Bradford Association Football Club was formed in 1907 and used the name of its ground, Park Avenue, to distinguish itself from Bradford City AFC and Bradford Northern RLFC. It was unsuccessful in its application to join the Football League in 1907 but after playing a season in the Southern League joined the Second Division of the Football League in 1908.

Generally regarded as the greatest player ever to have worn a Bradford shirt was Len Shackleton, who started his Avenue career in the Wartime League programme in 1940. "Shack" scored more goals for Bradford than any other player (171 in total) and was chosen for England in the victory international at Hampden Park in 1946, but was transferred to Newcastle United in October of that year, scoring six goals on his Newcastle debut! Another Bradford player in the early post-war years was Ron Greenwood, later to become the England manager.

On 3 May 1974 the shareholders agreed to liquidate the company with debts of £57,652. The supporters then registered the name as a company and began again in the Bradford Amateur Sunday League Division Four playing in the old kit of the former club. After playing at Bingley Road and Hope Avenue in 1974 the club moved to Avenue Road and won promotion for the first time in 1975. The next season saw promotion again and in 1985 came promotion into the newly formed Bradford Sunday Alliance League. In 1987 the club returned to play a fixture at Park Avenue and in 1988 they joined the West Riding County Amateur League. The following Season Avenue were admitted into the Supreme Division of the Central Midlands League and after one season into the North West Counties League.

Unfortunately during this time, the club had to move out of Bradford in order to find facilities that would gain the approval of the various competitions, and Avenue have been tenants of both Bramley and Batley Rugby League Clubs. Third place in the first season in the North West Counties League was enough to get them promotion to the top flight where they had mixed fortunes for three seasons

The 1994-95 season saw Avenue create an upset when, 20 points adrift of Clitheroe with just 13 matches remaining, they won the lot and took the title by four points. After three seasons groundsharing at Batley Rugby League Club Bradford (Park Avenue) now plays at the Horsfall Stadium just a mile from the old Park Avenue ground. The stadium has been improved, and the main stand has covered seating for over 1200 spectators. A new social club was opened at the ground at the start of the 2000/2001 season, and was more than doubled in size when an extension was added in April 2001 to accommodate the Len Shackleton Memorial.

Season 2000/2001 saw the club win only the third championship in its 94 year history, when the Unibond League First Division was won by a clear ten points with the third highest number of points ever gained in a season in that division. August 2001 sees Bradford (Park Avenue) in the Premier Division of the Unibond Northern Premier League.

Season 2001/2002 after a slow start to the season Avenue recovered very well to finish 10th in the League and also reaching the Unibond League Challenge Cup final. Losing out on Penalties against Accrington Stanley.

Season 2002/2003 after giving Accrington a run for their money for most of the season Avenue eventually ran out of steam and finished 7th.

Season 2003/2004 saw the club establish themselves in the top 10 clubs in the Premier Division of the Unibond League, but a loss of home form during the season saw them slumping towards the bottom of the division. A final place in the top 13 was vital to ensure promotion to the newly formed Conference North, but this looked highly unlikely when long-serving and greatly respected manager Trevor Storton resigned in March with the club next to bottom of the division. Carl Shutt was appointed manager in mid-March, and a run of successful results led to a climb out of the relegation positions to a place in the 8 team play-offs for the final promotion position. Seemingly against all the odds Avenue won the play-off against Burscough to claim their place in the opening season of Conference North.

Unfortunately another disappointing season in 2004/5 ended with relegation back to the Unibond League Premier Division and Carl Shutt was replaced by Gary Brook. After a good start to the campaign Avenue struggled from October, this lead to a change in the management team when Gary Brook & Brian Crowther were replaced by Phil Sharpe & Clive Freeman in March 2006. The damage by this point had already been done and Avenue were relegated to Unibond Division One. The bright spot of the season was winning the Presidents Cup beating Ilkeston 1-0 in the final.

Phil Sharpe and Clive Freeman put together a good team with a mixture of youth and experience and were expected to be pushing for automatic promotion the following season. During the early part of the season it looked like they would achieve this target however after a poor February Avenue knew they could only make the playoffs. Despite good results in March and April, Buxton could not be caught and Avenue had to settle for a place in the play-offs. April saw Benny Phillips appointed as manager with Phil & Clive as his assistants. The final push for promotion was left in disappointment as they lost 3-0 to Eastwood Town in the play-offs. Both Phil & Clive left the club during the summer and Benny brought in Wayne Porter and Lee Coathup to assist him.

In February 2008 after an inconsistent run in the league there were more changes in the management which saw Benny, Wayne and Lee leave the club to be replaced by Dave Cameron who arrived from Rhyl. Under Cameron they went on to win 9 league games in a row and eventually secure the Division One North title. In November after a poor run of form Dave Cameron resigned and John Deacey was appointed manager on a temporary basis. In January 2009 Lee Sinnott joined the club and John Deacey became his assistant. Avenue maintained their push for promotion but a draw on the final day of the season saw them narrowly miss out on a play-off spot.

In October 2009 a disappointing defeat in an FA Cup replay against Buxton saw Lee Sinnott hand in his resignation. John Deacey again took over as manager with Vince Brockie appointed to assist. Come the end of the season the club lost out on the title to local rivals Guiseley by finishing one point behind them in a title race that went down to the very last league game. A second place finish saw the club compete in the promotion play offs in which they beat Kendal Town at home in the semi-final before losing 2-1 in the final in front of a packed crowd at the Horsfall Stadium to Boston United after extra time. After the game manager John Deacey handed in his resignation and was replaced by Simon Collins for the 2010-2011 season. In late October after a run of 4 consecutive defeats Collins handed in his resignation. The following week saw the shock re-appointment of John Deacey as manager along with former player Mark Hume who returned to the club as assistant. From a lowly position the duo guided the team on a remarkable run where they clinched third place to qualify for the promotion play-offs. A home tie in the play-offs saw the club take on FC Utd of Manchester who went away from the Horsfall with a 2-0 victory and the promotion dream was over for another year. With John & Mark at the helm for the 2011-12 season the club are hoping for another successful season and hopefully promotion.