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Published: 24 September 2010

A POPULAR  HAUNT ‘WHERE THINGS GO BUMP IN THE NIGHT’

IT is a popular haunt among office workers, tourists and theatregoers catching a pre-show pint – but now staff at a Victorian pub have claimed that something more chilling could be haunting its Gothic antechambers.

The Bloomsbury Tavern in Shaftesbury Avenue is located on the edge of the ancient Manor of St Giles, once the site of a leper colony and a slum that was devastated during the Great Plague.

Its manager, Kelly McSharry, who has lived above it for the past two years, told Diary strange noises had her spooked.

She said: “There is a small function room and my flat is above that. 

“At night I can sometimes hear tables jolting and being moved about. The tables in the function room are heavy, they have bases made of cast iron. 

“The cleaner comes in at around six, but this is at four in the morning. 

“I try not to think about it too much as I live here.”

Bar woman Justyna Krzychowiec says she has also heard strange sounds after dark.

She said: “Once I and a colleague had finished work. 

“The pub was empty and we locked the front door and went downstairs to the cellar where we had left our stuff. 

“While we were down there we heard what sounded like someone coming down the stairs. It was very loud. 

“We thought maybe we had forgotten to lock the door and that someone had come into the pub, but when we went back upstairs, the door was locked.”  

Perhaps a clue to the ghoul’s origin comes from the fact that the Bloomsbury is located roughly halfway between the site of Newgate Prison and Marble Arch – where public hangings took place until the late 1700s. 

Legend has it that condemned prisoners would be allowed to stop and drink “one for the road” at a pub en route.

IS IT LUNCH OR LIPOSUCTION?

AH lunchtime, the vital pivot of every office worker’s day, time to grab a bite to eat, flick through a magazine, catch up on some gossip or queue at the bank.

Or perhaps to receive Botox treatment?

Diary was amused this week to receive an agency’s offer of “non-surgical cosmetic treatments” and encouraging us to think of anti-wrinkle injections as “something on the ‘things to do’ list and like nipping out for a sandwich”.

The email informed us that a “luxurious” new clinic that had  just opened next to Chancery Lane station. It is run by an outfit that can also do boob jobs, nose reshaping and liposuction. 

We’ll stick with our sandwiches, thanks.

BUSKING MR BURCH IS BACK

THE last time Diary heard from musician Nigel Burch he was railing against Transport for London because they’d classified his banjolele – a cross between banjo and ukelele – as an “undesirable instrument” and banned him from busking at Leicester Square station. 

Now he’s back at ground level and performing a duet with violin player Dylan Bates – brother of renowned Jazz musician Django Bates – at the Metropolitan Pub, 60 Great Western Road, Westbourne Park on Tuesday, September 28. 

The evening is a cabaret night, and will feature comedy, music and poetry. Details on 020 7229 9254.

AFTER THE VUVUZELA, IT'S THE BASSET!

BASSET hounds and Bassett’s Allsorts might be names familiar to some readers, but how many have ever heard of the basset horn? 

This rare instrument will be played next week at a Maida Vale music festival and it has been likened by some to a previously unheard of wind instrument that went on to achieve worldwide fame.

Barbara Van Doren, stage manager for the festival, said she was looking forward to hearing the clarinet-like instrument in action.

The Maida Vale-based former West End production assistant told Diary: “This summer we were all introduced to a new musical instrument (the term ‘musical’ is used very loosely here), that stalwart of the World Cup matches – the plastic vuvuzela. I’m not sure that knowing its name made the 90 minutes listening to its incessant wasp-like buzzing any more bearable. But at the opening concert of this year’s Little Venice Music Festival you can be introduced to yet another musical instrument that you may not have heard of before – the Basset horn. And not just one but two of them.”

The opening concert in the three-day festival, an annual event that supports the stroke unit at St Mary’s Hospital Paddington, will take place at St Saviour’s Church in Warwick Avenue.

There will be a further four concerts including three recitals and a special gala.

Tickets available at the door or in advance from The Winery, 4 Clifton Road, Maida Vale, W9. 

For details see www.littlevenice-mf.com