A HOST of events are being organised in The Broadway over the "critical" Christmas trading period, Westfield bosses have said.

A Pop-Up Kids' Cinema has been set up in an unoccupied unit in the new £260 million shopping centre.

Each weekend until January 31, it will show free movies, including Disney favourites like Frozen, Finding Nemo and Brave.

Shoppers are also being given a chance to win tickets to The Broadway's namesake, Broadway in New York, with a competition running until December 31.

Centre manager Sue Anderson-Brown said The Broadway was putting on plenty of activities in the run-up to Christmas to tempt people to spend "their precious leisure time with us".

She said: "This is about boosting the Bradford economy and welcoming back Bradfordians that have perhaps strayed to other places for their shopping.

"There are lots of activities. There's something to please everyone."

The centre's grand opening, last Thursday, was timed to coincide with the busy Christmas trading period, and all eyes will be on the retailers' performances in the coming months.

Duncan Bower, director of development for centre developer Westfield, said: "The Christmas shopping period is very important and we accelerated the construction to bring it forward to the Christmas opening.

"When we restarted work, we finished the shopping centre in 22 months which is really quite a remarkable achievement.

"It is critical for retailers to hit Christmas trade, of course, otherwise we would have been opening up in the early part of the year, which is never quite as good."

Westfield will run the centre on behalf of owner Meyer Bergman, and Mr Bower said it was part of Westfield's job to analyse how well the centre was performing, in terms of sales.

He said: "We are doing what we do in terms of analytics."

Chris Claxon, the manager of The Broadway's flagship new Debenhams department store, said the centre would offer a "world class" experience for Bradfordians doing their Christmas shopping.

He said: "It is perfect timing that we are opening not long before Christmas.

"For many people in Bradford it will be the first time they can do all their Christmas shopping in their home city.

“Bradford is a great city so it’s only right it has a world class shopping centre."

Crowds continued to flock to the new centre for its opening weekend, with a range of entertainment to keep visitors entertained.

Children mingled with Disney characters from films being shown at the Pop-Up Kids' Cinema, and others had their face-painted to join with the party atmosphere.

There were also competitions for shoppers willing to try their luck, with many spinning the giant Wheel of Fortune in a bid to win prizes, and wannabe Cinderellas playing ‘If the Shoe Fits’ to find and keep a new matching pair.