A pensioner who put up Christmas lights for the Kray twins in the Fifties still keeps up the tradition to this day – by decorating the balcony of his Bristol council flat.

Sid Izzard, 79, has snowmen, reindeer and a flashing sleigh on his fourth floor balcony of Baynton House above Lawrence Hill roundabout.

He has been putting up decorations ever since he worked as a painter and decorator in Hackney, East London.

One day, over the quiet December period, he put an advert in a shop offering his Christmas decorating services, even though he had never previously had any experience.

His first clients were Reggie and Ronnie Kray, although he did not realise that he was going to the home of the notorious East End gangster twins before he arrived.

When he did arrive at their house in Bethnal Green, he knew he had to do a good job otherwise his life might be in danger.

"I had never done it before and I didn't know where to start, so I started in the middle," said Sid.

"I worked all through the night, until the twins got home at about six in the morning.

"Blowing my own trumpet, it looked terrific and luckily the Krays agreed. I asked for five pounds but they gave me ten, that was a week's wages back in 1955."

From then on, as Christmas approached, Sid decorated pubs, clubs and hotels around the Hackney area.

He started putting up decorations in August about 20 years ago when his landlady Pat Dando,76, was told that she would not live until Christmas.

Fearing she would miss out on the festivities when she was diagnosed with a liver disease, Sid decided to decorate their Lawrence Hill flat early.

And he has been doing it ever since.

Pat recovered but is now bed-bound with arthritis, so Sid has continued to put up his Christmas decorations early.

This year it took him about two weeks to complete and bed-bound Pat, former manager of the Bridge Inn in Passage Street, said they look "absolutely brilliant".

Sid added: "I do know that I go a bit OTT (over the top); our balcony can be seen for miles but it's a bit of fun. You can see people taking photographs of an evening. If it pleases people, I'm happy.

"It gives people a bit of pleasure, but at the end of the day, I'm still doing it for Pat. It's all for her pleasure."