'The ghostly face in the window'
This small, old 17th century public house is located in Hereford's King Street, it is lovely historic pub and is very popular by locals, the pub cooks home made food and it also as a good quality restaurant in the upstairs of the inn, the pub is regularly full of customers. The Spread Eagle is rumoured to be haunted by a ghost of a mysterious woman.
The traditional pub only has one ghost story and that is of a lady who was outside of the pub one early morning, the lady claimed to have seen an old fashioned dressed woman glaring out of the top window when nobody was in the premises at the time. The Spread Eagle is a pure example of how historic the city of Hereford really is, the inside of the pub is surrounded by an original wooden structure, old floors all around and there are old steep stairs that lead you up to the first floor. Even though the inn holds a date of 17th century the cellar shows much more of an age as there is old stone walls and a centre octagnal column which is completed with a moulded capital.
The pub's beer garden which is a popular retreat in the summer is where the driving way would have been, the old driving way would have led to the stable yard. Over many years of service there were many occupiers of The Spread Eagle, in 1850 William Gardener was inn keeper and George Woodhill was in charge in 1850. This historic inn as been a local favourite for century’s, the original Spread Eagle on Bridge Street seems to have been was not that popular with locals, this pub was built against the eastside of the Wye Bridge, the pub proved to have been short-lived as it was demolished and does not stand there today. The Spread Eagle is a local pleasure to have in the city which is definitely worth a visit whether for a meal or just a quiet drink and with its ghost story there is even more reason to visit this old fine inn.
