ONE of the country's longest-serving barmaids celebrated her 80th birthday last week, but she has no intention of calling time yet.

Daisy Frost has worked at the Yorkshire Hussar Inn, at Markington, near Ripon, North Yorkshire, for 56 years.

When she started work at the pub there were only two barrels behind the bar, one of bitter and one of mild, compared with a whole host of beers, lagers, wines and spirits now on sale.

But Daisy said that the biggest change in working at the pub for over half a century was the difference in prices.

"Bottles were one and eight and now they are £2, and a pint of bitter was one and four and they are £1.80 now. They just go up and up. Back then, I can remember you could get a packet of cigarettes and a box of matches and you would get change out of six pence, now they are £4."

The price of a bottle of beer at one and eight in 1945 is roughly equivalent to 9p in today's money. A pint of bitter at one and four is 6p.

Daisy said she did not know where she got the energy from to continue working at the pub, but said she worked three days a week and still enjoyed half a bitter and occasional whisky.

Her employer, Peter Brayshaw, has known Daisy all his life. His parents ran the pub from 1947, a couple of years after she started working there. His mother, Ishbell, still lives there.

He said: "Daisy gets on with everybody, young people and old. She is very good humoured and likes a good joke. She is a character.

"She pulls a good pint, so as far as I'm concerned she can work here for as long as she wants. She is part of the fixtures and fittings, and it would not be the same without her."

While most 80-year-olds have been retired for about 20 years, Daisy enjoys her job and has no plans to give up.

"I'm a widow and have been for 20 years. It gets me out of the house working at the pub. I meet people and it is a change from being stuck indoors on your own each day," she said