Shop staff partly pulled the plug on a performance by international concert pianist John Briggs.

Mr Briggs was performing in Keigh-ley's Airedale Shopping Centre last Fri-day when staff from the nearby Birthdays shop complained about the noise. The musicians were forced to tone down their playing.

But in the true spirit of Christmas, workers at the shop offered to take a Keighley Sea Cadets collection tin on whose behalf Mr Briggs and keyboard player Neil Poynter were playing.

Shopping centre manager Mike Millbank took the responsibility for allowing the musicians to provide entertainment last Thursday and Friday. "The problem is all the hard surfaces and the open frontages of some of the shops," he says. "This isn't a concert hall or a cathedral."

Mr Briggs, who lives at East Morton, has been playing in the shopping centre for the last nine years and Mr Poynter has joined him for four. Mr Millbank admits there have been complaints about the volume on previous occasions. He says the music is something of a tradition which many people like, but there can be a conflict of interests. He says this year staff at Birthdays had problems hearing customers and asked for the music to be toned down. "It was a not-unreasonable request," says Mr Millbank. "It was pretty loud, but it was for a good cause."

Mr Poynter decided to play the quieter piano instead of the keyboard after the complaint.

Mr Briggs says: "It wasn't as if it was heavy-metal music. It was light classical we were playing for 35 to 40 minutes in each hour. It was no different from what had happened in other years and a number of people were quite upset."

The Sea Cadets' Lieutenant Margaret Jones says the 55-member group relied on the funds donated by people who listened to the music. "People look forward to it," she says.

Mr Millbank sums up: "This is first and foremost a shopping centre. Traders have a legal right in the terms of their lease to the peaceful enjoyment of their premises. But it is Christmas and it does seem a time when exceptions can be made."

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