Part of Centenary Square will be turned into a giant open-air ice rink in the build-up to Christmas.

Bradford Council is to hire an artificial ice rink for this year's Christmas lights switch-on and a revamped Victorian Market weekend.

City Hall hopes the rink will attract hundreds of skating fans of all ages and turn Centenary Square into a focal point for family fun in the weeks leading up to Christmas.

The square was officially opened last year by the Queen when she visited Bradford to mark its Centenary and has become a central venue for the annual Bradford Festival.

There are also plans to use Centenary Square for a major New Year's Eve celebration this year featuring live music.

The Christmas lights switch-on and Victorian Market will both be the biggest ever held in Bradford.

The switch-on event will take place on Thursday, November 19, and will begin earlier in the day than previously.

As well as the ice rink, which will have skating characters in colourful costumes, there will be entertainment and children's rides followed by a stage show.

The Victorian Market - held for the first time last year - is being expanded to a weekend event on December 12 and 13.

Last year's inaugural one-day event featured 30 stalls but the Council is hoping to double that number this time and put on even more entertainment.

The Council will have one eye on next year's Millennium celebrations when it stages its first New Year's Eve event in Centenary Square.

Vanessa Mitchell, project and events officer for the Council, said: "We really want to have a mixture of different types of music and are very keen to get local bands involved.

"I'd like to know what local bands are out there, not just for this event but for any other things we may put on in Centenary Square."

She can be contacted on (01274) 754783.

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