Festival of Frights brings Psycho Path Pub Crawl, ghost town family train and frightful fun days to Newbury this Hallowe'en

Hallowe'en events will see spooky goings on in Newbury this weekend, with a ghost town family train, frightful fun days and a Psycho Path Pub Crawl all planned.

Residents will be treated to four days of Hallowe’en events as part of a Festival of Frights.

Parkway Shopping and Newbury Business Improvement District (BID) have teamed up for the event, which aims to provide people with free activities for all ages, while also providing local, independent businesses with a boost.

Newbury’s first-ever Psycho Path Pub Crawl event will take place between 8pm and 11pm on Friday and Saturday and sees eight pubs offering an immersive experience not for the faint-hearted.

Each pub – The Catherine Wheel, Lock, Stock and Barrel, The Newbury, The Cross Keys, The Dolphin, Old Waggon & Horses, Corn Exchange and Slug & Lettuce – will get a custom-designed Hallowe'en-themed makeover with bespoke props, built especially for the event, making this adults-only Hallowe’en experience one of a kind in Berkshire.

The Catherine Wheel pub in the Market Place will soon become a radioactive Zombie zone, featuring a toxic waste spillage from an oil drum with bright green bubbling liquid.

An all-groaning graveyard will be in-situ at the Lock, Stock and Barrel as the dead attempt to escape their coffins – handmade for the event – to join guests for a deathly drink.

The Newbury pub may have undergone a recent refurb, but nothing will prepare you for the ghastly sight due to be installed this Hallowe'en, so expect a vintage wooden organ, dripping candles and ghostly corners…

Warwick Heskins, Newbury BID chairman and owner of The Catherine Wheel pub, said he was excited about the event.

“I'm pleased that Newbury BID has been able to put on its first-ever adults-only and free evening Hallowe'en event for the town,” he said.

“We’re hopeful that this will have a direct benefit on our businesses as we showcase the fabulous venues on offer to encourage visitors on the pub crawl to enjoy their evenings locally with us, for Hallowe'en and beyond.”

Prizes of vouchers will be up for grabs, including one from Jack Wills, for the best photo taken over the course of the event.

Guests taking part in the pub crawl should use the #VisitNewbury hashtag and tag @VisitNewbury when uploading their photos to social media to be in with a chance of winning.

The aim of the event is to help boost the evening economy and support the hospitality sector in Newbury following a series of challenges over the past two years.

Anyone who is brave (and old!) enough to join the event can claim a free shot with one drink purchased at the participating pubs.

Visitors are being asked to dig out their scariest fancy dress costumes and they must scan the QR code at each venue to check-in and receive their reward, courtesy of the team at Newbury BID.

There will be other fiendishly fabulous free events also taking place across the weekend – a town centre-wide Ghost Town Family Trail and Frightful Fun Days for families at Parkway Shopping.

The events began yesterday (Wednesday) and run until Saturday.

The Ghost Town trail will take visitors to independent businesses, including Bernie’s Barbershop and Store in The Arcade, Isabel’s Retro at Parkway Shopping and Camp Hopson.

There will also be Hallowe'en-themed arts and crafts activities taking place at the Corn Exchange, on Northbrook Street from The Watermill theatre, and at Parkway Shopping.

You can find out about all the Hallowe'en events taking place in Newbury town centre by clicking here.

Alison Drummond, BID operations manager, said: “We saw huge engagement from the public with our collaborative Hallowe’en event last year and received lots of positive feedback.

“We’re confident that this year’s Hallowe’en offering will be a big hit, as we continue to deliver free and family-friendly options, with the introduction of a new adults-only option this year, enabling us to cater to a wider audience and support even more local businesses.

“We sincerely hope that the activities we’re putting on will pay off for the businesses that occupy the respective areas.”