'Something spooky in the cellar'
Play nightclub is situated on Blueschool street, the club has people in and out of its doors most days of the week and is a lively hot spot for Hereford people who are out on the town, so with this building being such a lively, busy and noisy venue it is easy to forget what this building was originally used for. In 1710 this building was built and was known as The Bluecoat School, this school was a popular school in Hereford and the demand by parents for their children to be placed in this school was so high that the school had to be enlarged in 1889. After the school was enlarged it could easily take 250 boys and 220 girls, at this point separate houses were also built and added on to the school to house the master and mistress. Records show that in 1879 a George Jackson Caldwell was master and a Mrs. Mary Ann Grove was the mistress.
The school unfortunately was closed down in 1973 and since its closure it as been used as Bushwackers which was a restaurant by day and night club at night, now it is Play night club and sadly there is no longer any trace of the old school left, however there is something spooky certainly going on in the building when the music stops, the lights are off and when the doors are closed. A member of staff once told how she saw some sort of ghostly apparition in the cellar and other strange paranormal phenomena occurs in the bar area, however I am sure that this will not keep the thirsty locals away!