A STRETFORD mum has brought community life back to a pub - 18 years after she pulled her first pint there.

Six months after 38-year-old Diane Noone reopened The Drum on Chester Road, she has successfully transformed the place and recreated the community feel she remembers from two decades ago.

“I pulled my first pint in here 18 years ago and then watched it go from being a really great community pub to nothing.

“We have come in and cleaned the place up, got doormen in place to keep the riff-raff out and turned the place back to being a community pub,” she said.

Diane, a mum-of-five, said she was saddened in recent years as she watched the former community pub go downhill and was ‘heartbroken’ when it closed last summer.

She had worked at The Drum in her early 20s and remained a loyal customer for the last 18 years.

But instead of watching it go to rot, she decided to take over and run the pub herself.

“My heart is in the place, I have always loved it.

“It’s a personal thing for me. I am not some big business tycoon, I have come here to get the place back to what it was,” she said.

Now, six months on and as a renovation of the interior is about to begin, Diane said she wants to thank the community for their support helping her bring families back to the place.

Diane’s customer’s have helped raise £1,000 for the NSPCC - a total which was boosted by a £600 donation from the pub’s bonus ball fund.