13 haunted inns of Britain and Ireland

London
The George Inn
77 Borough High Street
Southwark, London
020 7407 2056
This establishment is the capital's only remaining galleried coaching inn and the woman seen floating around the rooms is believed to be the technology-averse former landlady, Miss Murray. She kept the George for 50 years in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when the end of the coaching age led to the demolition of neighbouring inns. Three galleries of the George were demolished before public outcry saved the building. Here, new tills can be guaranteed to go wrong. Computers crash for no reason. And digital cameras often malfunction when photographing the interior of one of the London's most timeless hostelries.

The South East
The George
45 Guildford Street
Chertsey, Surrey
01932 886781
The George was probably built as a hunting lodge in the 14th century, and has managed to acquire a ghostly lady of unknown identity. Many times people have been enjoying a drink in the bar when they hear quick footsteps across the upstairs floor. 'It's her', someone might cry, and those in the know will dash upstairs in hopes of catching her. But in vain - there is never any sight of her. Sometimes an indentation is found in the centre of a bed upstairs, as if someone (or something) has been sitting there just seconds earlier.

The Home Counties
The Ostrich Inn
42 High Street, Colnbrook
Slough, Berkshire
01753 682628
In the late 1300s wealthy travellers would stop to change into finery here before appearing at nearby Windsor Castle. The landlord Jarman soon devised a method of relieving them of their riches and their lives. He would ply them with drink and put them in his 'best room'. When they were asleep, he would undo two bolts on the ceiling in the room beneath. The bed above would tilt down at a 45-degree angle, sending the sleeper tumbling into a vat of boiling fat. He would steal his victim's belongings and dispose of the body in the river. Finally, one night a drunken stranger crawled into bed only to climb out again to use the chamber pot. When the bed tilted and disappeared, his shouts roused the other guests and Jarman's murderous career was over. On the gallows he boasted of having killed more than 60 people. Staff are often troubled by the sinister atmosphere in certain sections of the inn and nighttime sleep can be disturbed by the eerie sound of creaking boards, ghostly sighs and spectral bumps, attributed to Jarman's hapless victims.

East Anglia
Old Ferry Boat Inn
Nr Holywell, St Ives
Cambridgeshire
01480 463227
The stone floor of the Old Ferry Boat lies hidden beneath plush carpet, except for one rectangular slab of ancient granite which the owners would never dare cover, for beneath it are said to rest the mortal remains of Juliet Tewslie. Neglected by her lover, Tom, Juliet is said to have hanged herself on 17 March around 1078. On finding her body, Tom was overcome with grief and remorse. He buried her where she had died, marking the grave with the block of granite over which the inn was later built. The evening of 17 March is something of a party night at the inn. The first chimes of midnight are said to bring Juliet rising from her grave to float around the pub.

Adapted with permission from Haunted Inns of Britain and Ireland by Richard Jones, New Holland, £12.99.