NEW plans show how a derelict pub could soon be demolished and replaced with a community centre.

The Newby Square on Bowling Old Lane has stood empty since 2016, and the building is now badly dilapidated.

This week a planning application was submitted to Bradford Council to flatten the pub and build a new community building, with a mosque and three shops, on the site.

One built the facility will be operated by Firdaws Islamic Centre, a charity based in BD5, and will create around 10 jobs.

The planning application says the scheme has been to help tackle the "local challenges" that include anti-social behaviour, as well as help community cohesion.

As well as a three storey worship building, the application calls for the development of three small retail units on the site - which is next to a gospel church.

One would be a barbers, one a cafe an the third a Kurdish bakery.

The application, designed by Bradford based Yeme Architects, says the development would be a much needed improvement of the site, and says there had been little interest in the building reopening as a pub since it was shut down five years ago.

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It adds: "The proposed centre is designed to respond to the local challenges around anti-social behaviour, cohesion and attainment, as well as providing Islamic congregational prayer and teaching.

"The proposed facility will act as both a place of worship for the local Muslim population, as well as offering services to the wider community.

"These include multicultural teaching facilities, tuition clubs, migrant support services, function rooms and community retail units."

Referring to the Firdaws charity that will run the building, the application says: "With two of the seven trustees being women, the proposed facility seeks to offer a comprehensive range of activities and courses particularly focused on girls and women.

"Having a women focussed safe space in the community has been identified as being particularly viable.

"As long term residents of Bradford, the trustees are committed to the sustainable regeneration of the area and seek to maximise the life chances of everyone in the community.

"Having acquired the site through charitable donation, it can be seen that the trustees have widespread local support for the centre."

The application says that due to the pub's existing derelict state, the site is currently a magnet for anti-social behaviour. The building attracted "little interest" for re-use as a pub when it was put up for sale.

The application adds: "The current derelict building is a remnant of a failed 1970s housing scheme and is now incongruous to the area. It has not been economically viable as a pub and when it was last in use it was the scene of several criminal incidents."

In 2016 Bradford Council stripped the pub of its licence.

It followed an incident where police were called to the pub earlier that year after reports of a 100 person strong brawl. The incident, which reportedly involved people smashing tables and chairs to use the fragments as weapons, was so bad that police sent an armed response unit to tackle the disorder.

Police had reported that when they arrived people were jumping out of pub windows to escape the violence inside.

Officer found 30 to 40 empty bottles of spirits on tables and the floor, and it appeared they had been sold to customers for £13 each.

A decision on the application is expected in November.