Bradford tycoon Sir Ken Morrison has broken through the £1 billion barrier, according to a survey of the richest people in Britain.

The supermarket boss - who is still known to serve customers on the fish counter occasionally - has seen his personal wealth soar to £1,150 million - a rise of £340 million in the past year, according to the Sunday Times Rich List.

And his fortune means he holds on to second place in the Richest in Yorkshire list which is due to be published by the newspaper tomorrow.

The 69-year-old chairman of the Bradford-based William Morrison supermarket chain saw his firm join Britain's top 100 companies on the Stock Exchange this month.

After five years' rapid growth reaching a market value of £3.2 billion, the firm is now included in the FTSE-100 index.

Philip Beresford, a leading authority on British wealth, compiled the list. He said: "Morrisons is a phenomenally successful business and Sir Ken is an inspiration to us all.

"There's no side to him and he gets on with everybody from people on the shop floor to managers. I bet if you went in your local Morrisons tomorrow you'd see him working on the counter and chatting to customers - he's that sort of man."

In Yorkshire he is topped only by Eddie Healey Property, which is run by Hull brothers Eddie and Malcolm Healey.

The brothers own the Meadowhall shopping complex in Sheffield and their fortune stands at £1,250 million.

At one time Eddie Healey was involved in plans to develop the Vicar Lane complex in the heart of Bradford and was also one of the developers bidding to rebuild Odsal stadium.

"Because Eddie Healey Property is the combined wealth of two brothers you could say that Sir Ken is really the richest man in Yorkshire," added Mr Beresford.

"And it's good to see Bradford up there and not subsumed by Leeds and Harrogate which are traditionally richer areas."

Sir Ken - who steadfastly refuses to comment about his personal wealth - handed over £200,000 to farmers hit by the foot-and-mouth crisis in March.

And he also pledged the company would pay its meat suppliers within 48 hours to further help the struggling livestock farmers.

Founded in 1899 by William Morrison, Sir Ken took over the business in 1957 when the West Bowling family were egg and butter merchants on Bradford markets.

He has masterminded the company's growth and saw the first supermarket open in Girlington in 1961 - now the firm's flagship store stands on the same site.

Morrisons employs about 3,000 people in Bradford and 40,000 nationally.

Workers have annually received a profit share for the past 23 years and this year's is due to be announced next month.

Sir Ken was knighted in the New Year's Honours List in 2000 for services to the retail industry.

And Bradford has also scooped third place in the Yorkshire list with entrepreneur David Hood of Pace Micro Technology, based at Salt's Mill in Saltaire.

Mr Hood, 52, who started the company in 1982, is said to be worth £450 million - an increase of £30 million on last year.

The company is worth £1,132.6 million, employs more than 1,500 people and manufactures set-top television boxes for digital and satellite networks.

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