Some people love having the willies put up them. (A-hem.)
What is it about the thrill of having the Bejesus scared out of you? It's kind of like tonguing an adrenaline ulcer.
So what could be better than satisfying this craving for a supernatural shock with a cheeky pint?
Well, luckily for you London is home to myriad legends of spooky and ghostly goings on. Many of them based in public houses and inns.
So here, we bring you our list for London's most haunted pubs...
This remarkable pub on Baker Street inhabits an old mansion – part burned to the ground in the 17th century. Originally owned by the tyrannical Neville family, they say that the ghost of old Richard Neville himself still roams the cellars dressed in fine stockings and breeches.
The Spaniards Inn is a West London landmark thanks to its warm charm and checkered history. Once belonging to the father of infamous highwayman, Dick Turpin, to this day the ghost of the bloodthirsty thief roams the upstairs rooms. But if that wasn’t enough, customers in the bar are also known to have been visited by spirits with a penchant for tugging on their coat sleeves.
A quaint City pub, The Rising Sun on Cloth Fair, has a gang of body snatchers to thank for its haunted status. The gang would poison punters in the pub for their blood-thirty gains. Ever since then you are as likely to be joined for a drink by an evil presence, as you are the person/persons you were supposed to be meeting.
If you’re looking to mix a little entertainment into your spooky schedule then look no further than the Old Queen’s Head. Their music nights provide the perfect opportunity for you to grab that dance with the old Tudor woman who was slaughtered in an upstairs room, just don’t get put off by the spirit of the weeping child who pines for her mother.
When you next visit the Bow Bells on Bow Road, make sure you remain wary on your trip to the lavatory. Why? Because they are haunted of course! Yes, punters have been known to come over a little pale as ‘the claret’ drains from their features when the toilets begin to flush uncontrollably thanks to mischievous sprits on the scare. Could this just be down to simple mechanics?
Located on North End Way, Golders Green, The Old Bull and Bush is arguably one of London’s most interesting haunted pubs. Having been plagued by strange goings on for hundreds of years it was only recently that renovations uncovered the reason. Hidden behind a wall in the cellar was a skeleton buried beside a host of Victorian surgical instruments. Nice fish and chips though.
Now a fine Young’s pub in the heart of Millbank, The Morpeth Arms was once a holding point for prisoners being shipped to the colonies in the 19th century. Ever since then the ghost of one of the unlucky few that died in the cellars beneath the pub has refused to leave. Claiming reparations and getting nowhere he has decided to dedicate an eternity of haunting to the Morpeth Arms.
Tucked away in a quiet mews in up market Belgravia, The Grenadier would appear to be the perfect little pub. However, don’t be fooled, the spectral activity that surrounds the pub is off the charts. Haunted in the main by the ghost of a soldier – beaten to death by his comrades having been caught cheating at cards – the Grenadier is both beautiful and deadly. It’s like an angel with poisonous lipstick. Objects disappear, furniture rattles without explanation and icy chills hang in the air. If you can swallow your fear, you’ll love the quaint pub thing it’s got going on though.
It was the Autumn of Terror, a time when London was vexed by the mystery of the Ripper killings, that The Ten Bells wrote itself into the history of the saga, playing host to the Ripper’s final victim before she left for the night never to return. The pub has since had an update but over the years the staff have witnessed countless terrifying hauntings.