Ghost Bartender from flickr Photog Ankylosaur

At the Court Oak pub in Harborne, Birmingham the wine connoisseurs are not limited to the living. It would seem that at least on of them is quite dead….but not gone.

The pub itself is built on the site of a 17th century hanging ground, which lends to the notion that a “spirit” or two may still be enjoying some “spirits” along with the rest of the patrons.

Pub manager Anne Tyler says that a ghost, affectionately named Corky has been choosing appropriate Halloween wine for the past few years.

Corky, thought to be a man in his 60s, has been spotted behind the bar by several customers but it would seem that he only raises a ruckus on October 31.

Tyler claims that if Corky doesn’t agree with the Halloween selection in the wine refrigerator, he will smash bottle after bottle in the wine cellar until the house wine is upgraded.

A “wine snob” ghost is lurking in the cellar of a Birmingham pub and smashing bottles of house wine, it has been claimed.

The ghost, named Corky by regulars at the Court Oak pub in Harborne, Birmingham, apparently has strong opinions about the wine list.

Part of the Sizzling chain, the pub is built on the site of a 17th century hanging ground, sparking speculation that Corky may be the ghost of someone who died there years ago.

Pub manager Anne Tyler said the ghost had given its opinion about the wine on offer every Hallowe’en for the last few years.

She told The Press Association smashed bottles of red and white house wine were discovered in the cellar until the selection was upgraded.

“It isn’t so much things that go bump in the night as things going smash in the night at the Court Oak,” Nuala Gallagher of Sizzling Pubs said.

“People have spotted the figure of a man, aged about 60, behind the bar and the staff have felt his presence numerous times over the years.

“But it’s Corky’s insistence on certain wines that set him apart as a spirit.

“It only ever happens at Hallowe’en. If the pub has a house wine that is not to his liking, he makes his feelings known by smashing bottle after bottle of it in the cellar until it is changed for a wine he approves of – he’s a bit of a wine snob.”

Source: The Drinks Business