Shopping giant Tesco is in a fresh bid to build a multi-million-pound store close to the city centre.

The company wants to demolish the previous Kwik Save store it moved into two years ago and build a new state-of-the-art shop on the site.

If planning permission is given, contractors are expected to be on site in about six months but the existing store will remain open while the work takes place.

Corporate affairs manager Shaun Edgeley said: "Where this has happened elsewhere the building has been scheduled to keep parts of the store which could still be used. "

Tesco suffered a major blow last year when developers Sterling Capitol pulled out of a £60 million scheme to redevelop Odsal Stadium with a superstore after the Government called the scheme in for a public inquiry.

Its involvement would have provided finance towards the creation of a world class stadium for the Bradford Bulls rugby league team.

Tesco moved into the Kwik Save building after an application was turned down by Bradford Council in 1999 for a bigger scheme including the demolition of the existing store and a number of other buildings.

Tesco gave the KwikSave building a £1 million refurbishment but now wants to start from scratch to develop a top-class store. The adjoining Focus DIY store would be refurbished and the planning application includes a petrol station.

Councillors will also be asked to approve the use of a vacant building on a nearby site to use as another food store.

Mr Edgeley said the plan was for a building the same size as Kwik Save but in a square design like its other purpose-built shops. The former Kwik Save layout was not ideal because of its design, he added.

Mr Edgeley said the Canal Road store was one of its most popular shops but he did not want to provide an exact number of customers because "Mr Ken" - a reference to Bradford-based Morrison's chairman Sir Ken Morrison - "would be delighted to get this information".

He admitted the company had been disappointed about the axing of the Odsal scheme but he added: "If it had gone ahead we may not have had the millions of pounds we needed for this development."

Jeff Frankel, chairman of Bradford Retail Action Group said: "It is pleasing to see the company has the confidence to invest in Bradford."

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