The Red Lion landlady is heading for retirement after 25 years in Leighton Buzzard

Ginny Underwood, who celebrated her 25 years at the pub on North Street on Wednesday, is looking forward to doing nothing after spending 46 years behind the bar.

The 61-year-old started working at The Red Lion in 1993 before taking over as landlady when the previous landlord offered her the position a few months later.

She said: “It was just a case of being in the right place at the right time, I took over on the 29th May 1994, I have been landlady here for 25 years.

“There have been so many changes over the years, 98% of my time here has been amazing, magical and just wonderful and i have met some lovely people working here, the 2% is the usual bit you have with pub, not everyone behaves how they should.

“I can’t choose a best memory from my time here, there are too many, there have been lots of great moments here.

“I plan to do nothing for a couple of months, I will be resting.

“But after that I will probably go back into a bit of work, I’m not sure if it will be pub work or not but I do love working with people, I love people they are wonderful.”

Ginny describes how the pub culture has changed over the years and admits that she misses they way it used to be.

She said: “An awful lot has changed for pubs over the years, it was a very different time when I first started in pubs, 46 years ago.

“The atmosphere has changed, and the smell has changed, when you used to walk into pubs you could smell smoke and real ale, that has all changed now, but I have loved my time here and it really has been a ball!

“We had a party here on Sunday and it was great to see so many people come down and it gave me a chance to say goodbye to so many of my customers from over the years, it was a great day.”