Freedom of the city honour in store for Ken Morrison

Sir Ken will swear an oath and sign the Roll of Honorary Freemen during a ceremony in the council chamber at Bradford City Hall on Thursday.

He will also be presented with a commemorative scroll by the Lord Mayor of Bradford, Councillor Peter Hill.

Coun Hill said: "Sir Ken is being honoured for the tremendous contribution he has made to Bradford. This includes his decision to keep Morrisons' headquarters in the city, which has benefited the local economy, and helping to build the company into the country's fourth largest supermarket."

People admitted to the prestigious Roll of Honorary Freemen of the City of Bradford must be Bradfordians and must have made a national or international contribution.

Previous recipients include artist David Hockney, the 3rd Battalion of the Yorkshire Regiment and author JB Priestley.

Senior Bradford councillors, the Lord-Lieutenant of West Yorkshire, Dr Ingrid Roscoe, and the High Sheriff of West Yorkshire, Richard Clough, will be among those attending the ceremony.

Sir Ken's family owned a small chain of grocery stores in Bradford when he was born in 1931.

He became its managing director and chairman in 1956 and two years later he opened the city centre's first self-service shop, which boasted three check-outs.

The chain slowly expanded beyond Bradford and it is now a FTSE 40 organisation with more than 375 stores across Britain.

Sir Ken received the CBE in 1990 and in 2000 he was knighted for services to the food retailing industry.

He stood down as the supermarket chain's chairman in 2008 but retains the honorary post of life president.

Earlier this year Sir Ken took over as president of the Yorkshire Agricultural Society, following in the footsteps of prestigious former incumbents who include the Princess Royal, the Duchess of Kent and Lord Harewood.

The business veteran, who is the region's richest man, is a keen farmer, working on 1,000 acres of farmland at Myton-on-Swale in North Yorkshire, where he keeps sheep and cattle and grows wheat and barley.

One of Bradford's most famous sons, Sir Ken returned to his old night school at Bradford University School of Management earlier this year to officially open its new campus development.

Educated at Bradford Grammar School, Sir Ken spent his working life in the city and one of his last acts as chairman of Morrisons was to open a large head office in Bradford.

He has previously spoken of the citizens of Bradford as being "fair-minded, tolerant and industrious."