A Bradford shopping centre has said farewell to one of its longest-serving members of staff after John Haley retired after 28 years.

Mr Haley, 65, of Bingley, has been working as a senior maintenance supervisor at the Kirkgate Centre in Bradford.

And his connections with the centre are so close that he used to live in a flat which has since been converted into the centre's management offices.

He joined the centre in 1974 as caretaker and said that he had never looked back.

"I suppose I never intended to stay so long, but I've loved the job and have made so many friends," he said. "The best thing is that no two days are the same - one day I'm replacing and painting doors, the next I'm building the Christmas grotto."

Mr Haley said he intended to spend his retirement on the golf course, but centre manager Catherine Riley admitted it would be a different place without him.

"It's hard to imagine how the centre will function without him. He really does know everything that there is to know about the place and we shall all miss him," she said.