A global celebration of spice, culture and street food — at the heart of Bradford 2025.
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The World Curry Festival is a flagship event of Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture — a 15-day celebration landing in the city that's been crowned "Curry Capital of Britain" six times. From 15 to 29 September 2025, Bradford opens its kitchens, stages and streets to a global programme of food, culture and conversation.
The festival explores the journey of curry through South Asian, Caribbean, East & Southeast Asian, Middle Eastern and African traditions, and tells the story of how those traditions helped shape modern British life — with Bradford at the centre of it.
Expect gala dinners, a Curry Hall of Fame inauguration, street food markets at the brand-new Darley Street Market, masterclasses with Michelin-starred chefs, immersive dining on steam trains, theatre, summits, spoken word, DJ sets and late-night pop-ups.
Banquets, immersive dining, theatre, masterclasses and world-class guest speakers — spread across Bradford Live, Darley Street Market, The Loading Bay and the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway.
The festival lifts the curtain at Bradford Live with a black-tie gala dinner and the inauguration of the Bradford Curry Hall of Fame — honouring the chefs, families and restaurants that built the city's spice heritage.
Caption: The festival's opening weekend — setting the tone with ceremony, spice and civic pride before the streets take over.
Roll up your sleeves. Learn from Michelin-starred chefs, Bradford's own culinary royalty and grandmothers with decades of secret spice mixes. Hosted at Darley Street Market.
The brand-new Darley Street Market turns global: Bengal to Bangkok, Kingston to Cape Town. Stalls, demos, DJ sets and late-night feasts for every appetite.
Immersive dining aboard the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway — a heritage steam train reimagined as a rolling curry house through the Yorkshire countryside.
Bradford-born NHS GP, bestselling author and the trusted voice of ITV's Lorraine and Good Morning Britain — Dr Amir Khan joins the World Curry Festival for an unmissable evening of food, health and honest conversation.
Born and raised in Bradford, Dr Khan has become one of the UK's most recognisable medical voices — championing preventative health, culturally-rooted nutrition and the power of food as medicine. Tonight he returns home to share stories from the surgery, the kitchen and everywhere in between.
Expect frank talk on South Asian heritage diets, diabetes, cholesterol and why the right curry really can be good for you — all over a specially curated sharing menu from the festival's chefs.
Book Dr Amir Khan →Over four nights at The Loading Bay (24 – 28 September), the festival turns the dinner table into a stage. Script-in-hand readings, supper clubs and brand-new writing — all served with a plate.
A week-long residency of performance, readings and supper clubs — exploring identity, migration and the British curry house through the voices of South Asian writers and cooks.
Caption: Five nights where every course comes with a story, and every story comes with a plate.
An abridged, script-in-hand reading of Sudha Bhuchar & Shaheen Khan's classic play — set in Birmingham's balti belt and served alongside a themed supper.
Caption: A landmark piece of British-Asian theatre, revived with dinner in the city that made curry its own.
Tuesday 16 September · Bradford Live. One of the festival's most important days, bringing together thought leaders from across the North to tackle the most urgent issues facing our food systems.
Caption: Keynotes, panels and breakout sessions on food security, public health, sustainable farming, children's nutrition and climate resilience — hosted in the heart of Bradford 2025.
Delegates include policymakers, farmers, health professionals, academics and campaigners — all united by a shared vision for a fairer, healthier, more sustainable food future for the North.
Six continents on one plate. Stamp your passport in spice.
Punjabi, Bengali, Keralan, Gujarati — the heart of the festival, served 100 ways by Bradford's best and Britain's brightest.
Karahi, nihari and slow-cooked lamb — a cuisine woven into the DNA of Bradford itself. Come taste the city's soul.
The tradition behind more than two-thirds of Britain's curry houses — honoured here with dishes rarely seen on takeaway menus.
Green, red, panang, massaman. Coconut-kissed fire served with sticky rice and swagger.
Jerk, goat curry, roti stuffed to bursting. Reggae on loop. Scotch bonnet on everything.
Ethiopian wat, Nigerian pepper soup, South African bunny chow — deep, rich, unforgettable.
Katsu with a cult following and dashi-built curries that will reset your whole palate.
Laksa, rendang, nasi kandar — the crossroads of every curry road ever travelled.
Early-bird tickets on sale now via Bradford 2025. Gala dinners, Dr Amir Khan, Theatre of Curry and Steam & Spice sell out fast — get in while the pan is hot.
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