The Coach and Horses
Famous Soho pub haunted by the ghost of Jeffrey Bernard, the legendary journalist and drunk who made it his home.
The Coach and Horses in Soho is one of London’s most famous pubs, immortalized as the second home of legendary journalist Jeffrey Bernard, whose chaotic life inspired the play “Jeffrey Bernard Is Unwell.” Bernard spent decades drinking at this establishment, and since his death in 1997, numerous witnesses claim he has never truly left. His ghost is said to haunt the pub where he spent so much of his life, eternally holding court at the bar.
The apparition of Jeffrey Bernard appears as a disheveled, chain-smoking figure (despite the modern smoking ban) sitting at his customary corner of the bar. Witnesses describe him as looking exactly as he did in his later years, sometimes engaged in animated conversation with invisible companions or staring morosely into a glass. The ghost is most commonly seen during the late afternoon and evening hours, Bernard’s preferred drinking times. Some witnesses report making eye contact with the figure, only to have him vanish when they look away and back again.
Staff members have reported glasses moving on their own, particularly at Bernard’s favorite spot at the bar. The smell of cigarette smoke occasionally appears in concentrated areas despite the smoking ban, and some claim to hear Bernard’s distinctive voice making acerbic comments about modern life. Empty glasses have been found at the bar in the morning, arranged as if someone had been drinking there all night. The sound of typing has been heard coming from the upstairs areas where Bernard would sometimes write his columns while drinking, and crumpled papers have been found scattered about despite the rooms being empty. Patrons have reported feeling a presence beside them at the bar, sometimes accompanied by the sensation of being judged or finding themselves the subject of sardonic invisible commentary. The haunting is considered essentially harmless, with Bernard’s ghost apparently continuing to do in death what he did best in life—drinking, smoking, and observing the human comedy with a jaundiced eye.