A French bar owner has shoved and attacked a robber with his own money bag after thinking his armed hold-up was a joke.

Nathalie Leclerc-Pelan was cradling the newborn baby of a customer in her hotel when a masked man carrying a black backpack entered with a raised handgun.

Despite the black barrel being waved in her face, Ms Leclerc-Pelan casually brushes it away and ignores his offer to take his bag and fill it with cash. Instead she chooses to settle the baby down in a safe place.

While some might have used that moment to escape or phone police, Ms Leclerc-Pelan returns to confront the thief.

With the handgun still raised at her face, the thief forces his backpack into her hands, propelling her to step forward and push him towards a nearby door.

Ms Leclerc-Pelan then grabs at the gun’s barrel and begins to lunge at the thief, beating him over the head with his own bag.

As the pair tussle, the thief twice opens fire, both times missing the bar owner and the customer who has grabbed a bar stool to help force the thief out.

The attacker, a 21-year-old male, was arrested a short while later after returning to the scene.