' An unexpected late night customer'
Standing in the centre of Hereford's busy High Town this popular historic city shop as been used for many trades over the years and this shop is also the home of a restless spirit that causes havoc. The building is old timbered and inside the upstairs has many black and white markings and in one of the upstairs rooms there is even an old wooden stairs which there is no access to because unfortunately it is blocked off and is unsafe, it is unknown where these old stairs lead to.
The building seems to date back around the time when monks were around the city because in the cellar of the shop there is a tucked away bricked up tunnel which is one of many that the city has underneath it's buildings, this mystery tunnel could indicate that monks would of possibly used this tunnel to get across the city but unfortunately this conclusion cannot be confirmed and is only a possible explanation. The original use of the building is unknown, it would have most likely been a butcher's or perhaps a families home, the building as a 16-17th century date. In 1851 the building was a shop named Braziers and Tin plate workers and then followed by a butchers in 1882 which had the name T.Grundy up until around 1895 when the premises was passed into the hands of H & Son Butcher's, the shop stayed and ran within the family for many successful years and continued to run has a popular butcher's until 1950 when the shop was then refurbished and called Wye Cafe Ltd.
There is one visitor that feels right at home and does not wish to leave and that is the spirit of a phantom monk called Charlie which was the name the staff decided to give him. The shop's assistant manageress and her husband have even seen his ghostly form appear, they saw which they can only describe as a shadowy figure go through the door at the top of the building which was much to their amazement and Charlie on a frequent occasion will like to bring attention to himself and will make loud heavy footsteps and bangs, cold spots and staff often claim to feel cold and unexplainable breezes that come from a mysterious source. There is a room on the third floor which is considered to be the most haunted room in the shop. The resident ghost also opens and closes the old wooden door by the till area, this occurs many times when the staff are serving customers behind the shop's till, the door leads to the upstairs of the shop.
The ghostly monk withought fail always knocks boxes and other goods off the shelves in the upstairs stock room, many times staff have entered the room to find objects on the floor and he even does the same in the main shop floor, when the shop as been locked up for the night he tends to knock all kinds of objects off the shelves much to the surprise of the staff who return to the shop in the morning, however the staff say that the presence of Charlie is pleasant and they even find themselves saying hello to him on the odd occasion upon entering the shop! This shop is no longer Past Times.