A HUGE city centre shop unit is re-opening as a cycling and arts hub as Bradford prepares to welcome the Tour De Yorkshire.

The inside of the former shoe shop, on the ground floor of the NCP car park on Hall Ings, is currently being transformed into an indoor cycling track, arts space and base for Bradford Disability Cycling Club, as well as a place where cycle commuters can store their bikes.

Former tenant Sportsshoes, set up by former Bradford City footballer Bruce Bannister, shut its doors in 2012 to focus on online sales. The unit, one of the city’s biggest shop floors, has been empty ever since.

It has been taken on by arts group Skippko on a three-year lease, and the cycling group is the first tenant to make it a temporary base.

The group has funding, through the Council’s Creative Streets project, to run the hub until the Tour De Yorkshire on April 30. But it needs to secure more cash that will allow it to remain open until Bradford hosts the national Cycle City conference in May.

It is just a few yards from City Park, where hundreds of cyclists, and thousands of fans, will descend for the start of the final day of the 2017 Tour.

The unit is being used by the cycling club, based in Lister Park, to run training sessions for members, with one large wing of the shop operating as a cycle track.

NCP vinyl signs have been removed from the windows, and replaced with cycle-themed displays from artist and cyclist Tim Curtis. And over the next few weeks parades of cyclists will use the unit as the start point as they take part in parades and themed rides as part of the Creative Streets events.

The inside area was so big, a street sweeper was used to clear the unit before the group moved in.

Mr Curtis said: “As well as the activities we have on here, we offer a place for cyclists to come, get changed in our changing rooms and leave their bike here for the day.

“It has been empty for so long, it has been really interesting watching people’s reactions as they look in as we remove the vinyls from the windows. It is a great space.”

Pete Scotcher, who works in Kala Sangam, was the first customer to use the bike storage facility, and said: “I normally lock my bike up outside the Broadway Shopping Centre, but leaving it somewhere like this is much safer.”