KATH Brindle experienced something most of us can only dream about when she scooped £2.25million on the National Lottery, more than six years ago. This week she opened her first pub and spoke exclusively to reporter JAMIE DIFFLEY about the win that changed her life. . .

SITTING in the lounge of the pub she has just opened, there is little to lead you to believe that you are talking to a millionaire.

Save the fact that a Lexus keyring is laid on the table next to her expensive mobile telephone, Kath Brindle looks every inch the customer at the Swan Hotel, in Astley Gate. The truth is, she owns it.

After securing the lease from Whitbread's for "a couple of thousand", Kath ploughed more than £40,000 transforming the premises into a trendy bar.

Next month she will open the Royal Oak in Blackburn, and has designs on other pubs. But she won't say which ones.

It is her ordinariness -- when compared to the flamboyancy of someone like Margo Grimshaw -- which is striking.

It is also what made it so difficult for her to adjust to the fame which was suddenly thrust upon her.

Kath said: "It was very hard to handle at first. I was getting a lot of publicity from the national newspapers, like the Sun and the Star, some of it bad, and there were a lot of people who wanted to befriend me.

"It was life-changing right away and very hard to come to terms with. I went from having nothing to having all that money and I could buy anything I wanted. There was a danger of spending it all and getting carried away but I got used to it."

It was January, 1995, when Kath's life changed overnight as she scooped £2.25million on the National Lottery.

Out of work, having been made redundant from a Blackburn plastic factory nearly 12 months before, Kath was living in a modest terraced in Infirmary Street with her three-year-old daughter Leanne.

Kath, now 35, said: "My sister told me I had won but I didn't believe her. I thought she was winding me up. It was mind-blowing." She showered her friends and family with gifts and spent £14,000 on a car and moved home, in Blackburn, although she doesn't say where.

Although she is warm and welcoming, Kath is still hesitant to disclose certain facts.

She reveals that she has holidayed all over Europe and visited America three times and that the Seychelles is a "nice place."

She admits that cars are one of her luxuries -- a gleaming white Lexus sits outside. But she pointedly refused to say how much it cost (except that it was expensive) and would not reveal how much of her £2.25million she has left.

Suffice to say she invested it wisely and will never have to work again. Nor does she play the lottery either.

"It's a weird feeling knowing you don't have to get up for work," she explains.

After six years of relaxing Kath said the time was right to enter the world of business. And with expert advice -- from Margo Grimshaw among others -- she is looking forward to a successful career.

Kath said: "Margo was very nice and has helped me a lot. I have asked her for advice because I've never had a pub before.

"I don't know how many more pubs I'll get. It's hard to say when to stop but I really hope its succeeds."

Running a pub may not be every millionaire's dream -- and Kath is no different. "I am not the boss," she insists. "Kerry Greenhalgh will be running the pub. I'm just behind the scenes."