A BAR has opened its doors on Bradford’s Darley Street – after relocating from its popular North Parade spot.

Al’s Dime Bar, a key player in the city centre’s ‘top of town’ scene, made the move towards the end of 2018 and officially opened the doors to its new home with a launch party last week.

It had been on North Parade for more than five years.

The new bar, now called Al’s Juke Bar, is on the prominent unit on the corner of Darley Street and Duke Street.

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It was once home to the Bradford branch of the computer games store Game, which moved to The Broadway shopping centre in June 2017.

Al’s owner Steve Le Shaw said the decision was taken to move after structural issues were found with the previous building.

He said: “The business was going great on North Parade, we were very happy on North Parade – we wanted to stay as close to North Parade as possible.”

Steve said he always wanted a corner bar, as they can be seen from both sides, and the Darley Street unit was a good opportunity to stay in the area.

“It’s essentially the same operation, but just down the road,” he said.

The support the ‘old’ Al’s Dime Bar enjoyed appears to have followed the team to its new location.

“A fantastic night” was the verdict on the official launch.

“It was really good,” Steve said. “We could not ask for more support.

“It was really positive. A lot of faces, new and old, made an appearance.”

It had some practice runs over Christmas, where Steve said the team learned a lot about what needed to be done moving forward.

The opening of the bar, which has a new name to set it slightly apart from the old North Parade haunt, marks a step forward for the beleaguered Darley Street.

It has taken a high street hit in recent years due to the relentless blight of shop closures.

Last year, an ambitious vision for a new food market were first revealed for the street, and Mr Le Shaw said those plans were a partial driver behind the move.

“I think it’s a great idea and it’s something I really want to support,” he said.

He added that Darley Street now reminded him of how North Parade was back in 2013, before the boom of bars on the street.

Bradford Council has been pushing for more varied types of businesses to move to areas that used to be shopping strongholds and has announced plans to make it easier for cafes, bars and other businesses to move into empty shop units.

A number of other bars and pubs have opened, or are tipped to open, in the city centre.

Further up, EYES Brewing has taken on the old Bradford Brewery building following its sudden closure last summer.

Along the road, in the Kirkgate Shopping Centre, a new bar –the Rabbit Hole – is due to open on the corner of Westgate and Godwin Street.

Then further down, the Old Crown on Ivegate underwent an extensive refurbishment to bring it back into use as a pub.

And towards the bottom of Ivegate, Amber Taverns’ Drum Winder pub is to open in the space formerly occupied by Poundworld.

The Exchange Craft Beer House has also opened below the Wool Exchange in Market Street.