Ye Olde Man and Scythe in Bolton, which dates back to 1251, has seen a ‘doubling’ of trade since the video clip of a shadowy figure was aired on YouTube earlier this month and made headlines all over the world.
“We’ve had double the foot fall and we’ve had to double the orders of everything,” Tony Dooley, who has managed the pub since last November, told the Publican's Morning Advertiser. “People have been asking where’s the ghost, is it real, have we seen anything else since?”
CCTV footage
Dooley checked the footage after being woken by the sound of breaking glass at around 6am on Valentine’s Day. He noticed the cameras has stopped working and when he checked the video, he discovered what appears to be a flickering apparition at one end of the bar, which disappeared before the cameras mysteriously stopped filming at 6.18am.
“In the past I’ve been dubious [about ghosts] although I’ve heard the odd creak and what not,” Dooley continued. “Last week we had a group of lads in dressed as ghost busters. [The story’s] gone global. It’s fantastic. It’s ended up in Denmark, Holland, Africa, Japan, you name it. It’s got mass coverage.”
The Enterprise Inn venue, is the fourth oldest pub in Britain, and reputedly haunted by the Seventh Earl of Derby, James Stanley.