'He's always smiling': why porter Steve is firm favourite at Farnworth

"If I can send people away from me with a smile on their face I'm happy and they're happy. That's my aim, really. I like to see people smiling" - the words of popular porter Steve Bradley from our Farnworth store.

He's a firm favourite with customers and colleagues and even goes round the store with shoppers who are partially-sighted, blind or deaf to make sure they get everything they need.

Steve, who's 64 and has worked at the store for 24 years, said: "I started working here on my 40th birthday believe it or not – life begins at 40!

"I love working outside and meeting people. I love just being myself. I know a lot of people in Farnworth and here at the store it's like one big family. I like to have a chat with the customers and always listen to them about what they've been doing, especially the elderly.

"To me I'm just doing my job. If I went shopping somewhere and didn't get a smile from any of the staff I wouldn't go again, simple. It's not that I'm going out of my way to please people, it's just me being me."

Steve, who's married to Sue, has five children and ten grandchildren. Before working for Asda he had various jobs including being a bricklayer, working in a residential home and in a factory.

He said: "It's a nice store here. All the colleagues are great. It's like everything else, if you come in and you're having a bad day you pick one another up."

Rita Charlson, the store's customer trading manager, has now nominated Steve for an Asda service superstar award.

She said: "He is so well liked in the Farnworth area and our customers often tell us how he has brightened up their day.

"He is so good with all of our customers and nothing is too much trouble for him. He takes the customers' shopping to their cars and loads their boots for them. He's such a character and has great rapport with a lot of our customers. He's always smiling, even when it's freezing outside and he's putting grit down.

"We had have a couple of customers with sight issues and issues with deafness and Steve has assisted them. They contact us and see if Steve's available to help and they come in at an agreed time with him and them he goes round with them and gets everything they need and has a nice little chat with them along the way. He makes a real difference to their shopping experience. He's a real star, a really good guy."