Pub cemetery open for business

Every licensee knows that the pub trade can be a grave business, but never more so than at the moment.

While one pub is planning to remove human remains from the premises, another is encouraging customers to sign up for the ultimate lock-in and book their place in a graveyard in the pub garden.

JD Wetherspoon, which plans to convert an historic former chapel in Exeter into a pub, has applied to remove the contents of graves, along with tombstones, monuments and other memorials, from the land at the rear of the 18th century building.

The families of the deceased will have the chance to decide whether the bodies are cremated or reinterred at the local cemetery. A Wetherspoon spokesman said: "We will work with the local authority to make sure it is done properly."

However, a couple of hundred miles north in Uppermill, Lancashire, publican Julian Taylor has taken the oposite tack after converting a field in the grounds of the Church Inn into a cemetery. Planning permission has been given by Oldham council for 8,000 plots.

The first 'resident' is the licensee's late aunt. Mr Taylor said: "It's a beautiful spot to be buried, and a few customers have already picked out their own patch.

"One of them has even asked his friends to pop into the cemetery with their pints on Friday nights after he dies, so that he can still have a drink with his pals."

A garden of remembrance is planned, with relatives able to plant memorial trees for their loved ones.