PART of the second phase of Bradford’s £1.9 million underground shopping development will open next month, after the site attracted 100,000 visitors in its first three months.

The Sunbridgewells scheme, off Centenary Square and built underneath Sunbridge Road, Upper Millergate and Ivegate, is being opened in two stages.

The long-awaited project, which was originally due to open in late 2014, officially opened its doors to the public in December last year.

Now the first section of phase two, featuring an entrance on Ivegate, will open up, with a 100-person capacity Rose and Crown Inn, which will sell real ale and is built over the ground and first floor.

Work on the pub is continuing and it is due to open on an unconfirmed date next month.

Plans for the rest of the second phase have been revised again, with a high-end nightclub set to be replaced by a juice bar and steakhouse, which will have a combined 100-person capacity. Work on this has yet to begin but developers hope it will be open later this year.

An original wooden sign for the Rose and Crown Inn, dating back to around the 1870s, was found during work to create the underground retail development.

The sign, measuring 3ft by 2.5ft and hand-painted by Bradford artist Thomas Forrest, was found in a loft of one of the development’s buildings last year.

Graham Hall, of Yeadon-based developer Sunbridgewells, hailed the reaction the project had generated in its first three months.

He said: “In the first three months, there has been 100,000 people gone through the place. It’s all going to plan. It is an overwhelming the response we have had from people here.

“Work on the Rose and Crown is going to plan. The bar and the stairs have gone in.

“We had a re-think about the club and decide to change our plans.”

Phase two was originally expected to include a second site for The International restaurant, based in Morley Street. A vacant unit, previously used as a Toni & Guy hair salon, was to have been converted into a 60-seater restaurant.

The proposal was due to see part of the empty unit turned into one of the entrances to the partially underground arcade of shops and bars.

But those plans were revised, with bosses at Sunbridgewells saying they only had a verbal agreement with The International, which never came to fruition.

The site’s shops will increase later this year when five lockable stalls open. Agreements have been reached for these to include a cab firm and other businesses selling hot dogs and chocolate brownies.

Its first phase includes bars, and 14 shops, selling items including sweets, coffee, T-shirts and women’s fashion.