A headquarters has been found for the new joint venture between Bradford mail order giant Grattan and Tesco which will create 350 jobs.

The Tesco Direct business is to be housed in a floor of the refurbished Wharf Mill in Wharf Street, Shipley.

It is in an area of the town near the Leeds and Liverpool canal which is being given a new lease of life.

About 25 staff are being sought to make up the management team of the firm and more than 300 people are being recruited to work in the warehouse and call centre at Grattan's headquarters in Bradford.

The core staff will include people working on designs for the series of catalogues being produced under the Tesco Direct banner.

The catalogues will be sent to the supermarket chain's ten million Tesco Clubcard customers.

Grattan, which already employs more than 5,000 staff, could take on even more workers if the Tesco Direct business takes off.

The joint venture is a stand-alone company which will launch its first catalogue called Baby and Toddler next March.

Steve Bullas, Grattan's chief executive, said today: "Both partners were delighted with the new headquarters for the Tesco Direct business. It is a pleasant building, nicely refurbished, and is far enough away to be at arm's length and near enough to keep in touch with what's happening here.

"People have already been recruited for the call centre because the training period for call centre work is quite a long one," he added.

Grattan is already Bradford's biggest private employer and is looking to expand even further by joint ventures such as this.

The firm is part of German company Otto Versand whose directors are hoping the new venture will take off so that the formula can be repeated in other parts of its business throughout the world.

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