THE man who landed his plum job when he was appointed general manager of the Beatties department store in Huddersfield is set to retire after 35 years with the company.

Martin Pollitt – who was handed the task of getting Beatties off the ground when the Kingsgate Centre opened in March, 2002 – will shut up shop for the last time on Thursday.

And he revealed how he made the job his own by doing a deal with bosses of the Midlands-based company.

He said: “In 1998, I was appointed general manager of the Beatties store in Birkenhead, where I spent three years. But part of the deal was that I could have ‘first refusal’ for the job at Huddersfield.

“Contracts hadn’t even been exchanged on Kingsgate at that time, but Beatties was expected to sign and I wanted to make the job mine.”

Mr Pollitt was appointed to the post in November, 2001, and oversaw the development of the Beatties store and the recruitment of staff before the store opened the following March.

And he has never regretted the move. “Huddersfield has been a tremendous adventure,” he said.

Mr Pollitt, who lives with his wife Carol at Hepworth, joined Beatties in 1973 to sell fridges and freezers at its flagship Wolverhampton store.

He progressed to become a trainee manager before moving to the Northampton store in 1975 as department manager for electrical goods and lighting. After five years, he became assistant general manager before being appointed general manager five years later.

In 1993, Mr Pollitt became general manager of the Aylesbury store before taking over the Birkenhead store in 1998 where he oversaw a £1.5m refurbishment.