Brother's tribute to Bradford shopkeeper after his death

Father-of-two Imran Riaz, 45, passed away after suffering a heart attack at Sunrise Supermarket on Westfield Road, Manningham, last Tuesday (November 28).

He ran the store for over 25 years,

More than 2,500 of Imran's family, friends, and business associates attended a prayer service at the JTI Victor Street Masjid in Manningham on Friday afternoon.

Thousands of mourners came together for Imran's funeral (Image: UGC)His brother, Itsham Riaz said he was a "hard-working individual" who was much loved by his family and community.

"He was an absolutely amazing person," Itsham said.

"He used to take my son, who is four, to school when I lived in the Middle East. He was a father figure to my son.

"He loved playing sports whether that was cricket in the summer or five-a-side football in the winter."

Imran with nephew Adam (Image: UGC)

Itsham added: "He hardly took a day off. He had been working at the shop six/seven days a week for 25 years. 

"He had a great relationship with his suppliers and customers. His trading was very honest.

Imran was a keen cricketer (Image: UGC)

"Everyone I have bumped into at the store in the last couple of days says Imran was such a lovely person who was always smiling.

"The community really loved him. He was always so generous. He will be missed a lot."

Imran was a huge family man (Image: UGC)

Imran had been rushed to hospital with chest pains earlier in November. He was then given blood thinners to treat a blood clot.

Following a few days off, the shopkeeper returned to work and was his usual jovial self.

"The next few days he was laughing and joking and everything was fine," Itsham added.

"In the morning, he took my kids to school. That evening at around 6pm, he was talking to customers and he fell down on the floor next to the cash register. That was him passing out.

"The ambulance came then when he got to the hospital within an hour they confirmed he had died. They treated it as a heart attack."

Imran was the oldest of the four brothers in the Riaz family.

Their youngest brother. Asam, tragically died two years ago.

The four Riaz brothers; Arfan, Imran, Asam Ali, and Itsham (Image: UGC)Itsham said: "It has come as a massive shock because we lost another brother two years ago to cancer.

"My family are still recovering from that and now this sudden death. They are absolutely devastated."