Fright night
It's the spookiest night of the year. The kids wil be trick-or-treating, the teenagers picnicking in the graveyard - but for grown-ups looking for something to send a shiver down the spine, surely the only place to be is the pub.
When it comes to appropriate venues to celebrate Hallowe'en - which is just two weeks away - many pubs have a severed head start. There are scores of old hostelries that boast a ghost or two, or a resident spectre to make sure the party is a scream.
Publicans are always quick to transform a haunting into a marketing opportunity and making sure potential customers know they serve spirits of more than one kind. One pub that will be turning down the lights and dusting off the cobwebs on October 31 is the Abbey in Shrewsbury, Wiltshire, an Ember Inns house which positively pulsates with paranormal goings-on.
As well as the traditional chills and bumps in the night, staff have been slapped and lightbulbs have flown out of their sockets. The cellar seems to be the most haunted part of the pub - some members of staff won't go down there and a drayman refused to deliver after having a conversation there with someone who turned out not to exist!
Manager Gary Bellingham has tried to get to the bottom of the hauntings. "We had a team of ghost hunters in one night, but they were too scared to come back," he says. "They didn't even want to write a report.
"One psychic has told us that the landing is haunted by a housekeeper but she's harmless, so there's obviously something else going on.
"There are tunnels under the pub that lead to Shrewsbury Abbey and a building that used to be an orphanage, so it could be something to do with that."
Not that a pub ghost is anything but good for business. The Abbey doesn't have to make much of an effort to market itself. As Gary says "the ghosts promote themselves and we're always in the local paper".
On Hallowe'en last year trade was up 15 per cent as people searched out a fright night.
This year Gary and his staff will be dressing up in suitably spooky gear and serving themed cask ales including Hobgoblin from Wychwood, Figgy's Ale from Skinner's and Marston's Wicked Witch. The Abbey will also have its own range of special cocktails - "we'll be getting through lots of cranberry juice and Pernod to turn drinks green," says Gary. "There's no doubt we'll be throwing ourselves into the spirit of the occasion - and there are plenty of opportunities for puns!"
Pumpkins - your essential guide
Hallowe'en is a great chance to dress up, not just for you and your staff but for the customers and your pub. So dim the lights and go for darkness and glitter. There are plenty of ideas on the internet. One of the simplest and most effective is to cut lengths of string and stick them to the ceiling just inside the door so they come down to about shoulder height. Soak them in water just before the party starts and in the gloom should give your customers quite a fright.
Perhaps the best known Hallowe'en decoration, though, is the Jack o'lantern - a hollowed-out pumpkin with a face cut into it. Traditionally, glowing lanterns, carved from turnips or gourds, were set on porches and in windows to welcome deceased loved ones and to act as protection against malevolent spirits.
In fact there seems to be little other use for the thousands of pumpkins that pile up on market stalls at this time of year, although you could add pumpkin pie and pumpkin soup to the menu.
If you are making Jack o'lanterns you don't have to use pumpkins. Bell peppers can be quite effective, too. This year, Wychwood Brewery is attempting to claim pumpkins - and the whole Hallowe'en experience - for its Hobgoblin ale brand. It's running a competition for the best Jack o'lantern and offering advice on how to carve and preserve your pumpkins.
WYCHWOOD BREWERY'S TOP 10 TIPS of PUMPKIN CARVING
Medium-sized pumpkins - work best for most stencil designsLarge pumpkins - for intricate designs and as a "centrepiece" on the barSmall pumpkins - for scattering about or setting in a row.
Remember taller/narrower pumpkins look different in character to rounder/squatter pumpkins, so choose the "personality" you want. If you are using a stencil design, select a pumpkin that matches the shape of the stencil pattern.
2 Select pumpkins that are uniformly orange, ripe and have no bruises or faults
3 Use the right tools
- Boning knife - best for cutting the top hole and large pieces from the face of the pumpkin
- Paring knife - can be used for detailed work
- Cutting saw - for carving fine, detailed areas, across the entire pumpkin
- Poker tool - used to transfer stencil designs onto a pumpkin. Alternatively you could use a nail or an artist's stylus tool
- Gutting spoon - for removing the seeds, pulp and skin from the inside of the pumpkin. An ice-cream scoop is perfect.
Pumpkin carving kits are sold by Tesco and Sainsbury for about £3.99.
4 Use the correct lighting to best "display" your pumpkin
- Tea-lights - are ideal and several can be placed in one pumpkin to give more light
- Plain white candles - give off the most light.
Never leave a lit candle unsupervised or leave children alone with a lit pumpkin or candles.
5 Draw your design on the pumpkin with a crayon or use a stencil as a template punching through it with a nail to mark the design
6 Scrape the bottom of your pumpkin flat, so a candle will sit level inside
7 If you want to create really detailed carvings use a stencil8 Once you've completed your design carve out the pumpkin at a 45 degree angle to allow more light to come through and show the design to its fullest
9 Help preserve the pumpkin by coating the edges with Vaseline to seal in the pumpkin's internal moisture and slow down dehydration. Use a paper towel to coat the inside
10 If your pumpkin starts to dry out and shrivel bring it back to life simply by soaking it in water overnight.
