A HAVE-A-GO hero shopkeeper fought off a crazed knifeman with his bare hands.

Anil Sharma was slashed as he grappled with the robber, who was wielding a six-inch kitchen knife, during a raid at Premier Food and Wine on Market Street in Milnsbridge.

The 46-year-old defended himself with a chair as the attacker demanded cash from his till – and forced him to flee empty-handed.

“I would do the same again,” he said.

“Once you give in to one person like that, word gets around and other people think they can do the same.

“I guess the adrenalin kicked in.

“On the other hand, maybe my family would have thought it would have been wiser to give him the money.

“In one way I suppose it sends a message out. In another way I guess I was lucky.”

Mr Sharma said he had not been targeted by robbers during his four years at the shop before the incident on Friday night.

The father-of-two was serving a customer when the masked man walked in at about 10.30pm and pulled out the knife.

He said: “At first I thought he was joking and then he grabbed the customer by the throat and said, ‘Give me the money.’

“He lunged at me and just missed my face.