Ghostly goings-on at a premier York restaurant have links to its risqu past, thisisyork can reveal.

Built on the historic site of a brothel, the owners of the Blue Bicycle in Fossgate are convinced that smashed vases and falling clocks are related to an apparition from those less respectable days.

Wandering down the stairs of the high-class restaurant you enter the darkened caverns of a former house of ill repute, pictures of working girls adorn the walls and the alcoves where they plied their trade remain untouched.

And it is here the eatery's ghost - also dubbed the Blue Bicycle - is said to roam.

Owners Sarah Brownbridge and David Rose report many strange tales from their converted cellar, and even the odd trip upstairs to the main eating area.

"She seems to have something against dried flowers," said Sarah.

"They have flown out of windows and into rivers, but I am never scared when I am down here in the 'brothel'.

"If I ever had to work in a brothel, this is how I would want it to look."

The brothel theme continues with the restaurant's logo - a topless young lady appears on business cards and on the front of the menu.

But the dimly-lit atmosphere of the lower floor does not deter diners.

"We have never had any complaints," said David.

"In fact three people have proposed down here."

And can they really be sure it used to be a brothel?

"We had a woman in her seventies in here last year," he added.

"And she said her mother used to work here - as a nurse tending to the girls."

Updated: 10:56 Monday, February 05, 2001