SEATING for almost 500 diners, a stage and late night openings will be among the new features at Bradford's new Darley Street Market.

And traders moving to the £21 million market, due to open in 2022, will be offered online market trader courses, offering advice on food hygiene and social media presence.

Members of Bradford Council's Regeneration and Environment Scrutiny Committee were given an update on the plans for the "21st Century" market at a meeting on Wednesday evening.

The three storey market will be built on the site of a number of empty stores on Darley Street, including the former Marks & Spencer.

It will be accompanied by a city square, linking Darley Street and Piccadilly.

Kirkgate Market to shut once new Darley Street Market opens

When the new market is opened, Oastler Market and Kirkgate Market, in the Kirkgate Centre, will shut.

Colin Wolstenholme, markets manager, gave Committee members an update on the scheme, which is due to open in Spring 2022. He said: "This is quite an iconic building, I think the people of Bradford will be excited to see this happen."

The market will feature a ground floor selling non-food items, as well as two traditional cafe units, a first floor will be home to fresh food markets, and the top floor will have street food traders and craft ale bars.

As well as the regular traders there will be "pop up" stalls, for people who want to dip their toe into market trading on a short term basis, as well as seasonal stall.

The first two storeys will keep traditional market hours. But the street food floor, which Mr Wolstenholme said would be better than Trinity Kitchen in Leeds, would bring a more modern offer to the market.

The floor, which will have separate street access, will be open until "9 or 10pm" and Mr Wolstenholme says will have a "real young vibe."

He added: "We will have a stage in here for music and entertainment, and it will open into the evening."

There will be a balcony on the top floor, with 89 seats overlooking the city square.

An additional 400 seats will be located in the street food areas.

Mr Wolstenholme said: "We're hoping this will be a place young people will frequent - something new for Bradford.

"We see this as somewhere that can be a stage between coming into the city and heading to the Alhambra or the new Bradford Live."

Members were told that existing traders would have to apply for a space at the new market, and Mr Wolstenholme said: "We need to upskill our traders. This is not a lift and shift of the existing market. We want the best possible traders in this market."

He told members the Council was working with Bradford College on an online market trading scheme - the first of its kind in the UK. On this course they would learn how to maintain food hygiene standards, reduce plastic waste, tackle obesity, and learn how best to use social media to promote their service.

Mr Wolstenholme added: "We need to set the standard we expect of our traders. We need to make sure the offer matches the investment we are making."

When asked what standards traders would be held to, he replied: "Food safety standards are part of our trading agreement. We would expect all traders to have a minimum of five start food hygiene ratings. If they drop down to four we will give them time and support to get back to five stars."

Demolition works are due to start this Summer, with construction work beginning early next year.