Work has started on the conversion of a former car sales garage into an Asian supermarket.

The £250,000-plus development on the vacant Sunwin Peugeot site, in Alice Street, Keighley, will include a retail outlet selling Asian foods and spices, office space and warehousing for food preparation.

The store will be run along with the current Dalton Lane premises of Yorkshire Halal Meat Suppliers, whose owners are behind the project.

Part of the operation will be transferred to the new site, with 16 new full-time and eight part-time jobs created.

Chris Clarke, managing director of builders HB Projects, said the distinctive building would improve the Alice Street area and make good use of an eyesore building which had been vacant for a number of years.

He said: "We are spending quite a lot of money on the front. It is a glazed front which is striking.

"Without a question it will improve the area. The entire roof is coming off and the entire front is being re-planned, and a completely new two-storey building will be built in its place."

The new roof is expected to be put into place next week, with work currently being done on the outside of the building.

It is hoped that the work will be completed by October or November and the store could be ready to be opened by the end of the year.

The initial plans for the operation were approved two years ago, with amended plans being submitted earlier this year.

Keighley Town Council planning committee chairman Cllr Brian Hudson was unhappy that it had not been consulted about the plans.

But because the council had not been formed when the application was lodged, town councillors have never seen the plans.

He said: "We weren't around when it was lodged in the first place. But now we know about it we are not happy."

Concerns have also been raised about increased traffic in the area.

Alice Street is one of the roads which Keighley Transport Forum has looked at with the possibility of making it a one-way road.