A PROMINENT city centre fast food restaurant has closed its doors.

Signs have now been removed from the KFC restaurant at the corner of Tyrrel Street and Ivegate and the door remains locked.

A sign posted on the door states that it is now closed and directs customers to its nearest store in The Broadway shopping centre.

A spokesman for the fried chicken outlet confirmed that the long-standing branch had been closed down permanently for “commercial reasons”.

He also confirmed that no members of staff had lost their jobs in the closure, but that they had transferred to the nearby shopping centre KFC, which is in the food court.

A KFC spokesman said: “Following the opening of our Broadway shopping centre restaurant, we’ve taken the decision to close our Tyrrel Street site for commercial reasons. All team members have been given jobs at the new restaurant, which is just a two-minute walk away.”

Bradford Council’s portfolio holder responsible for regeneration, Councillor Alex Ross-Shaw said that the location was now part of the authority’s Priority Streets Scheme, which aims to encourage business growth and new job opportunities in the city centre, targeting certain streets including Darley Street, Ivegate, Kirkgate, Bank Street, Tyrrel Street, North Parade, Rawson Square and Rawson Place.

He said: “We’ve just extended our priority streets scheme to include Tyrrel Street where this unit sits and we are happy to discuss the availability of potential capital grants and business rates rebates to potential investors via the Priority Streets Scheme.”

Many people were quick to comment on the closure on social media and the Telegraph & Argus website.

One reader said that they used to go the Tyrrel Street KFC when it first opened and was very sad to see it go, although could understand why it had closed down.

Another was concerned about the closure leaving yet another empty shop in the city centre. Others said it often looked empty after the opening of the KFC in The Broadway’s food court.

Further comments blamed the state of the facilities.

The closure follows complaints from restaurant users which were highlighted in the T&A in October about a filthy downstairs toilet where faeces could be seen in the wash basin.

One customer vowed never to go back to the restaurant after she claimed staff ignored at least three people complaining about the state of the toilet facilities.

At the time a spokesman for KFC said the restaurant closed to clean the toilet after receiving the complaints.

He added that Bradford Council’s environmental health department had since attended and were satisfied with the state of the restaurant.