The pub haunted by 'Nellie the ghost' who takes money from wealthy-looking visitors

[merlin2024]

The pub haunted by 'Nellie the ghost' who takes money from wealthy-looking visitors

Perched on a bustling road just outside of Clevedon, there's a former village pub steeped in macabre history, complete with its own resident spectre known as 'Nellie' who enjoys startling both patrons and staff at The Drum and Monkey in Kenn.

The entrance to the pub is marked by wooden stocks, a stark reminder that it was near this spot where some of the last public executions in the area were witnessed. The infamous Kenn Hangings of the 1830s involved three men. William Wall, aged 35, John Rowley, 30, and Richard Clarke, just 19, who set ablaze wheat stacks owned by a farmer they accused of informing on them for illicit cider sales.

Their retribution was meted out in the 'hanging field' adjacent to the pub, an event purportedly attended by thousands. But the grim past isn't all that lingers at The Drum and Monkey; tales of hauntings swirl around the establishment. Steve Dew, a former landlord, has recounted several eerie occurrences within the walls of the old pub.

Mr Dew recalled: "The Drum is a very old pub. The upstairs is a very weird layout - a corridor with lots of small rooms off it. You would be at one end, when suddenly a door would close at the other end. You would also get a sort of 'cold chill' when walking around. It is hard to describe.

"There is allegedly a ghost that walks up and down the corridor. Two of the girls who used to work here claim to have seen her. There have been instances when chairs would move in the diner downstairs, and the girls used to think they were playing pranks on each other - when they weren't. The ghost was allegedly a woman called Nellie, who used to work here".

The Drum is also featured in the book "Haunted Pubs of the South West". The so-called 'Nellie No Change' is a unique landlady known for miles around, whose friendly form appears now and again.

She got her name from the fact that whenever she welcomed wealthy-looking guests she would take their money with the words "there's no change" assuming they could afford it. Other stories involve Nellie being spotted on the B313, which runs past the pub and into the neighbouring village of Yatton.

Sadly the pub is no more having closed in September 2021. In 2022, plans to convert the historic pub into offices were put forward.