A pensioner had to have 30 stitches to his face and mouth after a woman drinker attacked him with a wine glass when he was helping behind a bar.

John Weldon, who was a licensee for 40 years, received emergency treatment from a plastic surgeon following the attack shortly after midnight last Saturday.

He hopes speaking about the ordeal will encourage witnesses to speak to the police.

Mr Weldon spent 29 years running the Blue Boar in Thornton Road and said he never even had an argument with a customer in that time.

Although the 69-year-old no longer runs the pub, he was helping behind the bar on Friday night so his wife Val could take a break, when the attack happened.

He said a woman customer was dancing provocatively towards him and when he asked her to stop, she kicked him in the shin. He asked again and she kicked him again before pushing towards him.

“She came up and shoved her face right into my face and said, ‘you miserable old sod’,” said Mr Weldon.

“I pushed her back and she threw this wine glass at me. It was one of those big ones that holds half a bottle of wine.”

Police and paramedics were called and Mr Weldon was taken to Bradford Royal Infirmary, where he stayed until Saturday evening.

“I had 15 stitches on the outside and 15 on the inside,” Mr Weldon said, adding that his wife had been shocked by the attack.

A West Yorkshire Police spokesman appealed for witnesses to the attack which occurred at 00.09am on Saturday.

A spokesman said: “Police were called to reports of an assault on a 69-year-old man at the Blue Boar public house on Thornton Road, Thornton.

“The victim reportedly had a verbal disagreement with a woman who had then thrown a wine glass in his face resulting in a significant facial injury which required hospital treatment.”

Witnesses or anyone with information about the incident have been urged to contact police in Bradford on 101.