WESTFIELD is seeking alcohol licences for restaurant units in its under-construction Bradford shopping centre in a move described as "another step on the road" towards completing the Broadway development.

But the Australian shopping centre giant has quashed rumours circulating on social media that large food and drink chains have snapped up those units in the Bradford development.

Twitter users have claimed names such as Pizza Express and Wagamama have been lined up for Charles Street.

The rumours surfaced after a notice was put up on boards surrounding the development stating that Bradford Broadway Ltd had applied to Bradford Council for three provisional statements for three units on Charles Street for the "provision of recorded music, late-night refreshment and sale of alcohol" between 10am and 11.30pm Monday to Saturday, and between 12noon and 10.30pm on Sundays.

Twitter users believed an Asian fusion restaurant would make up the trio of new businesses.

READ MORE ON THE BROADWAY DEVELOPMENT AND SEE LIVE PICTURES

But a Westfield spokesman said the names being discussed were not correct and the company had no idea where they came from. He added that the application for the provisional statements was an "administrative thing".

The spokesman continued: "Since construction began on The Broadway Bradford in January of this year we’ve been really pleased about the excellent progress that has been made. The submission of the provisional statements for alcohol licensing in the restaurant units mark another step on the road towards completing the Broadway.

"Well over 50 per cent of the Broadway’s floor space is now taken by leading retailers such as Debenhams, Topshop, New Look, River Island, Next and Sainsbury’s, and we look forward to announcing further retailers in the coming weeks and months."

Last month, it was announced that Costa had become the latest major brand to sign up.

In terms of the completion date for the construction work, a Westfield spokesman said: "We are anticipating that construction will be completed by the end of 2015."

By the time the centre is finished in late 2015, it will have taken 6,600 tonnes of structural steel to support the 570,000 sq ft of floor space.

Once open for business the Broadway shopping centre is expected to bring about a 78 per cent increase in retail spend and 40 per cent increase in footfall to the city.

Earlier this year the multi-million shopping scheme was being highlighted as a key development to help sell the area to potential investors when senior Bradford Council representatives attended the MIPM UK property marketplace at London’s Olympia.