Generations of staff and regulars were warned not to touch the witch figure
Witches hang above the bar at the Magazine Hotel, New Brighton(Image: Colin Lane/Liverpool Echo)
One of Merseyside’s oldest pubs was almost destroyed in a blaze after a customer stole their witch. Witch figures still hang above the bar at the 267-year-old Magazine Hotel in New Brighton, replacing an old felt witch doll that was placed above the bar for more than a century.
Generations of staff and regulars were warned not to touch the witch figure, with a history of accidents befalling those who failed to heed the warning. When the pub suffered £200,000 worth of damage in a devastating blaze in 2010, the then-managers Linda and Les Baxendale believed the witch’s curse was to blame.
The blaze, started by a power surge which blew up the pub‘s fuse box, left the Baxendales living in a caravan for three months while the pub was restored to its former glory.
Linda told the ECHO at the time: “Part of the history of the pub is the two witches and a little devil, all made from brown felt, which were hanging by the bar.
“No-one knows exactly how long they were there and we don’t know who gave them to the pub but we think they were there for at least 100 years.
Stephen Brady and Mary Goddard at The Magazine in New Brighton.(Image: Colin Lane/Liverpool Echo)
“They were covered in cobwebs and dust because we were told that if anyone touched them bad things would happen to them.”
When the couple took over the pub in 2000, the Baxendales received an anonymous call warning them not to touch the witches. But Linda said a man was seen to take one of the witches from the ceiling two days before the blaze.
“I suppose I am superstitious, because I used to say to the witches ‘I tell people not to touch you so look after me’. When I found out one had gone I said ‘something bad is going to happen now’.”
The couple were awoken early Sunday morning to the sound of smashing glass downstairs as the fire brigade battled the blaze.
The pub sits at the heart of The Magazines Conservation Area, which got its name when gunpowder stores for Liverpool’s ships were moved to the area in the mid 18th century. Before that time, the area was a small fishing village known as ‘Hell’s Brow’.
Stephen Brady and Mary Goddard at The Magazine in New Brighton(Image: Colin Lane/Liverpool Echo)
Tales of the supernatural have swirled around the pub for decades. The pub’s most famous ghost story is that of a Liscard woman tortured and drowned in the Mersey during the witch hunts of the 17th century.
But current Landlord Stephen Brady previously told the ECHO that the real ghost is that of a young Victorian girl, whom he witnessed in the upstairs living quarters in 2024.
Steve said: “There’s a few legends about the pub but for years I hadn’t seen anything. But the common thing that was said by staff over the years is they used to see a little girl looking lost at the end of the bar.
The Magazine in New Brighton(Image: Colin Lane/Liverpool Echo)
“Until Covid-19 times, I hadn’t seen or felt any presence, but then I’m not a big believer. But for some reason recently this image seemed to want to find me, which was a bit scary the first time.”
Linda ran the pub from 2000 to 2012, and also between 1980 and 1993 with late partner Phil. She previously told the ECHO: “We found out that a decorator took them down while he was working here in the 1970s and then was involved in a serious car accident at the top of the road.
“Phil once happened to touch the witch by accident and the following day he fell through a trapdoor leading to the cellar and broke his collarbone. Someone else fell over the following week and broke both his knees. It’s spooky.”