A man was dramatically brought back to life on St Mary Street this week after suffering a heart attack.
Maurice Millward, aged 71 from Shrewsbury, collapsed and stopped breathing on Monday morning while on a building job at Harpers Bar.
But help was on hand as Harpers’ landlord Richard Eley resuscitated him before he was rushed to the Princess Royal Hospital by ambulance.
He is now in a stable condition in intensive care.
Mr Eley was overseeing the building work and he managed to resuscitate Mr Millward before emergency aid arrived.
He said: “I was told Maurice had collapsed and banged his head so I got the staff at Harpers to ring an ambulance. When I saw him he wasn’t breathing and I thought he was dead.
“He was slumped against the wall and he was lifeless. I couldn’t find a pulse and I checked to see how badly his head was damaged - but he only had a graze.
“The paramedic then phoned and told me to lay Maurice down, put his head back and check his airways- then start doing chest compressions.
“They told me to do 400 at two a second. I had them on speaker phone and had to count out how many I was doing.
“After about 200 compressions he took in a deep gasp of breath but his breathing wasn’t regular so I was told to keep on with the compressions.
“When the paramedics arrived they said ‘well done mate, we’ll take over now’.
Mr Millward, from Dumbstruck Designs had travelled to work that morning with building partner Wayne Hughes to make adjustment to the security gate at the side of the winebar.
Mr Hughes said: “It’s a hell of a shock because Maurice was fit as a fiddle. I have worked with him for two years and he’s a really good friend so I am just hoping he will be alright.
“He was dead in the alleyway, he wasn’t breathing but we kept talking to him and did the resuscitation.
“The paramedics were here within about five minutes and I spent the rest of Monday with him at the hospital. He is talking but he is still in intensive care.”
By Sam Pinnington