Bolton: The Finishers Arms pub 'ghost' is 'showing discontent'

According to local legend, mill worker "Martha" was found murdered in the lake near Barrow Bridge Mill in the 1800s.

The story goes that she had been drinking with her husband in The Finishers Arms in nearby Smithills before wandering out towards the stretch of water where she was later found dead.

Barrow Bridge Mill was demolished long ago following the demise of the textile industry and the lake was eventually filled in and is now a car park at the renowned conservation area.

Retired police officer Phil Aspin, 63, a regular at The Finishers who lives opposite the pub on Church Road, took over management of the pub in August, where his son, Paul, 41, now also runs its restaurant.

Phil and Paul Aspin (Image: Supplied) “It seems that every time someone new starts running things, or something new happens, Martha shows her discontent,” said Phil.

“Bar staff have had glasses flying off shelves, and other pieces of equipment have been moved.

"And there have been loud banging noises on the upstairs floor above the bar when no-one has been up there.

“We know that an exorcism took place at the pub in the early 1900s, but it appears not to have worked.”

One of the regulars at the pub is Pete Hopps.

He told the story of how one early one Friday evening a few years ago he was with about 10 friends and the previous landlord chatting in the bar area.

“Suddenly, it went really quiet and the landlord looked at me and said my face had gone ashen coloured,” said Pete, 65.

“He said: ‘tell us what you’ve just seen’.

"I told them I’d seen a woman dressed in white 19th century clothing walk across the other side of the room and disappear through the wall. It was spine-chilling.”

Meanwhile, Phil and Paul have been unearthing details of the pub’s history since they took over, and they want people in the area who know and frequent the Grade II-listed The Finishers - built in the 1750s - to share their pictures and stories, so that they can be displayed on the wall.

A plaque on the wall says the pub was a popular meeting place for the managers and skilled workers of the Smithills Croft and Bleach works.

“Shady deals were apparently undertaken in the upper rooms of The Finishers, resulting in a police raid in the 1890s,” it says.

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Phil and Paul’s interest in the pub’s history is backed up by their menu which features a range of pies, including their marquee fish pie, Sunday roasts, "date nights" on Wednesdays, curry nights on Thursdays and "fish and chip" Fridays.

“We’ve lived around the pub for years and it’s been our local,” added Phil.

“It’s fantastic to run the pub for the benefit of the community that we enjoy being a part of so much.”