Local pub with more than one type of spirit and they're not behing the bar!

Once again, Winter is upon us. Dark frosty nights, cold misty weather, roaring log fires, all these lend themselves to good ol' fashioned ghost stories!   I get a kick out of the thought of ghosts, and things that go bump in the night - I love to experience the cold chills and faint vibrations that can be picked up from a truly haunted building, however, I do NOT love to have to stay overnight in somewhere chilly and draughty getting bored and cold whilst waiting for something to occur!  

Wouldn't it be great to do it differently?  To be able to enjoy the adventure of being somewhere spooky whilst being enveloped in warm and welcoming ambience, socialising with friends and  enjoying  a drink or two in surroundings of true quirkiness and full of character…?

Well, I have found just the place!

Ye Old George Inn in Christchurch, Dorset, is so not the archetypal image of a haunted pub! The atmosphere is jolly, the owners are just the right side of bonkers, the food is delicious and the staff are welcoming - there is no hunchback behind the bar or a severed head hanging from the rafters - and yet, and yet, step inside, hold on tight to your pint (of Piddle, delicious!) and come this way…….

Ye Old George Inn (YOGI to it's regulars) is officially the oldest pub in the area , for over 600 years it has stood, a silent witness to changing times and many an historic event. It is steeped in history, and things have been seen and felt - vinegar bottles have flown off tables, orbs of light have been glimpsed in the shadows - oh, believe me, this pub has a small array of ghosts - and I don't mean the spirits behind the well stocked bar!

Enter the lounge bar - walk across the wooden floorboards where hidden beneath lie the secret tunnels of yesteryear, ones that led across to the castle and the old priory; sit and enjoy a well cooked meal, or settle in the snug that was once an old cupboard - do you feel that? Cold chills along your spine? Perhaps you are sitting in her lap? This is where the grey lady spends her time…

Grey ladies are ghosts of women who die violently for the sake of love and Ye Old George Inn has not one, but two!

If you are sitting in the lounge, you will probably be in the company of the first grey lady who dates back to 1644. Her name was Margaret Moore a maid servant at Ye Olde George Inn during the English Civil War and daughter of the landlord, Henry Moore. Margaret fell in love with Rupert a soldier with the Royalist forces who held Christchurch Castle during this period. In the year 1644 the castle was invaded and held to siege. Margaret and Rupert could not bear to be apart so used the secret tunnels to continue their love affair. Margaret became pregnant by Rupert and when her father found out he was horrified that his daughter would besmirch the good name of the inn, but rather than just casting his daughter out he felt she deserved a more hefty punishment, so he bricked poor Margaret up in the cheese pantry and left her to starve to death! There Margaret gave birth. It is said you can hear scratching through the walls and the weeping of a newborn babe late at night - and, in her fury she has also been known to make items fly off tables, which has been witnessed both by the owner of the inn and also unsuspecting guests!

Next, I dare you to venture out to the Barn Bar, (where the excellent Sunday Carvery is held), there you may just get the whiff of yew berries as this is where the inns' second grey lady resides.

Judith Bloom dates from the 1780s' and was the owner of Ye Olde George Inn having inherited it from her husband after his death. To her many patrons she was the model of respectable widowhood, however, she was also young and pretty and carrying on a torrid affair with Jacobi, a brandy smuggler of some note. The affair continued for many years until in 1784 Jacobi got caught up in the Battle of Mudeford, and during a skirmish between Jacobis' band of smugglers and custom & excise officers a Royal Naval officer was killed. No one knew who dealt the fatal blow, but Jacobi was blamed, tried and consequently hanged for the offence. When the news of his hanging reached Judith she became distraught. Gathering yew berries from the garden of the priory she steeped them in the last of Jacobis Brandy within her brew house (which is now the Barn Bar), weeping she then drank the poison and killed herself. Faint cries emit from the Barn Bar to this day if you listen closely enough and the scent of freshly crushed yew berries have been smelt by many patrons both young and old.

If that is not enough to whet your appetite to visit this amazing pub there is also a story of a young smuggler getting trapped underneath in the tunnels and dying lonely and scared, and sometimes, in the dead of night, crying can be heard as he tries to find his way out. Plus, there is a secret attic room in which, according to legend, a mad relative had been incarcerated, shut away from the world and  - I can vouch for this! - if you stand under the hatchway you will feel a wave of pure emotion pass through you, it almost knocked me off my feet and made my skin crawl. Orbs of light have also been seen dancing and bobbing in the shadows, and many of the staff who work at Ye Old George Inn hurry out at night when all is shut up as they have felt things throughout the corridors and the atmospheric courtyard.

Ghosts aside though, whether you believe or not, it does not take away that this is a smashing pub - one that you will want to visit again and again. It has, in Paul and Rob, owners who embody all that an innkeeper/owner should be - true characters! The place has a smile around every corner and lovely quirky features to keep both tourists and regulars happy.

There is history wherever you look and many more stories to tell - did you know that where the beer kegs are kept is the prison that held the convicts before they were shipped off to Australia from Poole Harbour?

I urge you to visit this find of a pub!

And if, as the nights draw in, you feel like a side order of chills and thrills with your evening out this is definitely the place to go!