LOVING tributes have been paid to a renowned York pub landlady, who has died at the age of 89.

Eve Briggs, who ran the Bay Horse in Marygate with her husband Arthur, died on Friday after a battle against illness.

The couple ran the pub for 35 years until 1986, but their son, Peter, said today that Eve “had never really left in her mind”.

He said: “She had great memories of the place.”

Eve was born in Cleethorpes, but spent most of her life in York. She met her husband-to-be Arthur shortly before the Second World War, while he was working at Rowntree’s, and they bought the pub in 1951.

During its heyday in the 1970s, punters used to flock to the pub for her Eve’s Special cocktail, a unique concoction that she only divulged publicly four years ago.

The pub closed down in 2003, after more than a century, and in recent years Eve had campaigned for it to re-open as a pub or hotel.

Planning permission has been granted to convert it to flats and offices, but it is now back on sale, marketed as having potential to open as an eatery or bar again.

Peter said: “I am sure she would have loved to have seen it rejuvenated, rather than turned to flats.”

As well as Peter, Eve is survived by husband Arthur, daughter Vanda, and grandchildren Matthew, Elaina and Christian.

Peter said: “We were both brought up there, and it was a wonderful life. The customers were more than just customers. They all became friends.”

Shuni Davies, long-serving landlady of the Exhibition Hotel in Bootham, remembered Eve fondly.

She said: “Let’s raise a glass to Eve – always remembered with a smile.

“Our deepest sympathies go to Arthur and family.”

For their first 20 years, Arthur and Eve paid only £1 a week in rent for the Bay Horse – but the initial tenancy cost about £1,000.

In an interview with The Press last year, Eve recounted her and Arthur’s halcyon days behind the bar, and the day they moved in.

“I had a jacket with a brown paper bag full of money in each pocket, and I could not have bought even a loaf of bread that day – I had nothing left,” she said.

“But we went from nothing, and built it all the way up. It was a lovely place. Everything happened there; that place was our life.”

Eve’s funeral will take place at 3pm on Friday at York Crematorium. Family flowers only. Donations to York Against Cancer.