A NEWLY-expanded cafe and restaurant, which had to delay its re-opening after an arson attack, is set to open its doors again later this week.

Smorgasbord Coffee Bar had been undergoing £200,000 of refurbishment and expansion works for the last three months and was due to have re-opened last week. But on Monday night a pile of rubbish outside the premises on Rawson Place was set alight causing more than £10,000 of damage to the shopfront.

Owner Arif Mehmood was left counting the cost and had to put back the grand re-opening plans. But with plans to get the damaged third of the shopfront replaced this week, Mr Mehmood has rescheduled the re-opening to Friday at 4pm.

He said: "We are looking to reopen on Friday and have sent the invites out. All the work should be completely finished by then - but we need to open as soon as we can, having been closed for three months now."

He described how the refurbishment and expansion work had opened up the old cellar area to diners, doubling the number of seats in the cafe. He also said that they intended opening in the evening shortly with a new menu too.

He added that the expansion plans had been made possible by a grant from Bradford Council's growth zone scheme which offers financial and professional support to businesses wanting to expand.

ARSON ATTACK DELAYS £200,000 CAFE RE-OPENING 

Last week the T&A reported how a call to Mr Mehmood's mobile from his alarm service alerted him to the fire at about 8.30pm. The business's CCTV caught the fire being started on camera, but there was no clear shot of the arsonist.

At the time he said he had been left devastated by the arson attack, saying: “I am trying to keep myself together. I’ve gone through so much pain in the last three months – being closed for such a long time with no money coming in and setback after setback. I was finally looking forward to re-opening, and getting back to normal."

The police confirmed last week that the fire was being treated as arson and that enquiries were ongoing.