The Black Boy on High Street, a pub with a venerable history dating back to the 1720s, has an even more impressive spook count, with bottles of malt whisky jumping off shelves and inebriated lager drinkers scared witless by spectral hands emerging from the pub's panelled walls. No wonder the sign over the door promises 'spirits for consumption'. But do pubs ever try to concoct hauntings to boost their share of the lucrative 'white sheet' pound?
"You do get some landlords claiming to have a ghost in the pub just to try to improve custom," said Keith. "But you get to know when people are stringing you along. "I think that a lot of ghost stories come from pubs because they are social places as well as often being old sites with a lot of history." Perhaps surprisingly, Keith remains sceptical about the existence of ghosts. "But I believe in the sincerity of the people telling me the stories," he adds. "And, call me superstitious, but I would never look up at the first floor windows of the Old Grammar School."