A CITY centre shop left empty by the collapse of Poundworld has been eyed up as the latest venue for a major pub company.

Amber Taverns has purchased the Ivegate store once occupied by the discount giant, and has revealed plans to convert the building into a pub.

The plans could create up to 10 full-time and five part-time jobs if they are approved by Bradford Council.

The unit is one of the largest on Ivegate and next to an undercroft leading to Tyrell Street. It was one of two Poundworld stores in the city centre left empty when the retailer went bust this summer.

Amber Taverns, which runs the Library Tap in Bingley as well as 120 other pubs across the country, has this week submitted a planning application to convert the building into a pub.

The company says that the shop’s “unsympathetically altered” frontage would also be altered to better suit the historic street –which is in a conservation area.

The application says the pub will open from 10am until midnight, seven days a week. The ground floor would be converted into a pub, but the application would allow all four floors to be classed as “drinking establishments”.

The building was used as a men’s clothes shop in the early 1900s, but was later turned into a bar, before being converted back to a shop.

Amber Taverns’ application says: “Over the years the façade of the building has been rather unsympathetically altered.

“The premises has been successfully purchased by the applicant Amber Taverns Ltd, who wish to develop the property and progress the business, with the intention of bringing a fresh approach both to the premises and management, to breathe new life into the property whilst retrieving the building’s original features, in order to give it a long-term future.”

Considered to be Bradford’s oldest street, Ivegate has struggled, with a number of empty units.

But recent years has seen an upturn in its fortunes. Arts group The Brick Box opened their base in a former pie shop, transforming it into a new bar. They also re-opened The Old Crown pub for the first time in years, and it has hosted a number of evening events and performances since.

The opening of Sunbridge Wells has led to two bars, Sunbridge Sports Bar and, last month, Bar 39, opening at the top of Ivegate.

The Venue has transformed the former 1875 bar into a music venue, and planning permission was recently granted to turn a long-empty shop unit into a skin clinic.

A decision on Amber Taverns’ application is expected next month.