Meet the 100-year-old bar owner who still goes out dancing until 2am

Marie-Louise Wirth, 100, still runs the bar she began working in when she was just 14. Photo / AFP

Marie-Louise Wirth is living the dream in northern France, where she owns and runs her own bar.

At 100-years-old "Marie-Lou" is well known among locals, and her bar has barely changed since she first began working there at just 14-years-old.

"It's been like this for 50 years," Wirth recalled to AFP.

"They're all surprised there's no beer pump or coffee machine, but they don't remember the old days, because there wasn't a beer pump or a coffee machine."

The small 20 square meter brick bar has no name, no internet, and does not accept credit card payments.

"If you have good beer you don't need a name," says Wirth.

As for her love life, Wirth never married or had children and fondly recalls taking over the bar from her father at age 37, during what she believes was the heyday for bars in the area.

Her small town now only has a population of 10,000 people, but it used to be home to 6000 steelworkers that kept all the local watering holes in business.

"Back then ... there were a hundred bars," Wirth recalled.

Times may have changed but Wirth still routinely opens her bar at 8.15am every day, while she sips on a glass of her favourite cherry brandy.

Asked what the secret is to being a sprightly centarian, Wirth doesn't really have any idea, except to say: ""How am I supposed to know why I'm like this? Only God knows but he doesn't speak to me!"

She makes no apologies for her diet saying she particularly enjoys delving into mayonnaise and spicy foods.

"I eat a lot of spicy food. I eat everything I shouldn't. You give me mayonnaise or jam and I'll take the mayonnaise. But I don't have cholesterol!"

As for exercise, Wirth can often be found wandering home at 2am after a night out on the town dancing.

"You know, I live like someone who's 60 years old. I go out a lot. I like to go dancing. I don't mind coming home at 2am and waking up at 7:30. I'm not tired."

And she doesn't stop there. Wirth also took a treetop adventure challenge in 2013 in the French Caribbean Island of Martinique and even went hot air ballooning.

"I'm a daredevil!" Wirth states confidently. "There's no point living to do nothing and see nothing."