Gary, the king of the encampment

Dear readers — when several tents, accompanied by a sprawling mass of stuff, appeared outside Bradford and Keighley Magistrates Court a few months ago, the “content creators” quickly piled in. Here was a prime example of everything wrong in Bradford, they said, in videos that racked up views and outraged comments. But what was actually happening at the site? And, most importantly, who was actually living there? Brad went down to investigate.

First, though, we have your news round up (and after the story, our top recommendations for a great weekend).

The round-up:

🚨 A 20-year-old man had died after a crash on Monday evening in Bradford. The man was one of four in an Audi A3 convertible that came off Hawksworth Road on Baildon Moor, with West Yorkshire Police called to the scene at 7.24pm. Aerial photos taken by Kelvin Charles show a blue vehicle caught in the moorland below a bend in the road, between the Walkers and Strawberry Fields car parks. A spokesperson for police said yesterday that the man died from his injuries in hospital, while a 23-year-old man remains in hospital with serious injuries. Another man of the same age received treatment for minor injuries. Police added that the driver of the Audi, a 24-year-old man, was arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving.

🚛 Councils across West Yorkshire have alerted residents of earlier bin collections this week due to the ongoing heatwave. The local authorities in Leeds, Bradford and Kirklees have all confirmed via their Facebook pages that collections have been brought forward so staff can avoid the main heat of the day. Crews will begin their rounds in Leeds at 5.30am on Thursday and 5am all week in Bradford and Kirklees. The Met Office has issued an amber weather warning for “extreme heat” for parts of the county, running from today until midnight tomorrow. Stay safe out there.

☀️ A Leeds charity is calling for help to get bottles of water, hats and sun cream to homeless people struggling in the heat. Focus4Hope founder Louise Reed said “Heatwaves are deadly for rough sleepers, who face direct sun exposure, reduced access to water, and fewer safe places to cool down”. If you’d like to help, you can drop items off in any of the following locations (or donate to the charity directly here):

• 12 Huddersfield Road, Brighouse, HD6 1JZ
• St Anne’s Resource Centre, 66 York St, Leeds LS9 8AA
• St George's Crypt, Great George Street, Leeds LS1 3BR

Gary, the king of the encampment

By Brad Deas

It’s late morning, the mercury is rising, not quite muggy yet, and I’m standing next to a dishevelled encampment outside Bradford and Keighley Magistrates’ Court.

I’ve seen tents occasionally appearing outside both courts in Bradford over the past couple of years, but this is something else. Six or seven tents (in varying degrees of disarray) cover an entire side of the outdoor walkway. There’s dirtied bedding, a trolley full of items I don’t want to inspect, a bike, and multiple mounds of litter strewn across the concrete. There are also piles of clothes, children’s toys, and a shoebox filled with DVDs. Two of the tents, attached by the guy ropes to the court building, are burnt. One is still intact but the nylon is charred, the other is barely standing.

The scene has become a magnet for social media content creators, including one, Dawson Twofour, who has begun visiting every day. “When’s somet’ going to get done about this? Look at this, there’s fucking tents set on fire, there’s just fucking mess everywhere”, he says in his first video. He adds: “look at state of it, it’s fucking disgusting mate”, calling on Bradford Council to “do somet’ about it” (perhaps unaware that the land belongs to the government). Dawson points out condoms on the floor, while two other creators claimed there was a poo inside one of the tents. 

The videos garner a lot of views (65,000 views for the most popular) and the responses are scathing. “Filthy, probably catch something”, “madness, only in Bradford”, “I went past the other day and it made me throw up”.

Others are more sympathetic to the plight of “the people” at the encampment, affirming that the arches near Bradford Forster Square Railway Station — a former hub for the homeless until Bradford Council boarded all 10 arches up with three-metre high decorated boards in August 2024 — should be reopened “for them”.

For Gary, all this comes as news. He’s the only one living there, and all the tents and everything else is his. Inside the courtroom, magistrates hold sway. But outside it is Gary’s realm.