DARK SPIRITS
UK’s most haunted pubs boast vengeful landlady’s ghost, flying shots & self-opening gin… plus some VERY famous punters
Which boozer would get your vote for Britain's most haunted pub?
SOME of the UK’s oldest pubs are said to be home to a number of ghosts and ghouls – and some seem to like a shot or two to keep their spirits up.
The managers of the 273-year-old The Eclipse Inn, in Worcester, believe the boozer has seen a rise in paranormal activity lately.
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Co-manager Elliott Fearns says there is a paranormal experience “at least once a week” and even the bar staff have been targeted.
Elliott claims shots of jager have flown off the shelves and the evidence has been caught on CCTV.
He says: “I poured the jagerbomb shots and bent down to get the Red Bull.
“Suddenly the Jagermeister goes flying off the shelf. A couple landed in the glass and some on the floor. It went everywhere and was very sticky.”
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According to the psychology graduate on another occasion a shisha pipe was allegedly smashed during one 'encounter'.
Back at the low-ceiling pub’s bar, there are bottles of Silent Pool Gin and The Source Gin, which retail for £52 and £35.
Elliott explains it’s “not easy” to remove the bottle stoppers but it would appear the spirit is a dab hand at handling the spirits.
“The spirit definitely has good taste because it’s going for the premium ones and not the cheaper stuff,” Elliott jokes.
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Morgan Barrass, who works behind the bar says: “One night when I was upstairs it felt like there was someone cuddling me but no one else was in the room, it was a little bit creepy.
“Another time I was in the cellar and heard a noise like an ale pouring, when I came upstairs one of the taps running and the drip trays were full of beer.
“It was odd because I had just cleaned them and always leave them in a certain position to show that they are clean. They were not how I left them.”
Over the years, there have been various claims about spooky characters coming and going.
One customer has said they have seen a “spirit cat” wandering about.
Years earlier, an American paranormal expert said she saw a spirit soldier in the pub, while another person spotted the ghost of a little girl.
The pub started life in 1540 as a rectory for the Church of St Lawrence and later was part of a Norman graveyard, where monks were said to be buried.
The haunted household was also a private residence and inn before becoming an alehouse in 1750.
Many people believe the boozer is haunted by Lady Alicia Lisle, who was the last woman to be executed by a judicial sentence of beheading in England.
The 68-year-old was found guilty of harbouring fugitives from the Monmouth Rebellion in 1685 and put to death.
The night before her death, she was held upstairs in what's now known as the Lady Lisle Room and watched as the scaffolding for her beheading platform was constructed.
Locals laugh as the co-manager tells his ghost stories - including Penny Catchpole, who believes people's "imaginations are carrying them away".
But for Elliott it’s definitely real. He says he's been targeted more than any other worker at The Eclipse Inn, and doesn’t care if no one believes him.
Pop star Taylor Swift and designer Stella McCartney are fans of the Fleece Inn in Bretforton, Worcestershire which is said to be haunted by the ghost of a formidable landlady.
There are suggestions ex-landlady Lola Taplin is haunting the 550-year-old boozer almost half a century after her death - punishing the place for breaking her strict rules.
It has even been claimed that Lola - who refused to serve drinkers while her favourite soap Coronation Street was on - has come back to keep watch in the form of an owl.
She died aged 83 back in 1977 while sitting in front of the fire in the pub she had called home all her life.
But locals say Lola - whose firm rules included banning bar snacks to stop greasy fingers smearing the furnishings and barring groups - remains somehow in charge.
Current landlord Nigel Smith says there has been an increase in plates, glasses and food being mysteriously hurled at workers and visitors.
The National Trust-owned pub previously suffered a damaging fire in 2004 - just days after a barmaid broke a superstition not to move Lola's shoes from inside an old cockfighting box.
Mr Smith, 59. has brushed aside scepticism about the latest unlikely claims.
He says: "I didn't believe in the supernatural when I came here 20 years ago - I did A-levels in science and I'm firmly rooted in fact.
"But so many things have happened which you just can't explain. Now I'm convinced it's Lola.
“Her shoes are meant to be left alone. One of my staff got them out and within 30 seconds a saucer flew off the coffee machine across the room.
“That was Lola being disgruntled.
“There’s lots of poltergeist activity - things flying off shelves. If there’s something she’s not happy with, she’ll show her displeasure.
“I might be the landlord but Lola’s the one still in charge.
“To be honest, it gives me a bit of hope that there’s more to come when we shuffle off.
“I’m not frightened of it. It’s the living you’ve got to be scared of, not the dead.”
Visitors to the 15th-century pub also include musicians Toyah Wilcox and Julian Lloyd-Webber as well as the late actor Robbie Coltrane and presenter Sir Terry Wogan, who died in 2016.
Both staff and customers at the Tyler’s Kiln, in the historic city of Canterbury in Kent have been left with the heebie-jeebies after claims have been made motion sensors have supposedly captured things moving in the dead of night.
Staff have also reported shadows passing doors, glasses flying off shelves and lights turning on mysteriously.
But there is no proof the apparent episodes are the work of ghosts.
Owner Allister Collins has even put together a collection of creepy clips, highlighting what he believes are strange incidents.
In it, chairs are mysteriously pulled out, saloon doors swing open and a garden umbrella opens unaided. Items also move on tables and a cushion moves from a sofa.
Allister says: “I’d always heard stories about the pub being haunted, and staff are always talking of hearing footsteps when no one else is around.
“There’s also a cold spot immediately in front of the bar, even with full heating on. Customers regularly move from that spot due to the lower temperature.”
Pub cleaner Amanda Gilbert has experienced several 'haunted happenings' while at the venue.
She adds: “I can hear the saloon swing-gates swing when I am cleaning the front of the pub, and when I go to have a look they are still swinging slightly, but no one else is in.
“One time I walked past the drinks storage cupboard and it was shut with the lights off, but when I came back the cupboard door had opened and the lights were on.
“The electricians checked the CCTV because they didn’t believe me, but it just showed weird distortion and the light coming on.
“Sometimes I hear someone walking around upstairs. There are very heavy footsteps, but there is never anybody up there.
“Leaflet holders also disappear from the snug and then re-appear, and when I’m cleaning the toilets downstairs shadows go past the door.
“I’ve always said there’s something creepy about it.”
The pub owned by singer James Blunt is also said to be haunted - with the ghoul regularly knocking a particular tankard from its hook.
James has previously shared a video on Instagram of a glass mysteriously falling at The Fox & Pheasant pub and is convinced it is the spirit of a former regular.
He bought the pub in Chelsea, West London, which dates from 1846, in 2017, did it up and opened the following year.
Those aren’t the only boozers that could lay claim to being Britain’s most haunted pub.
The landlord of the Ring O’ Bells in Kendal, Cumbria, has claimed a resident ghost there - said to be a 17-year-old boy who drowned nearby - pushed a pint glass off a table.
Another pub supposedly "haunted" by a drink-smashing ghost is the the Longs Arms in South Wraxall, Wiltshire.
Another venue called the Fleece Arms pub - this one in Elland, West Yorkshire - has even featured on the TV show Most Haunted, with presenter Yvette Fielding.
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Alleged ghosts terrorising the pub have included that of a young girl, as well as a shepherd who lived there hundreds of years ago and allegedly trashed the storeroom.
Also said to be "haunting" the place are a woman named Sarah impregnated and murdered by her father in the 17th century plus a young motorcyclist who died in an accident in the 1970s.
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