THE Brass Monkey on Shirley Road is run by landlady Debbie Edwards, who has been a familiar face there for the last seven years.

According to the 45-year-old, the locals have told her she is never allowed to leave.

Originally from Poole, Debbie has worked in pubs since she was 18 years old and moved to Southampton 13 years ago.

Debbie said: “It was a challenge to run the pub at first because it was rough and ready.

“But now it is an inviting and calm establishment.

“It used to be called the Rising Sun, and some regulars still call it that. I class the pub trade as my vocation.”

She added: “Locals like the pub because it’s so friendly here.

“Punters make new people feel welcome. We are like a family. We have a lot of workers passing through and “

The Brass Monkey boasts a selection of premium beers and drinks. It also features Sky Sports and BT Sports across three screens.

Besides sports, the pub offers other entertainment in the form of pool tables and jukeboxes which are both free on Wednesdays and we do a meat raffle on Saturdays

Decorated with a giant golden monkey, the pub has a 4.5-star rating on review site TripAdvisor.

A brass monkey was something for storing cannon balls on old naval ships, Debbie claims.

Debbie said: “We do not do food so to speak but for special events, we offer free food. However, we have a pizza truck in our carpark.”

For the last 18 months, husband and wife team Kamil and Karolina Strachyra run What a Pizza from the Brass Monkey carpark

Kamil said: “I come here for the landlady but we also offer punters wood fire oven cooked pizzas. Everything we make is homemade and we only use top quality ingredients.”