World War Two - Lingard's Department Store, Bradford
Lingard’s store was at the corner of Kirkgate and Westgate
Lingard's department store was bombed by the Luftwaffe in the Second World War on the night of Saturday, August 31, 1940
Lingard's department store took a direct hit and was gutted, as was the adjoining Kirkgate Chapel. Rawson Market was badly damaged, and in Manchester Road a bomb crashed through the roof of the Odeon Cinema, then the largest in Britain, landing in the front stalls and bringing the ceiling and heavy metal chandeliers down onto the seats. The audience for IT'S A DATE, starring Deanna Durbin and Walter Pidgeon, had left ten minutes earlier.
In Bradford, 10,000 windows shattered. Another bomb in Tyrrel Street just missed people waiting for a tram.
The raid took place between 11.13pm and 2.40am when 116 bombs exploded in and around Bradford, killing one woman and injuring 111 other people.
Lingard Family