A £1 MILLION scheme to transform a series of hidden Victorian tunnels into upmarket shops and bars is nearing completion.

The team behind the Sunbridge Wells development in Bradford city centre say the project is on course to be finished by the end of September or the beginning of October.

The scheme will include 12 shops and five bars being created in what were until recently disused tunnels, old cellars and other unused spaces beneath the city streets.

It will have entrances at Ivegate, Millergate and Upper Millergate, at the heart of the city centre conservation area, and many of the buildings involved are listed.

Today, the Lord Mayor of Bradford, Councillor Joanne Dodds, was given a tour of the site by developer Graham Hall and architect Laurie Reader.

Mr Hall said work was progressing well, although sorting out the utilities had proved a challenge as the spaces had previously had five separate owners.

In total, 2,000 tonnes of rubble have been pulled from the tunnels and cellars, which over the years have been home to a debtors' jail, a brewery and a bar.

Mr Hall said so far 80 businesses had made enquiries about taking up the shops and bars, including handbag, candle and vintage clothing retailers.

He said he found out about the tunnels a few years ago when he had been chatting with someone about where they could store street barrows.

Mr Hall said he then happened to be passing the entrance one day and saw it was open. He snuck in to have a look around and immediately knew he wanted to do something with the space.

He added: "It took three years negotiating contracts with the people who owned the premises. The people who owned the main part at the top didn't even know they had owned it. They were from London and had never been to Bradford."

Mr Reader, an architect based in Cottingley, said working on the scheme had been a career highlight.

He said: "It's fantastic, it really is, and with all the listed buildings as well. I do do new buildings, but most of my career I have dealt with renovations. Not like this, though."

Cllr Dodds said: "It's so amazing. I didn't know what to expect and it it so much bigger than I thought. It's just mind-blowing."

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She said she was impressed Mr Hall had the vision to see the potential of the tunnels when he had first seen them.

She added: "Graham had the foresight to see this, when he came in on another purpose and saw the potential of this.

"This is so unique. We don't know of anywhere else that has anything like this."

Cllr Dodds said while Westfield's Broadway centre would have the big-name shops to draw visitors in to the city, Sunbridge Wells would offer quirky little outlets where people could buy items that were "a little bit different".

"People are going to come from far and wide," she said.