WHEN you talk about the Christmas Spirit it’s not always a reference to seasonal joy and peace on earth. Because an entirely different sort of spirit can elbow in over the festive season – the local ghost.

Not surprisingly in a city as old as Worcester some of the ancient inns are said to be haunted. And it’s nothing to do with the effects of an excess of ale.

Prime among them is the Cardinal’s Hat in medieval Friar Street where records start in 1497, although a house stood on the site long before that.

Rumours of a friendly ghost have existed for centuries, either in the form of a fair haired girl in a white nightdress or an old man who likes moving things about.

In 1991 when Rob Talbot Cooper became manager he was soon acquainted with whatever it is.

Unpacking some books in a cold upper storey room that was obviously the old servants’ quarters he suddenly became very hot.

“I thought nothing of it at the time,” he said, “I just thought I was having a hot flush. But even though I had not been working particularly hard, the room was steaming hot.

“It was later I heard the story from the late 1800s that a young servant girl had been trapped in the room and burnt to death. Her ghost is said to manifest itself by a sudden surge in temperature.

"I have had the same experience in the room four or five times since, even though I haven’t been doing physical work.

"Friends who have stayed in it but know nothing of the story have also felt this strange and sudden heat.

“A chap once visited who claimed he could always tell if a place was haunted because the hairs would rise on his arms.

As we climbed the stars up to the room his arm hairs went bolt upright. I couldn’t believe it.”

At the other end of Friar Street stands another medieval hostelry the Old Talbot, which is reputedly haunted by a cat.

The apparition has been seen by several managers and guests and most often appears mid-morning between 10am and 10.30am, either on the stairs or in the bar.

One of the bartenders in the 1990s William Miller said it looked like a large bundle of steel wool which faded after a second or two. It terrified his dog.

Not far away, the King’s Head in Sidbury at one time had a resident ghost called, appropriately, Sid, who usually showed himself by turning off barrels of beer, ringing the “time” bell or tilting pictures.

Rather more disturbingly, Sid, who appears to have been dormant in more recent years, used to startle customers by walking through walls wearing a leather jacket and pantaloons, indicating he may be associated with a corpse from the Battle of Worcester, which raged in that part of the city in September 1651.

Just down the road is the old Barley Mow pub, long closed and now an eaterie, where George and Angela Barrett were licensees for twenty years during the 1970s-90s.

Their daughter Michelle said: “Our ghost lived in a club room on the first floor. We grew quite fond of him and called him Fred. He was continually opening the clubroom door and we could hear his footsteps in there even though we knew the room was empty.

"Things would disappear from all over the house, particularly belts and shoes. Sometimes he would move one of your possessions. There would be

a comb on the dressing table, blink and it would be somewhere else.

“However Fred was a friendly entity and I think he was attracted to people because he looked to make his presence known.”

So if those mince pies you put out for Santa Claus went missing, it may be that Sid, Fred or a woolly cat may have been round your house.