A NEW live music venue in Bradford city centre opens tomorrow, bringing a building that has been empty for over seven years back to life.

A former nightclub on Duke Street has been transformed into The Underground and its opening evening will feature a live performance from Wibsey born The Voice finalist Faheem.

It is hoped that the venue, solely dedicated to live music, will soon be a must visit venue for touring bands and the ideal place to showcase local talent.

Nigel Booth, a contractor based in the city, is behind the plans, which have seen the underground building fully refurbished, including a stage and state of the art sound system. The name and design of the building have been inspired by the London Underground, and Mr Booth told the Telegraph & Argus that some big name bands have already expressed an interest in playing there.

The grand opening event will be followed up by the first of a weekly Sunday night series of gigs called Lucifer’s Live Lounge, this week being headlined by Leeds band Fighting Caravans.

Through his work Mr Booth has been involved in the refurbishment of a number of bars in Bradford’s Independent Quarter, and helped organise a street party on North Parade in 2014.

The new venue, just off Darley Street, will have a capacity of around 350 people, and will have live music, from all genres, on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights.

The new business has been supported by Bradford Council’s rate relief scheme for new businesses, and Mr Booth hopes it can bring more people to an area of the city that has suffered from several closing businesses in recent months.

Mr Booth said: “I’m really passionate about music, even though I can’t play anything. I thought that Bradford hasn’t got this sort of venue.

“The estate agent told me they were never going to be able to rent this place and when he showed me it my eyes just lit up.

“When we were designing the venue we wanted to get away from the nightclub feel, purely focus on the live music. This is a real passion project. And we want to have all different styles of music played here.

“We also want to work with the businesses on North Parade and try to organise some events together. If we’re bringing over 300 people to our gigs here then other local businesses are going to benefit.”

The underground theme includes escalator style bannisters and a large mural featuring a “tube map” of different music genres.

Tomorrow’s grand opening event starts at 7.30pm.