Sarfraz Manzoor says he will use new role to make Luton ‘cool’

Sarfraz Manzoor says he wants to challenge the image of Luton and associate it with ideas and culture. Photograph: Danny Loo

When he was growing up, Sarfraz Manzoor dreamed of leaving his home town of Luton. Now the author and journalist has become chancellor of the University of Bedfordshire and has one clear mission – to make people think of Luton as “cool rather than crap”.

Luton is a town with a bad reputation, he said. But he hopes this new role will help him fulfil his ambition of challenging that image and getting people to associate Luton with interesting ideas and culture.