IN THE year since Lisa Robinson-Briggs took over the Boy and Barrel in Westgate, she's saved a life, revamped the interior, seen ghosts, got married and turned the once-notorious pub around.

The landlady has certainly had a busy 13 months but she says she's loved every minute of it.

Lisa was born and bred in Holme Wood, Bradford, and is well-known around the city having DJ'd at various venues as Lisa B, including the Tavern in the Town, Uber and Ambassadors, and managed just as many.

Now she's turned her hand to putting her mark on the Boy and Barrel, one of the most historic pubs in the city but also with a reputation for disorder.

She said: "I like a challenge. I'm like a drill sergeant.

"I like a place where there's a bit of respect and you can have a laugh.

"People avoided this place. It's quiet now but I've got a nice clientele."

She says you can't move for the people on some evenings but whereas before if someone had their drink knocked out of their hand it turned into a fist fight, now she nips any trouble in the bud.

"They say I'm like an old-school landlady.

"I like people to come out and have a good time."

Music is the thing at the pub where the big screens on the walls show music videos and Candid Camera-style videos rather than the latest sporting action.

Lisa, 43, herself DJs every day and sings a few songs - a far cry from singing in front of 3,500 Greeks at a club on Corfu but she's loving it.

She got into music when a friend DJing at the Rose and Crown hurt her back and she hasn't look back, leaving her job as a reach truck driver at a Bradford hamper firm.

She's a self-described 'job gypsy' having also been a PE teacher.

With partner Toni, bar staff Jacky, Holly, Gary and TJ and other DJs welcoming drinkers the pub is now getting five-star reviews on its Facebook page.

Lisa would love to have live music but the pub is too small for that.

She was running a club in Corfu for nine months before coming home to Bradford having met 29-year-old Toni, who used to work at Mario's hairdressers, in the city.

After their whirlwind romance they married in August and now live in the flat above the pub with their three dogs, two chihuahuas and a Cyprus poodle called Sid who is a hit with the regulars, getting waves when he sits at the window.

Lisa wants to turn the hostelry into more of a community pub and she has got off to a good start, getting to know her regulars and even putting her first aid experience to the test to go to the rescue of a driver who had a heart attack and hit a post outside on Westgate.

"We heard a bang and I got him out of the car and gave him CPR," she said of the incident in the middle of December when a Bradford man in his sixties had a medical episode late at night.

"I then turned into a traffic warden to direct cars."

The man is due to come into the pub to say thanks after he recovers from an operation.

Another to have cause to thank Lisa for her first aid skills is a regular who tripped up on the kerb outside the pub and hit his head.

The pub building is reputed to date back to 1742 but it retains many historic features from its history including old coloured window glass and tiling although a revamp of the pub has seen the wall of the pool room taken out to open up the interior - it wasn't big enough to use a pool cue anyway says Lisa.

An inn that old is bound to have ghosts and sure enough Toni reports that the face of a baby has appeared in the background of drinkers' pictures and the dogs also hear things that spook them.

Another change is the beer garden - which used to be the garage at the back.

Now it's an open air space with tables which underlines Lisa's ambition to turn a new leaf in the Boy and Barrel's incident-packed history.