Water; and P&B Foods, amongst others.
Mani Bhatoa, Director at one of the sponsors P&B (Foods) Limited – the home of HEERA – said: “The Leeds Road Festival represents so much of what makes Bradford special. Its diversity, its energy and above all its sense of community. Heera is proud to support an event that brings people of all backgrounds and generations together to celebrate, enjoy great food and entertainment, and experience the very best of this city.”
This year’s festival ran over a week, kicking off with a special celebration from business, civic and community leaders at Bradford Live on Sunday 9th August. Throughout the week, special events took place on Leeds Road itself, as well as a number of fringe events that helped to celebrate the businesses and community in and around Bradford. New for 2026 was a special showcase on the contribution the foodservice and wholesale industry makes to the city of Bradford, whereby food manufacturers and supply-chains networked and found out more about this major contributor to the regional economy.
Over the course of the weekend, one of its sponsors, ICE drinks reported distributing >20,000 Lemon Ice Mojitos and getting through 1.5tonnes of ice.