A CLOSE-knit Greenock community turned out to pay tribute to a much loved barmaid who died suddenly.

Elizabeth Haslam, known as Betty, was from Braeside and she was a popular face behind the bar at the Burns Lounge, where she'd worked for 40 years.

Friends and neighbours joined her family to line the streets around her home in an emotional send off for the 73-year-old.

During the coronvirus pandemic, funerals are limited to only a few mourners and instead people are paying their respects on the road side.

Burns Lounge landlady and close friend Diane Rebecchi said: "Braeside turned out on the streets for Betty.

"She was a real character and everyone in Braeside knew her.

"Betty will be missed by everyone."

Betty who suffered from long-term ill health, lived on her own in Braeside Lane but her death came as a shock to her many friends.

Diane told the Tele: "It was so unexpected.

"Some of our regulars have been volunteering to deliver food parcels.

"They had spoken to her in the garden and two days later she was gone.

"She worked with us for 40 years until she retired two years ago but she was still very much a part of the pub."

Elizabeth was devoted to her son Keith, a Scottish Fire & Rescue Service crew commander who is based at Greenock station.

Keith, 48, said: "My mum had a heart of gold.

"The lovely messages of support have meant such a lot to us all.

"We very much appreciate it and would like to thank everyone.

"It was hard not being able to have a proper funeral but I hope we can do something when this is all over.

"We would very much like to thank Reverend David Burt, he was brilliant throughout."

Former bus conductress Betty stayed in Braeside Lane in the house where she grew up and her parents were the first ever tenants.

She cared for her mum Elizabeth until she died in 2009 aged 90.

As well as working in the Burns Lounge, Betty was a member of Victoria Bowling Club and loved playing bingo with friends in Gourock's Royalle Club.

Her sense of humour and warm character won her many friends and she was once nominated for the Tele's Pub Idol competition.

Diane added: "She was known everywhere.

"One customer from the Burns Lounge was visiting relatives in Australia, were in a bar and when someone heard they were from Greenock, they asked them if they knew 'Big Betty at the Burns'!

"She was even invited to a wedding by a young Australian couple whose grandparents came from Greenock and the family used to come and visit us at the Burns Lounge.

"That just shows how people warmed to her."