Longtime Collins and Hayes sales manager Bruce Cowen is retiring at the end of 2014 after 32 years with the company and more than 50 years in the furniture industry.

For more than three decades, Mr Cowen represented the upholstery manufacturer as area sales manager and, more recently, as its agent in the South West of England.

“Bruce will be greatly missed at Collins and Hayes and we would like to wish him a very long and happy retirement with his wife Debby and hope he enjoys many hours on his beloved boat, Jumanah,” the company said in a statement.

His furniture industry career spans over half a century, having started out with a three-year retail apprenticeship at Hatchers, in Taunton, before going to spend 15 years with bed manufacturer Relyon, of which 11 were spent as a representative on the South Coast.