A BUBBLY barmaid who lit up a pub with TV stars at her 70th birthday bash will be remembered at a memorial service next week.

Liverpudlian grandmum Pam Knight got on with punters aged 18 to 80 and was seen as the “life and soul of the party” at the Pen & Wig in Newport.

More than 300 people attended her 70th birthday party with special guests I’m A Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here! winner Joe Swash and former EastEnders star Kara Tointon.

Ms Knight worked at the Pen & Wig in Stow Hill for a quarter of a century but died of a heart attack on September 4 hours after her last shift. She was 73.

Friends and relatives will gather at St Mary’s church in Stow Hill for a memorial service this Monday [September 16], which would have coincided with her 74th birthday.

The service will be relayed via video link at the Pen & Wig, followed by a ceremony at Gwent Crematorium in Cwmbran.

Her daughter Rachel John, 44, said: “She was such a character. She touched everybody, she lit up the room.

“Wherever she went she was the star of the show, the life and soul of the party.

“We are making her proud. She would have wanted everybody to be drinking, be happy and celebrate.”

Ms Knight was featured in the Argus when ex EastEnders star Joe Swash and Strictly Come Dancing winner Kara Tointon came to her landmark birthday.

We also reported how the grandmum, her daughter Rachel and 21-year-old granddaughter Bianca all worked at the Pen & Wig in 2011.

Ms John, of Cocker Avenue, Cwmbran, added: “She was very good at her job. It was a career for her. She took it very seriously. She was my best friend.”

* The memorial will take place at St Mary’s at 11.30am and the service at the crematorium at 1pm.