But tales of brutal slayings, ghosts and other unexplained phenomena will be brought screaming back to life later this month when Melvyn Dod's popular 'Ghosts and Murderers' tours resume.

Melvyn has worked as a tour guide for 24 years and is back for another season, part of the Lancashire Blue Badge Walks of Preston.

People are taken on a trip back in time to hear stories of ghostly events and violent murders on the streets of Victorian and Edwardian Preston.

Melvyn starts the 90-minute tours at The Obelisk on the Flag Market and one of the first stops is the corner of Lancaster Road.

Melvyn said: "In 1989, a Town Hall porter saw a shadowy figure of a man dressed in a coachman's uniform.

"The cleaners had also said strange things were happening.

"The electricity suddenly failed and the electricians would come but there was nothing wrong.The description of the man in a brown coat was very similar to a description of a man called Touch Duckworth who died just here in a fight in 1847. He was famous throughout Lancashire.

"He had been getting drunk in the pub which stood where the Golden Cross is now and he ended up being knocked against a colonnade in the butcher's shop and suffered a mortal injury."

This is just one of the eerie stories on the tour, which takes in most of the city centre, including Church Street and Friargate. Melvyn, who is based at Lancaster Castle, said: "I don't deal with anything recent.

"The last thing I want to do is upset anybody who may have friends or family involved in the nasty things that have gone on in the past few years."

Other tours include Preston at War, Charles Dickens and Pubs and Beerhouses, which take place between May and October at a cost of £4 for adults and £3 for concessions.

The first Ghosts and Murderers tour is on July 3.

Call Preston Tourist Information Centre on 01772 253731 for more information.