PUPPIES with pints are on offer at a bar where customers are cajoled into helping a cancer charity.

Landlady at Kendal's Gateway Hotel Lynn Ball has raised more than £2,000 by selling the soft toy dogs at a fiver a time, with up to 30 of the little charmers being shifted in a single day.

"They are incredibly popular," said the grandmother, whose 26-year-old daughter has cancer.

"Everyone knows someone who has been touched by the disease, so selling the puppies for the Burneside group of Cancer Research UK has not been difficult.

" They are lovely little things.

One of my grandchildren has been dragging one around on a lead for a year and it's still going strong."

Gateway's staff are now thinking of running a competition to see who can sell the most puppies, but supply could outweigh demand.

"There have been times when we have sold out completely.

Keeping us supplied has been the main problem," added Ms Ball.

But with boxes of cuddly toys now in stock, the Gateway gang is looking for a bumper Christmas market.