Britain’s 'oldest barmaid' is still pulling pints and kicking out troublemakers aged 82 - and she has no plans to hang up her apron anytime soon.<br /><br />Ann Wilson has worked in pubs for 60 years and has poured over three million drinks during that time.<br /><br />Straight-talking Ann - nicknamed 'Nanny Annie' - started working in bars in Birmingham in 1964 so she could buy a fridge for her family.<br /><br />She got a job in The Old Yewtree where she spent ten years before moving onto the Journey’s End pub in 1974 where she still works today.<br /><br />Ann reckons she’s seen 12 bosses come and go in her 50 years at the popular boozer.<br /><br />Despite her age, Ann, who has two children and four grandchildren, still works two days a week and says she has no plans to retire.<br /><br />She said: “It all started in the 60s when I got a job to save up money to buy a fridge. At that time we had two children and were surviving on my husband's wage. <br /><br />"On day I thought I’d work in a pub at night and I just never looked back. <br /><br />"Once it gets in your blood, you can’t get it out. I started March 1964, in the old Yewtree. <br /><br />"I enjoyed ten years there and knew every customer by name but I fancied a change so made a straight transfer to the Journeys End in 1974.<br /><br />“When I first went to work, there were only two jobs married women with kids could do. <br /><br />"Either working in a school or working in the evenings. I was brought up with pubs, it was in my blood. <br /><br />“My mum and sister used to work in a pub. I was used to going with them when I was younger. <br /><br />"It’s a trade that you need to like, you can’t wake up in the morning and not want to do it.<br /><br />“The person walking through the door is the most important person. You make their day by greeting them. I’m a face-to-face person. <br /><br />“If you give them a good pint and a nice meal, they’re going to remember and come back. Most of my customers are regulars.” <br /><br />Earlier this month, managers and locals at the Journey's End threw Ann a celebration party to mark her 50th year behind the bar.<br /><br />Despite her age, Ann insists she's no pushover and will quite happily bar rowdy customers if they cross the line.<br /><br />She said: “I’ve always been here backing whatever management’s come in and putting them right.<br /><br />“Every boss that has come here has inherited me. <br /><br />"So I must be doing the job right. I’ve seen teenagers become engaged, get married, have children and children who are now grandparents, so we’re all family.<br /><br />“No mean things have ever happened in the Journey's because we don’t let it happen.<br /><br />"They get once chance, they do it twice and they don’t come back. They are the losers, not us. All I say to people is just be kind to everybody.<br /><br />“At least once a day tell somebody that you love them as you don’t know what’s around the corner.”<br /><br />She added: “I’ve got the nickname of ‘Nanny Annie’. A little boy came in and called me. It’s stuck since then, roughly five years. <br /><br />“I like it, it keeps you fit. When I was younger I was doing six days a week. It’s slowed down now but I can still do it. It’s a job that I can enjoy that much. <br /><br />“Every new boss that has come here has inherited me. I must be doing something right to stay in a job. <br /><br />"There must be about 10 or 12 bosses since I started. A lot of the younger lads are in the memory books. <br /><br />“You’ve got to like it, you’ve got to enjoy the job and coming to work in the service industry."<br /><br />Ann, whose husband Leslie died last year, says she has no plans to hang up her barmaid's apron.<br /><br />She added: “I do two days a week, Thursday and Friday. That’s eight hours a week 12-4. <br /><br />"My husband passed away last year and I still class myself as a couple. I wouldn’t want to be at home and sitting on my own. <br /><br />“I used to work six mornings and two nights but I never worked Sunday. <br /><br />“I left school at 15 and worked at a Co-op in the kitchen, then went on the floor.”<br /><br />Assistant manager Jo Lees said: "She makes a fuss out of us so we decided on a bingo day, which is one of her days, that we will make a fuss for her and celebrate her.<br /><br />"She's extremely popular and we all love her to bits."
