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

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

When she started there they only had 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 is the difference in prices.

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

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

Daisy said she did not know where she got the energy from to continue working at the pub, but explained that she works three days a week and still enjoys half a bitter and the occasional whisky after work.

Her employer, Peter Brayshaw, has known Daisy all his life, as his parents had 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's very good humoured and likes a good joke. She's 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's part of the fixtures and fittings and it wouldn't be the same without her."

While most 80-year-olds have been retired for around 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's a change from being stuck indoors on your own each day," she said.

Updated: 17.29 Monday, July 9