FOR many years customers at the Red Lion pub in Avebury have realised that the spirits are not all in bottles behind the bar.

Others like Florrie the pub's famed ghost wander freely in the bars and the guest bedrooms upstairs.

Now its reputation has won the Red Lion the title of the most haunted country pub.

The title has been bestowed in a new magazine, BBC Countryfile, with the Red Lion heading its top ten of eerie places.

The Red Lion, which dates from the 17th century, emerged as the pub where you are most likely to encounter a poltergeist.

That is not news to the many psychics and mediums who have visited the Red Lion over the years.

Kirsty and John Ayre took over the Red Lion in January and Mrs Ayre said she had been able to feel ghostly presences since they moved in.

Mr Ayre, 26, said: "Kirsty has been touched on the face by something but nothing has happened to me."

Florrie is said to be the ghost of a woman who was unfaithful to her soldier husband in the 1600s.