THE MARLBOROROUGH ARMS, LITTLE ST JOHN STREET, CHESTER

THE MARLBOROBOROUGH ARMS, LITTLE ST JOHN ST, CHESTER:

A wonderfully charming little pub can be found next to the Blossom's in Chester. The Marlbororough arms; as it is spelt on the sign above the door, ( due to the sign writer, leaving his work partially complete, before having a large liquid lunch, and completing it as you see it today. ) The pub itself has been running for about 150yrs, previously a coach house for the hotel next door. A terrible fire put an end to its days, with many lives of the attendants and animals lost. A few years later the still half standing coach house was rebuilt, and replaced by the hostelry that still stands there today.

Currently occupied by Chas and Kim pearsall, themselves having several unexplained experiences, Only a few days after taking charge of the pub, the licences were woken at 3am by the sounds of moving barrels. They ran down to the cellar, but all was fine, no disturbances. They waited until the next day and visited next door, but, of course, people don't crash barrels around in modern hotels, and nobody was in that area all night. Next Kim was cleaning the pub at about 2am and felt as though she was being watched. She looked up from the bar and saw an apparition of an old lady dressed in a large white bonnet and a lacy Victorian white dress, next to the fruit machine. Since then many folk have noticed odd goings on and lots of items have been found to have moved.

Since then many others have noticed odd goings on, items have been moved, one individual claims to have witnessed a tall man in Cromwellian type finery, leaning on the mantle of the fireplace at the rear of the pub. Unfortunately this claim has not been reported directly to the UPIA.

A child, dressed again in Victorian clothes has been seen by a few, wandering around aimlessly upstairs, disappearing after a while of being watched.

There is a story regarding the cellar. A former landlord was murdered there, when he stumbled upon a thief, his days were ended by the cut of a knife to the throat.

UPIA had the opportunity to spend an evening at the pub in April 2000, joined by Kim. Seven hours were spent on the investigation, the only occurrence to be reported was a breeze banging the male toilet door occasionally, this was logged and no other event transpired.

A full report was published in the Chester Evening Leader.

This is a fine pub, episodes of the Channel 4 soap Hollyoaks have been recorded on site. Chas and Kim are down to earth, honest and reliable, both of whom were originally sceptical of paranormal related incidents, until witnessing things themselves.

THIS CASE WAS ALSO DISCUSSED AT THE MAPIT 2000 CONFERENCE