Middleton’s most haunted pub insists ghosts are welcome, provided they buy a round
As the witching season creeps in, Middleton’s Olde Boar’s Head, a timber-framed drinking den so old even its beams have arthritis, is preparing to scare the bejesus out of locals with a line-up of ghostly goings-on.
First opened in 1632, and allegedly haunted ever since someone dropped their pint in 1633, the pub boasts a Sessions Room where punishments were once handed out, underground tunnels that allegedly connect it to the church, and, of course, a murdered Cavalier ghost who apparently doesn’t understand tenancy law.
Landlady Alex Worsley, who left the pub to teach driving in 2018 before bravely returning in 2024, said she’s never seen a ghost herself. “Maybe they just don’t fancy their chances with me,” she shrugged, scaring off both poltergeists and rowdy lads in equal measure.
Despite this, punters swear they’ve felt unseen figures brushing past them in the Sessions Room. Experts say this could be paranormal activity, though equally it could be Dave from Langley after six pints of bitter.
Halloween festivities begin with psychic medium Andy Jones, who will attempt to contact the dead in the pub tomorrow. For authenticity, attendees are banned from drinking beforehand, ensuring that any apparitions encountered are genuine spirits and not simply Jägerbomb-induced. Andy returns on October 28 for a cemetery-to-pub ghost hunt, because nothing says “community engagement” like wandering around gravestones with a torch shouting, “Is anybody there?”
The pub is also hosting the Haunted Halloween Market on Saturday, promising “dark delights, curious creations, and weird stallholders”, which, to be fair, is exactly what you’d expect in Middleton on a Saturday anyway.
Halloween proper will feature fancy dress, karaoke, and a disco for adults, followed by a children’s party the next day where £5 buys you games, a buffet, and at least one child crying at someone in a cheap zombie mask.
Reporting from down the M62, we at the Rochdale Times say: if the ghosts don’t show up, don’t worry, Middleton locals will supply all the shrieking, moaning, and otherworldly groaning you’ll ever need.
