THE re-opening of the White Hart public house in London Road, after several weeks of refurbishment, has revealed that its interior looks like an early 19th century tavern.

Like several other inns in the town, the White Hart has gained notoriety as a haunted place over the years.

With nearly 200 years of history passing it by, the building has seen many incidents both inside and outside, so these ghostly apparitions and sounds must stem from something that happened during that period of time.

For example, in the 1960s, sounds of something or someone scuffling through gravel were heard in one of the bedrooms, while some 10 years later a girl’s reflection was seen in a mirror when there was no-one there.

Another incident was the sound of a beer barrel rolling about in the cellar with no-one touching it. Although past records have been consulted, no reason can be found for these illusions and sounds.

Other previous inns have had stories to tell of similar hauntings. One was in the now-demolished Barge Inn, which stood in lower Wote Street until 1967, when the Town Development Scheme brought about the mass clearance of the shopping area.

The Barge Inn dated back to the late 18th century, when the Basingstoke Canal wharf was built on land opposite the inn. It was visited by many of the bargees who operated the boats that were being loaded or unloaded.

One of these men, it is said, murdered a chambermaid in the attic of the Barge, where she worked, and her presence has been felt there ever since.

Strange incidents occurred, such as doors being flung open without anyone being there, and noises of various sorts were also heard at night.

But the strangest haunting occurred just 100 years ago, in connection with the old Angel Inn, which stood in the Market Place where Barclays Bank now stands.

The inn had an archway in the centre of its frontage, through which stagecoaches entered to reach the back yard, where the horses and passengers “rested up” for the night. The inn closed down in 1866 and was later converted into a shop.

In early 1903, in the late evening, several people assembled in the Market Place for a chat before going home.

As they stood near the drapery and tailors shop of Selby’s, where the Angel Inn used to be, they were surprised to see a stagecoach and horses racing towards them along Winchester Street.

They moved away from the road and watched it turn right and pass through the front of the shop, where it disappeared. None of the men had been drinking, and two other people walking along London Street also saw the same thing happen.

The incident was never reported in the local newspaper, although the story was told to other folk at the time.

One of the eye-witnesses mentioned the incident to a local historian in 1959, just a few years before he died at the age of 93. The reason for this apparition was never found out.

Further enquiries later revealed that the same thing happened in previous years, but the ghostly stagecoach was not seen again after 1903.