Cottam - 'twas Yeovs, and it was about 15yrs ago. Great fun. The only good reason to close some RAF stations would be to get away from Typed Air Station operations and get a really good mix...
Anyways, civvy now and I find that radar, certainly en-route or TC (Area) is not for doddery old men as HD put it above... civvy Approach might be different (don't know, never done it, but still doubt it), but methinks it was just a perception of Bren's as he got older.
Had he stayed in the tower he'd possibly have said the same thing about radar.
Gemmy, if you want to be an ATCO and enjoy a challenging job, you will like either, I think.