Shoppers who scurry along Low Street, Keighley, are blissfully unaware they are treading on hidden history.

For beneath their feet lies a subterranean street, frozen in time.

Entombed under the businesses and below the Royal Arcade are shops that last served a customer in the late 1890s.

The amazing labyrinth came to light as workmen broke through when they set about restoring the listed arcade.

They shone their torches on a row of shops, some still with glass in their windows.

One shop door still has its number 3 Low Street.

And further along, dating the street to the time of horse drawn vehicles, is a stables.

Only the lower sections of the shops survive, the rest having been lost when the arcade was built.

The restoration of Royal Arcade is being carried out by builders Frank Brook and Mark Holroyd, whose work on constructing the urban village in Kingfisher Court, Low Street, in 1998, won them an award.

"We were amazed when we found it. We had no idea it was there," said Mr Brook.

"It was only when we removed about 60 tonnes of rubbish that it came to light.

"Sadly, we can't open it up to the public because of the health a safety issues."

But Beverley Socas, who has taken one of the first units in the arcade, High Spirits, a caf and mystic shop, is determined to unearth more of its history.

She hopes eventually to display details to customers.

"It's an amazing sight - very eerie. I was staggered by it, especially finding the stables which still have hay racks," she said.

"It takes you back in time to a completely different world. There are still wooden doors on the shops, glass in the windows and wood burning stoves.

"There was a bakery at one time because there are two ovens still in place."

The Keighley town map of 1891 shows the area before the arcade was build, a hotch-potch of small buildings, some set back from the street and including a smithy - the likely location of the stables.

And Keighley Reference Library also has the original architect's drawings for the arcade - sadly, they fail to unravel the mystery of the hidden street.