THE restaurateur behind plans for an £8 million World Food Centre in Bradford has received a prestigious international award.

Saleem Akhtar, managing director of the Jinnah group of restaurants, received the honour at the 10th Pakistan Achievement Awards held recently in London.

Mr Akhtar, who came to Bradford from Pakistan at the age of ten, received the award for the Restaurant Brand of the Year at the ceremony, which was set up to recognise the achievements of Pakistanis living both in the country and overseas.

The annual awards honour prominent Pakistanis from across the world in the fields of business, sports, art, culture, entertainment and politics.

Mr Akhtar said: “I am truly humbled and honoured to have received the Restaurant Brand of the Year award from the Pakistan Achievement Awards International. I would like to thank all our customers, friends and family who have supported The Jinnah group throughout our 28-year journey.”

The restaurant group sprang out of a corner shop which opened in Bradford in 1981 but it wasn’t until August 2015 that the city’s first Jinnah restaurant opened in the Gatehaus building, on Leeds Road, at the edge of Little Germany.

I am truly humbled and honoured to have received the Restaurant Brand of the Year award... I would like to thank all our customers, friends and family who have supported The Jinnah group throughout our 28-year journey" - Saleem Akhtar

Mr Akhtar invested more than £500,000 in the project and created 32 jobs. Its launch was a homecoming for Mr Akhtar, who already owned eight restaurants in Harrogate, Selby, York and other areas of North Yorkshire.

Jinnah, which was named after the founder of Pakistan, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, specialises in traditional Kashmiri dishes.

The company has continued to expand and in March this year it opened a new 89,000 sq ft store in Planestree Road, Bradford. The new United Foods Cash and Carry, which supplies goods to restaurants and fast food outlets across the north of England, is five times the size of its previous premises in Mulgrave Street.

Last year, Jinnah became the first Bradford Partner to support Yorkshire County Cricket Club’s Park Avenue project, a unique concept that gives Bradford national recognition for using cricket as a positive vehicle for social inclusion.

The company is now working in partnership with the World Curry Festival to build a “World Food Centre of Excellence” in Bradford city centre to train the next generation of international food chefs.

Work on the multi-million pound project is well underway and it is hoped to create up to 270 jobs. The centre will provide skills training and include a restaurant, hospitality and conferencing facilities and a boutique hotel.

An annex will allow the business to expand into catering and will include baking facilities. It aims to train between 50 and 100 people a year.