'The unexpected ghostly guests'
First mentioned in 1782 as The Dog Inn this public house certainly has a few mysteries to uncover, this small and pleasant inn is situated on Church Street which was originally named Capuchin Lane after the Capuchin or Franciscan monks resided here, the street at one time was even called Cabbage Lane. The town pub still keeps its wooden panelling, old floors and still keeps its wooden beam appearance. This pub as had many occupiers, the landlord in 1851 was James Morgan and around this time the local pub was known as The Old Dog. The landlady in 1867 was Eliza Smith and at some point between the years of 1876 - 1885 the name was then changed over to The Lichfield Vaults as it was under management by The Lichfield brewery company, the next landlord was Henry Hickman who managed the inn in 1891 and the inn had no alterations until William C William was landlord. The Lichfield Vaults has its own fair share of paranormal activity, these disturbances happen throughout various times of the night and day.The ghost of the pub is known as George and he seems to be very mischievous and perhaps not a very nice spirit, barrels get moved around in the cellar and objects being moved and disappearing is something of the norm for the pub's staff. Many customers and staff have also witnessed bar mats flying metre's away off the wall on frequent occasions and cold spots are felt in certain areas of the pub, mainly in the storeroom. One landlady became so frightened by these strange happenings that she felt uncomfortable when she was in the pub alone but considering she was locked in the store room whilst being alone in the pub I can't say I blame her! The landlady was also pushed whilst standing behind the bar and one time she thought she saw her new cleaner go into the toilet so she followed her in only to discover that nobody was in the toilet and the cleaner was actually another part of the pub at the time.
Just up the road on this street is a map shop, opposite the shop is No. 20, the building dates back from the 1300's, this marvellous building was the home of two famous cathedral organists and Elgar spent time at the house with G R Sinclair and composed much of The Apostles. The Lichfield Vaults still has many more ghost stories and is a pub where you really must be on your guard at all times as something unnatural could occur at any moment.