Spirited licensee sought to run 'haunted' Dudley pub

The Starving Rascal in Brettell Lane, Amblecote, Dudley, has been due to open as a Black Country Ales pub on December 17 but the move of the Black Country into Tier 3 of coronavirus restrictions scuppered that plan.

Kingswinford-based BCA chief executive Angus McMeeking said that the pub, reputed to be Britain's most haunted, would now open in 2021 as soon as restrictions were relaxed enough to open to the public.

The Starving Rascal was the 38th pub to be added to the chain.

Mr McMeeking said that BCA, based on Pensnett Trading Estate, was still looking to appoint a licensee for the pub.

"Ideally we hope to recruit a couple to manage the pub once it is unleashed from the tier system," he said.

"People can e-mail to anthony@blackcountryales.co.uk or telephone o1384 401820 from Monday, January 4," he said.

BCA also has its 39th and 40th pubs – both in Shropshire – in the pipeline.

The Railway Tavern in Upper Bar, Newport, which is the 40th, was open until Wednesday when Shropshire moved into Tier 3 along with The Harp Hotel in Albrighton.

"They are both now shut for refurbishment which will be carried out in the first part of the new year and start next week.

The 200-year-old The Starving Rascal was originally built in the early 1800s and opened as The Dudley Arms.

It is believed that in the early 20th Century, a tragic set of circumstances led the pub to become haunted by a local beggar.

Legend has it that on a freezing cold night, a ‘rascal’ is said to have asked the landlord for food and water, but he refused. The man then lay down for the night in the doorway of the pub and was found dead in the same spot the next morning.

It was in 1977 that the pub was given its now iconic name to reflect its history and over the years it has been regularly used for paranormal research.

BCA, founded in 1999, has its brewery at the back of The Old Bull's Head pub in Lower Gornal and its own beers include Bradley's Finest Golden and Fireside Bitter.