A CHEF from the district is turning an aeroplane into a bespoke restaurant after bartering 500 curries and 1,000 poppadoms to buy it.

Shajahan Choudhury, who has run restaurants in the north, including at Wakefield and Clitheroe, yearned to be a pilot when he was a young boy.

But although his aviation dream to fly never left the ground, it has taken a new twist and he has bought an old Hawker Sidley HS125 800 series aircraft shell from Bruntingthorpe Airfield, in Leicestershire.

What’s more, the owners, salvage and aviation management company GJD Services Ltd, were happy to swap the former executive charter craft for 150 vindaloos, 150 Bombay Aloos, 100 onion bhajis and a cockpit full of poppadoms. A promise of a further 200 tasty treats will follow on request.

It will be revamped to look like a private jet.

“I am so excited I haven’t been able to sleep,” said Mr Choudhury, of Oakworth Road, Keighley.

He is organising the venture alongside friend and colleague Adnan Ahmed who runs the Zolsha restaurant in Cross Hills and is currently looking at venues around the Bradford and Keighley district where the plane will be attached to the outside of a restaurant and accessed from inside.

He is looking at holding meetings with Punch Taverns and Enterprise Inns to find a suitable location.

“It is like a dream come true. I feel I have fulfilled my ambition. I just need to find a suitable restaurant where I can place my plane but it will be in the district and am going to have a meeting with Punch Taverns and Enterprise Inns soon,” he said.

Friend and pilot Mustafa Azim, who co-owns aviation salvage company, Imperial, and works with Gary Spoors of GJD Services Ltd helped Mr Choudhury find the plane of his dreams.

“The craft was involved in an accident when it crashed at Biggin Hill six months ago. The landing gear did not work but fortunately no one was injured,” he said.

The plane is 60ft in length and eight feet wide overall. It is arriving in Bradford on a lorry early tomorrow.

Mr Choudhury added: “It will seat 10 people comfortably for a totally unique dining experience. The food I will serve will be specially created with its own menu. I want people to enjoy something totally different.”

The trio said work will begin straight away locally to revamp the interior of the plane and attach one wing. The whole structure will be removable and it is planned to take it to Glastonbury Festival next year.

Mr Ahmed said Mr Choudhury’s dream has inspired him to buy a plane and plans to purchase a Boeing 737 and place it at a restaurant he is looking to take over in Allerton. However, he has not yet worked out how many curries it will cost.

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