A heroic Radcliffe pub landlord who re-started a customer’s heart is now raising money for a defibrillator to help others in the future.

Sal Dahouchi, 60, who runs the Hare and Hounds on Outwood Road, saved the life of pub regular and former engineer, Roger Griffiths, 75, after he suffered a heart attack while drinking at the pub back in 2020.

He sprung in action to give Roger CPR and help to revive him.

Sal said: “It all happened so quickly but you go into autopilot.

“I performed CPR and we got him back again but just after Roger sat up, he went into arrest again but thank goodness he came back after more chest compressions, after which the ambulance took over.”

Sal already had a special place in Roger's life after he discovered several years earlier that his customer had never been abroad and didn`t even have a passport.

Sal said: “Roger is such a lovely chap and when I heard this, I told him that a group of mates were going to Benidorm for a 50th birthday and that he had to come with.

“I wouldn`t take no for an answer. We got his passport sorted and since that first trip, around 12 years ago, we`ve been on holiday regularly, to places like Spain and Crete.”

After Roger`s near-death experience two years ago Sal decided it was vital that the Joseph Holt pub should have a defibrillator and is now raising money to get one fitted.

The devices help sufferers of heart attacks by sending an electric pulse to restart the heart.

Father-of-one Roger, who was previously fit and well, had assumed the chest pains he had been suffering before the near-fatal attack were simply caused by acid reflux.

He said: “Sal has already been such a great friend to me, taking me on holiday and helping me enjoy trips abroad – until I met him I didn`t even have a passport.

“But what he did for me when I had that heart attack is something else.

“I didn`t even know I had a problem.  I ended up being in hospital for four weeks and have had a pacemaker and stent fitted.

“I`m only here because of Sal and I think it`s wonderful what he is doing, raising money for a defibrillator. There should be one at the end of every street”

Sal wants to make sure that the community has that extra safety measure if something similar were to happen again. 

Paul Longmire, of Joseph Holt, added: “When someone goes into cardiac arrest, every minute without CPR and defibrillation counts.

"It`s because as a brewery, we want as many of our pubs as possible to install defibrillators. Not only to protect customers.

"But to serve the local communities – of which our pubs are such a central part.

"We`re very proud of what Sal did – he is a true-life saver”.

Donations for the defibrillator can be made directly to the pub.

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