A LANDMARK pub will re-open as the latest branch of a popular curry restaurant, now a new planning application has been approved.

Earlier this year plans to convert the Turf Pub building on Keighley Road into a Kashmiri Aroma restaurant were revealed.

The pub - in Manningham and near the entrance to Lister Park, has opened and closed numerous times in recent years.

The restaurant chain, which has branches in Ilkley, Wakefield, Harrogate and Sheffield, recently submitted a planning application to Bradford Council to change the use of the building from pub to restaurant, as well as making some changes to the rear of the building.

That application has now been approved by planning officers, along with a separate application to install new signage on the building.

The manager of the business hopes the new branch will be open later this Summer.

The pub straddles two conservation areas, the North Park Conservation Area and Heaton Estates Conservation Area. But heritage officers on Bradford Council said the change will not harm either of the two heritage areas.

Conservation officer Gerrard Shaw said the location of the building “places a special duty on the local planning authority to seek to preserve or enhance the character or appearance of a conservation area in determining an application. I am satisfied that the proposal will have no significant impact on the character or appearance of the two conservation areas.”

There had been no objections submitted to the Council over the application, with just one public comment – supporting the business if it does not open after midnight.

Planning officers said: “The proposed use as a restaurant would not be anticipated to result in any greater threat to neighbouring amenity than the existing. In terms of the pattern of visiting customers this would be envisaged to be comparable to that of the existing use.”

The application was approved on the condition that it only opens between 8am and 11pm.

Plans to replace the pub signage with the restaurant branding were also approved, with officers saying: “The signage is considered proportionate to the scale of the building and relates acceptably with the character of the building and wider locality.”

Managing Director of Kashmiri Aroma Tariq Mahmood said that now planning had been approved refurbishment work would be going ahead with the hope that the restaurant will open in June or July.

He said: “There is lots of structural work we have to do, we will be working to fit the building out as a restaurant now.

“We have been looking for a long time to come and open a restaurant in Bradford. We wanted to be part of the curry capital.”

He said it would be “a little bit more traditional” that some of the restaurant’s other branches.

The pub was previously known as the Park and dates back to the late 1800s. It was built opposite Lister Park after a toll road was created between Bradford and Bingley.

The Bradford branch of the Campaign for Real Ale had raised concerns about the loss of The Turf, pointing out that a number of other pubs in the area had been lost in recent years including the Kings Arms in Heaton.