Salts Mill — Attraction in Bradford

I have been visiting Salts Mill for years and absolutely love it. From the vast array of books to the vibrant colours of David Hockney's art, it's an absolute treat for the senses.

Only, this was soured by todays experience with an unpleasant and castigating middle aged woman in canary yellow dungarees who worked in the bookshop. My 2 year old knocked over a bowl of stuffed toys onto the floor and as my pregnant partner was picking them up this member of staff started to reprimand her and attempted to make her feel deeply ashamed for the demonstrative act of a toddler that she was at least attempting to rectify. She said several times "I've had 5 children, if this were my child I would be utterly ashamed", almost lauding it over my partner as some harbinger of humiliation as my partner tried to profusely apologize.

After I took my 2 year old out of the situation to calm him down, in respect of the other customers, I returned to investigate what happened. This is when the woman stated to me that it was a deeply disrespectful act as if we'd purposely set out to destroy the place. She then pointed at these small price tags that were littered on the floor and said, "you should actually pick them all up off the floor" to my partner, essentially asking a pregnant woman to get down on the floor and pick tiny price tags up. Unfortunately, I had to challenge this and said that respect should reciprocal. If she had any empathy and could plainly see my partner apologetically trying to make everything right we likely would have done this without prompt. But the callous attitude and the intent on shaming a young mother was reprehensible and led towards my reaction of defiance.

It's ironic that when challenged she lost the courage of her conviction and scuttled off saying she was unwilling to argue, but was more than happy to repeatedly shame a young mother apologizing for our toddlers actions. Extremely rude and unprofessional behaviour which doesn't seem congruous in a place of arts and culture.

If you have some resentment to children don't work in a place that sells children's books. Or, if you think that everyone should emulate your own perceived perfect parenting, then write a self help book and make some...

There is more here than just the mill, the owner had all the worker homes and local park etc specifically so the architecture and town planning is unique. It has international importance and protection because of its place in our history. We parked up on the main town's side, and walked down the hill to get to the mill, but we were enjoying the sunshine so had a drink at The Boathouse pub nextdoor. It was a pleasant pub, and with view across the river over Robert's Park, the scenery is beautiful. We then walked over the bridge into Robert's Park where we watched a large heron stood on a weir to fish, then were intrigued by the kids' play equipment...its a very modern play area and really well equipped. There is so much well kept lawn that there is plenty of space for many people to enjoy the space in their own way with out annoying each other. Further around the park is a little cafe, and just a little way on from the other side of the park is a funicular running up and down in the woods. Children were loving it. We went back to towards the mill, catching sight of dragon flies and a kingfisher on the riverbanks. Despite trying not to go too far or spend too long, by the time we got to the mill it was getting close to closing time, but we tried to see everything a little bit and could see that there was enough to have spent much longer. The rooms/floors of the mill were all themed a bit...

Absolutely brilliant place for budding artists, with a store full of materials and the frequently changing art exhibitions on the top floor. There is also a bookstore and an antiques gallery, homewares and a diner. A great place for a rather cultured day out. Only a couple of reasons for four and not five stars. One is that the prices are RRP in the bookstore, so it would be better to buy online. The prices in general are pretty high throughout the building so you do have to be careful if you're on a budget. (Saying that the quality is good and the it's perfect place to treat yourself!) Also twice my partner and I have had the problem of discovering the main toilet on the bottom floor is usually closed for cleaning at prime time (mid morning) usually just as we're about to leave, and so you have to go back up to a higher floor. This might only be a nuisance for some but I am disabled and have a feeding machine, so it can be quite difficult for me to get back up the stairs carting all my equipment. This should definitely be re-evaluated for people in general, especially with that toilet being on the main floor. Perhaps they need to change cleaning time to later in the day when it's quieter or just do it before or after opening time? In any case, definitely would recommend Salts mill, it's a...