Bartlett leads tributes after death of independent bookie

Independent bookmaker John Bickell has died aged 67, having never fully recovered from the trauma of a life-changing brain haemorrhage in the aftermath of a road accident over two years ago.

Bickell, born in Hackney and who had started at City Tote (later Mecca Bookmakers) as a boardman, worked his way up to become business development manager there before founding independent firm Town & Country.

Warwick Bartlett, the former Association of British Bookmakers chairman and radical independent, recalled a gathering in the mid-1990s when the industry was reeling from the impact of the National Lottery.