EXTRA structural work has delayed the opening of a new Indian restaurant and bar in The Broadway shopping centre.

But bosses at Papadoms, which is taking over the vacant 6,500 sq ft unit in Charles Street, Bradford, have now confirmed that the restaurant will open its doors by the beginning of July.

Bavava Restaurants, which is behind the new Bradford venture, is also due to begin recruitment shortly.

Sanjeev Sanghera, the firm’s founder and chief executive, said: “For our plans to come to fruition we needed to gain approval for some structural work within the premises.

“We are building a mezzanine floor, and our designer has been very clever with the design and split the stairs into three.

“There will be a cocktail lounge on the mezzanine area and a bar on the ground floor.

“We needed to wait for the structural engineers from Westfield to approve the designs and there was a lot of toing and froing.”

But he added: “The contractors are back to full speed and we are now at the final fit-out stage, with decorative features and flooring going in.

“The delay has been quite frustrating because we are so excited about opening this restaurant, and it’s going to be a major flagship for us.

“We are champing at the bit to get going.”

The cost of the fit-out is now expected to be £1.2million and the scheme will create 60 full-time equivalent jobs.

Advertisements for new staff are expected to to go online shortly.

In January when Mr Sanghera first revealed details of the new venture to the Telegraph & Argus he said that the team were very excited about the prospect of opening up a second branch of the Papadoms brand.

But since then the original Sunderland restaurant has been closed down in order to focus on the Bradford launch.

He said at the time that they were blown away with the regeneration of Bradford’s city centre – a key factor in deciding on a location for the new restaurant, having first looked at Leeds.

He said he had been in the restaurant business for more than 30 years in Glasgow and was part of the city’s successful Curry Capital title bid – prior to Bradford taking over the mantle for the last few years.