Shop ghost is the big cheese.
A cheese-loving ghost is driving staff and customers at a Lytham delicatessen Gouda out of their minds. The spectral woman in black has been haunting Todderstaffes on Park Street ever since owner Angela Lidstone took over four years ago. The saucy spook sits in the cafe waiting to be served, has crept up behind a waitress and untied her apron and even locked the deli manager in his flat.
Angela said the apparitions started becoming more forceful during some building work and so she decided to hire a psychic “ghostbuster.” “Apparently the ghost was very disturbed,” said Angela. “She had lived here a long time ago and obviously didn’t like the changes.”
The spectre’s favourite haunt is around the cheese counter of the shop, where she has often been seen at the end of the working day. Angela said: “It is a long, long counter with various foods in but she always seems to be around the cheeses. They wouldn’t have had a lot of the food, like the pasta or salami, in Lytham in the past but I’m sure they had cheese.”
The 19th Century building has been a shop for over 20 years but before that it was a dwelling house, and Angela thinks the spectre may be a former landlady. She said: “We have seen a lady sitting in the corner of our little cafe area and people have gone running in to serve her, only to find there is nobody there. And one of the ladies was in the kitchen when the ghost untied her apron. She thought somebody was messing about but when she turned around there was only one other person in the shop.”
Deli manager Alan Montgomerie lives in a flat above the store, where he has occasionally been locked in by the practical joking poltergeist. Angela said: “He has found himself locked in in the morning. He has shouted ‘I’m going to be late for work. For God’s sake, let me out’ and the door just releases.”
Nobody has ever seen the face of the ghostly woman – who is just taller than 5ft 1in Angela – but everyone says she wears long, dark clothing. Angela added: “I think she is one of these that just wants you to know she is around. She wants to make her presence felt but not in a nasty way.”
West Lancashire Evening Gazette, 2nd May 2002.