Controversial Bradford businessman Jack Leach has retired, fearing the city is becoming a ghost town.

He has sold the historic Old Crown to leisure boss Peter Cilenti, who now has the monopoly of the city's gaming centres.

And he has passed on the lease of his confectionery shop in Ivegate to staff as he lets go of the reins after working for more than 50 years in Bradford.

He said: "I have seen Bradford change and not for the better. It is becoming a ghost town. There are empty properties and the rates are out of proportion."

Vast improvements were needed in street cleansing, and better policing was essential, he added.

Mr Leach, 64, saw the old Swan Arcade pulled down and Broadway built during a working lifetime which began in the city's fishmarket.

But he constantly hit the headlines over controversial proposals, as well as a libel writ taken out against him by a former Lord Mayor.

Baildon villagers fought a four-year battle to stop him opening an amusement arcade in Northgate. There were objections from hundreds of people.

But Mr Leach won his appeal against Bradford Council's refusal of planning permission for the scheme, though it never went ahead.

His plans to turn the Old Crown into a bingo and gaming arcade also caused a major storm in the city.

The £250,000 project was bitterly opposed by Bradford Chamber of Trade, which said it would affect the commercial activity in the area.

But again the tycoon won a Crown Court appeal and the hotel, which dates to Victorian times, was converted to the leisure scheme.

He was again in the news when former Lord Mayor Marilyn Beeley took out a libel writ against him over an allegation that she had taken a £10,000 bribe.

Mrs Beeley strenuously denied the claim but was left with costs totalling tens of thousands of pounds when a judge halted her bid to sue him 14 months ago.

Judge Harry Ognall ruled that Mr Leach had immunity when he alleged to council auditors that she had taken a £10,000 bribe to influence a council decision.

She was ordered to pay Mr Leach's costs as well as her own and said there was "no way" she could do it.

Mr Leach was also a main protester when Morrisons obtained planning permission to extend its Victoria store in Girlington.

He said it would sound the death knell for city-centre trade.