A MAN has been stabbed in the neck in a late-night attack in a Southampton pub.

A 28-year-old suffered serious face and neck injuries in a fight at the Bitterne Park Hotel.

The incident has left the landlady, Tracy Bondsfield, considering her future, despite only taking over in December.

The victim’s partner, who did not want to be identified, said it had left her in complete shock after seeing the man smashed in the face and neck with a glass and bleeding on the pub doorstep on March 18.

She said: “We had never been to the pub before, and the night was going lovely. All of our family members were sat at a table on the other side of the bar when we heard glass smash and a fight break out.

“I saw my partner with blood all over his face standing there in a daze. He had his ear sliced at the bottom and three deep cuts to his neck. An ambulance arrived and they took us to the hospital, but they couldn’t stop the bleeding for over two hours.”

The pub’s landlady has said she had never seen anything like the ‘horrifying’ attack.

Ms Bondsfield said: “I have only been here for around 14 weeks, and all I did was separate the three of them and took one upstairs out of the way. People were saying I hid him in my home, but that’s not true.

“It was seconds, I have never seen anything like it. It was horrifying and my bouncers did all they could. It has made me think about things, maybe I could be at another pub, but I need to speak to the owners, Enterprise Inns.”

In a statement, Hampshire police said: “We were called just before 9pm on Saturday March 18 to a report of an assault at the Bitterne Park Hotel. A 28-year-old man received serious injuries to the face and neck, with investigations ongoing. The man was then placed in the care of the South Central Ambulance Service (SCAS).”

A spokesperson from Ei Publican Partnerships said: “We are aware of this incident and are helping police with their investigation.”

The victim’s sister in law claimed the fight was completely unprovoked and criticised the ambulance service for taking 40 minutes to respond.

She said: “Police were on the scene quickly but the ambulance service took around 40 minutes to arrive. They said they had more important things to do. How can one man randomly glass someone in the neck like that unprovoked and act like an animal?”

A spokesperson for SCAS said: “We were called at 8.52pm in response to an assault. The call was categorised as needing a response within 30 minutes. A rapid response vehicle attended the scene at 9.19pm, before an ambulance arrived eight minutes later. If life-threatening calls came in between that time, they would have been prioritised.”