September 19th, 2023
Written by John Grogan

PRESS RELEASE 

John Grogan, Labour’s Parliamentary Candidate for Keighley and Ilkley, has hosted Labour’s new Shadow Small Business Minister Rushanara Ali MP on a visit to Keighley. She met local business leaders at a meeting in the conference room in Airedale Shopping Centre. Rushanara who was the first British Bangladeshi elected to Parliament revealed that her father had spent two years working and living in the town in the 1960’s soon after arriving from Bangladesh before moving to London.

John Grogan told the meeting that if he was elected to Parliament again in the forthcoming General Election working with others to revive Keighley Town Centre would be one of his main priorities. 

He commented:

‘There are things that can be done nationally to help to boost town centres such as the reform  of business rates which Labour has promised to do . Locally though we must ramp up our own efforts and try to follow the example of towns like Halifax which have transformed themselves over recent years. The one thing a Member of Parliament can do is to get everybody around a table so that resources can be pooled and hopefully all can sing from the same hymn sheet . In Keighley that means getting the Government, Bradford District Council, Keighley Town Council and local business to work more effectively together. There is much goodwill and good work going on currently and some magnificent local businesses but the growing number of empty premises and shops indicates we have got to redouble our efforts.’

John Grogan and Rushanara Ali also spoke to a meeting at central hall which celebrated the contribution of the Bangladeshi community to the town. 

Around the table in the conference room at Airedale Shopping Centre Steve Seymour (Airedale Shopping Centre), Kevin O’Hare (Keighley College), Rebecca Severs (Three Little Birds Bakery), Naz Kazmi (Keighley Association for Women and Children’s Centre), Georgina Webster (Keighley Creative), Rushanara Ali MP, John Grogan, Abdul Kuddus (Aire Valley Frozen Foods), Dr Manoj Joshi (Bradford Economic Partnership), and Ian Hayfield (Hayfield Robinson).