As most people reach old age, they start to wine down.
But for this hundred-year-old French barmaid, retirement is still on the rocks.
Marie-Louise Wirth has worked at her bar in northern France since 1932.
She says that she wouldn’t dream of giving it up, even though many of the 100-year-old’s regulars have long since passed away.
Marie-Louise Wirth, 100, has worked in the same bar since she was 14 and says no milk, no fruit and booze in moderation is the secret to a long life
The centenarian also revealed her secret to long life, saying that she doesn’t drink milk, eat fruit and, despite running a bar, she drinks very little alcohol.
She began working at the bar for her father when she was 14.
She told the BBC: ‘If I had been a big drinker, I wouldn’t be here now. But it’s what I sell.’
To stay in shape, the 100-year-old avoids all fruits and dairy products, which, according to some experts, affect the body’s hormonal system.
Ms Wirth started working at the bar in 1932 when her parents opened it and says she has no plans to close it even though most of her regulars are now dead
She said: ‘Never eat fruit and never eat milk or drink yogurt.
‘I have water with food. And a glass of something else in moderation.
Ms Wirth’s parents opened their bar in Calais in May 1932 and put their teen daughter to work right away.
The tall, blue-eyed proprietor, known to locals as Marie-Lou, has seen little reason since to modernise the brick-fronted tavern with lace curtains..
Ms Wirth said: ‘It’s been like this for 50 years. They’re all surprised there’s no beer pump or coffee machine, but they don’t remember the old days because there wasn’t a beer pump or a coffee machine.’
She can be seen wiping the same Art Deco countertop she did as a 14-year-old when she began working in the bar.
The tiny bar – only around 20 square metres – has no name.
She said: ‘If you have good beer you don’t need a name.’
She also has no use for the internet, a mobile phone or credit card.
Never married and childless, Ms Wirth took over the establishment when her father died in 1954 and she was 37.
Those were the days when customers ordered sweet wines like Byrrh and Dubonnet, as well as absinthe or pastis, the anise-flavoured spirit that is still broadly popular in France.
But the country has seen a sharp decline in bars since the 1960s when they numbered around 600,000, a figure that has shrunk to fewer than 35,000 today.
Ms Wirth recalls when Isbergues, which now has a population of around 10,000, was home to a steelworks with 6,000 workers.
She said: ‘Back then, there were a hundred bars.’