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Picture source: Hania Franek

The Diplomat was situated at 144 Sunbridge Road.

This was one of the last pubs to have a circular bar which served all rooms.

Nick Throup (August 2011)

I was born in The Diplomat in December 1965, it was then known as the Metropole Hotel at that time.  The building at this time was then coloured black stone due to the years of chimney smoke coming from the many mills and chimneys surrounding the pub. My Father and Mother became tenants in July 1964 the licence was held by Mr Stanley Tokarski, the pub was owned by Tetley’s brewery then. The previous tenant had died in the pub. On the outside of the building there was a neon sign of the Metropole Hotel which could be seen from some distance, before the building was sandblasted in the early 1970's, the neon sign was lost and never went back up. I always remember that it was always very busy every Friday and Saturday nights throughout the 1970's. Also with Saturday weddings throughout the summer months sometimes there would be two weddings on the same day. My Mother and Father split up in 1980 and my mother and I left the pub, however Mr Tokarski remained and then left 1983-84 to own his own public house. My Father died in 1991 however My mother is still alive

Helen Wright (March 2012)

In the late 50s and early 60s I was a trainee engineer at Towler Hydraulics in Rodley, Leeds. A contemporary of mine was a lad, Bill Slater, who sadly died some years ago. We served as apprentices together, then became junior draftsmen. Bill's dad was Fred Slater, a tough stocky man, who worked as a service engineer at the same company. Away from work he had something of a reputation as a semi professional wrestler. At some point Fred left Towlers and took over as landlord of the Metropole Hotel, Sunbridge Road, Bradford. When Bill and I joined Towlers as 16 year olds in 1954, Saturday morning was part of the working week. Later it became overtime, and being accustomed to the routine we would volunteer most Saturdays for the extra money. I had a motor bike, and at some point a pattern developed where I would give Bill a lift to his new home at the Metropole, and the pair of us would be employed as extra bar staff for a couple of hours over the Saturday lunch period. In those days beer pumps and their usage were not subject to the later laws on matters of hygiene, and the liquid that spilled over the bar-tenders' hands ended up in the next pint to be pulled, or at best into a separate container purportedly to be returned to the brewery. Fred, being a 'canny' Yorkshireman, prepared for our arrival, and the mass arrival of hordes of football supporters, by re-cycling these 'slops' by half filling pint glasses secreted under the bar. Suddenly the doors would be flung open, and to cries of “three pints bitter”, “pint o' mild an' pint o' mixed”, etc, Fred would take the money and Bill and I would put the half filled glasses under the appropriate draught ale pump and fill to the brim. When the mad rush had finished Fred would treat Bill and I to a pint apiece and a cooked dinner, courtesy of a mill across the road, supplied by the canteen manager with whom he had some sort of arrangement. Recalling these events of some six decades ago I have difficulty in remembering the football club that was the cause of such mayhem, and as to why its supporters should congregate at this venue, but the favourite would be the old Bradford Park Avenue football club, the only one within walking distance along Horton Park Avenue. The junction of Sunbridge Road and Grattan Road does not appear to be a transport hub for connection to Bradford City or the Rugby League club Bradford Northern. All played on a Saturday afternoon, and I think their fixtures were staggered to avoid all playing at home on the same day, so one could say that there would be at least one game every Saturday throughout the winter. I see that the lady whose message I picked up on referred to the previous landlord having died in the pub. Perhaps this was Mr. Fred Slater?

Tony Whitehead (April 2018)

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Other Photos

Picture source: John Yeadon