Goodbye friends!

The Keighley Bros business was first established as a private limited company in 1875 and customers - who Tom Keighley prefers to regard as friends - will lament the shop's closure.

He was just 13 when he started working in the family shop in Idle.

Post-war rationing was in progress and he remembers standing by his uncle Horace and marking customers' ration books with a cross to indicate they'd had their egg ration. To pad out the meagre stock they would visit farmers in Settle in the Yorkshire Dales to get hold of freshly snared rabbits.

And on Saturday mornings he had to get on his pushbike and call at customers' homes to collect orders.

But now, after working full time at the shop in The Green for more than 50 years, he's stepping down - marking the end of a 125-year business.

The business has continued to thrive for more than a century and has outlasted the other butchers in the village - of which there were 12 or 13 at one time. It has kept going in the face of competition from major supermarkets, something Mr Keighley attributes to personal service.

And it has kept going through thick and thin - including the BSE crisis and one week in the Second World War when the rationing was so tight they only sold corned beef for a whole week.

"It comes down to being honest with your customers, keeping everything clean and tidy and being respectful," said Mr Keighley. "We don't treat customers as customers, we treat them as friends."

The shop is closing because Mr Keighley, of Frizinghall, is retiring at the age of 65, and his son Simon wants to try something new.

And both men object to the rising tide of paperwork and regulation they say is making the job ever harder.

Mr Keighley said: "They wanted me to go on a course regarding food hygiene - I just refused. Why should I do it at my age? It's all common sense.

"I am sad the shop will be closing but I'm looking forward to being retired. It will be the end of an era in Idle."