I’m sitting at the site of where Sir Benjamin Baker grew up and where his family’s farm house was situated… It’s now a converted gorgeous pub.
I’m having a Carling, (was) reading a horror book and sitting scared after wandering around on my own in the downstairs area, taking these photos and visiting the toilet… Pants down vulnerable… (also I was the only one downstairs at the time) … I’ll tell you why…
… According to its owner… This pub is haunted
The engineer Benjamin Baker is best remembered for designing the Forth Bridge and engineering many of London’s earliest underground railways – love his work!
What I was told…
I spoke to the owner who is a lovely lady also a couple of the bar attendants and the owners daughter… The back bit of the pub where the kitchen is, is the oldest part and where the farm house was situated, and she was saying that she lives above that part and is constantly seeing ghosts, she is now so used to it and it’s not dangerous and she says that she believes it could be Sir Benjamin Baker as the ghost is a man and dressed in a top hat and 17thc. Clothing
How I got sucked into this conversation was that the bar tender was telling his story to the owner and I overheard and basically butted in (whoops) and he said that he had locked the glass back door at night and then out of nowhere it started rattling and shaking and there was no wind or no one was there! He had goose bumps while he was telling the story
She told me a lady had come in here on Monday and had straight away said (without knowing that it’s the oldest part) pointed at the kitchen area and said that that part is haunted and there is a man and woman spirit in that area, she also had goose bumps all over her arms and looked dazzled and then she walked out
The owner told me that she and another guy had locked up and were cleaning when she saw a dark figure walk past and towards the kitchen area, she looked over at the other guy not sure if she was the only one to see it and asked “did you see that?” And he said “YES!” They both saw it…
Mum, I didnt know it was a fancy dress party!?
Another story, downstairs they had a party one of the local offices had booked out the room and while the party was going on, the owners daughter comes up stairs and says to her mum (owner) “I didn’t know there was a fancy dress party on downstairs?” and she told her there isn’t and that its just a normal office party… The daughter says “well then why is there a man in a top hat and period clothing staring through the fire exit door and he has been there for a while now!?” They had no idea who that was and by the time they ran downstairs, he was gone
She also says the dog senses the spirit as well and barks at it when it appears…
Is she not scared?
… She didn’t seem scared… I wasn’t going to ask… What could or would she do? Up and leave her home… Her job? Big ask… I don’t know what I would do tbh knowing full well there is a spirit around who can catch you with your pants down! 😳
The Wandering Passport 