Join the walking dead

Grotesque true tales from 200 years of Preston’s murky past are exposed in the Church Street Cut Throat Ghost Tour.
Wooden Spoons Theatre Company do the Church Street Cut Throat TourWooden Spoons Theatre Company do the Church Street Cut Throat Tour
Wooden Spoons Theatre Company do the Church Street Cut Throat Tour

Staged by the Wooden Spoons Theatre, dedicated storytellers take guests from a dimly-lit Victorian-themed cocktail bar, through dark streets, exploring the city’s horrors.

A musician plays haunting tunes on an accordion to further raise the hair on the back of your neck.

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Hear, as actors play out the scenes, about the ghost bride who still waits at Preston Minster for the groom who slit her throat on her wedding day, and re-live the gory death of a prostitute, murdered by her jealous husband on the floor of The Grapes Hotel.

Tour organiser Sharon Lancaster said: “We try to re-enact the tales at the locations, and it’s felt so real at times that we’ve actually had people coming out of pubs thinking there’s a real altercation going on.

“We do also try to intersperse it with comedy though, because there has to be a balance with the spookiness.”

The theatre company is also keen to show the historical and political side of Preston’s history on the tour, and takes in the Arkwright Arms in Stoneygate, where many hangmen would meet after being made redundant.

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Sharon added: “Many of the men would go on to kill themselves because they couldn’t support their families.”

Tours last for an hour and run from 7.30pm and 9.30pm. Tickets: £7.50. Tours start from Lofty’s Cocktail Emporium, Glovers Court, Preston. Tel: 07875568359. Runs until November 3.

The tours are not suitable for under 15s and many of the dates around Hallowe’en have limited availability.