FOUR childhood friends are looking to bring together youngsters from different backgrounds at a new sports cafe in Burnley.

And the promoters of Shazam, in Colne Road, Duke Bar, have already built bridges between local youngsters in their opening week.

Former Habergham High students Azhar Iqbal, Asam Zaman, Saqeeb Sohail and Muddasir Ilyas first got the idea for the venture around a year ago.

And the schoolyard pals have spent between six and eight months converting Shazam’s base, the former St Andrew’s Conservative Club, into a three-level venue to suit their plans.

The grill and dessert bar is on the ground floor, with a games room above that and an auditorium on the second floor.

Mr Iqbal, 26, from Burnley, said: “We needed somewhere for youngsters to go to keep them off the streets.

“Everyone is going to be made welcome here, no matter what their background.

"There will be PlayStations and X-Boxes for hire for them.”

Live football over the festive period has already brought young people from across the neighbourhood to Shazam, situated next to Enzo’s Pizza.

The fledgling business has already received its first family party bookings from white and Asian families.

“We all went to primary school together, then Habergham, and went off to university at the same time,” said Mr Iqbal.

“And when we came back we just wanted to do something for the local community.”