AN INDIAN restaurant and bar, which has been beset by delays, is now set to open later this year in The Broadway shopping centre, Bradford.

It was first revealed back in January that Papadoms was taking over the vacant 6,5000 sq ft unit in Charles Street in Bradford city centre.

The restaurant was originally slated to open in April, but the need to gain approval for some additional structural work meant the opening date was pushed back until July.

Now bosses have confirmed that a “significant delay” with the original contractor is behind the latest delays and that they are now back on site with a new contractor and making progress.

They are now confident that the Papadoms restaurant will open its doors in mid-November.

Sanjeev Sanghera, founder and chief executive of Bavava Restaurants, the firm behind the new Bradford venture, told the Telegraph & Argus: “There were some significant delays with the original contractor and we had to make a very difficult decision.

“We spoke to the contractors and didn’t have the confidence they would finish in a reasonable time.

“So we have a new contractor on site and they are going to be handing us back the keys on October 25 and we are looking at opening mid-November.

“We are a small company and we don’t have the resources so we rely on contractors to deliver on what they say they are going to do.”

Of the future he added: “We are extremely enthused and excited about finally getting this restaurant over the line. We are at the final fit out and then on to the decor stage and it looks fantastic.

He added that once the keys were handed over it would be a matter of a couple of weeks for staff training, before finally opening the restaurant’s doors to the public.

In January Mr Sanghera told the T&A that they were blown away with the regeneration of Bradford’s city centre – a key factor in deciding on a location for the new restaurant, having first looked at Leeds.

The firm has recently opened two restaurants under its new Döner Haus brand and is opening a third shortly.