Bradford may be known as the curry capital of the north, but the popular Asian meal could soon be beaten into second place by the humble pizza.

Perfect Pizza is the first national pizza chain to offer halal pizzas, and has chosen Bradford to try out its new range.

The move was sparked by Jas Sandhu, owner of the Duckworth Lane branch, when he spotted a gap in the market for halal fast food in Bradford.

After researching his customer base Mr Sandhu found that out of the 20,000 homes in his delivery area, up to half were Muslim.

The Duckworth Lane takeaway now boasts nine separate halal pizzas, and Mr Sandhu says business has been booming since the range was launched four weeks ago.

"We're getting a good reaction at the moment, people are very interested. Before they used to come in and ask if our meat pizzas were halal, and they would have to have a vegetarian pizza, but now they can eat the meat ones," he said.

Menus now carry the official halal symbol, which guarantees that the meat contained in the pizza topping is halal.

They may be made with halal ingredients, but the pizzas follow standard pizza recipes. Toppings include Hawaiian Dream with turkey, ham and pineapple, Mexican Heatwave with spicy beef and peppers, and Oriental Express - Chinese chicken topped with green peppers, mushrooms and sweetcorn.

The restaurant does cater for Asian tastes with a Chicken Tikka pizza, but Mr Sandhu feels that Muslims are moving away from traditional meals to western-influenced dishes.

Naz Kapre runs the Shah Jehan restaurant in Little Horton Lane, and said while she is pleased to see more halal food available, she believes that curry is still the city's favourite meal.

But she added: "There are a lot more people out there who tend to go out and experiment more.

"It's like the English - they started off with fish and chips and now they're into chicken tikka masala! Asian people are starting to go out more to other restaurants and eating Italian food and pizzas."

With 220 Perfect Pizza outlets in the United Kingdom, the halal pizza could be the next big thing in fast food. Bosses at the pizza chain have confirmed that if the pizzas take off in Bradford they could be introduced to Perfect Pizza outlets across the country.

Our picture shows Sajid Saddique, Jas Sandhu, Councillor Arshad Hussain and Kasel Altaf sampling the delights of a halal pizza.