A World First for Newcastle! The ghosts are ready to leave town!

After more than a decade of empty rooms, the resident ghosts of the Great Northern Hotel Newcastle have decided that, "Enough is enough" and are officially looking for a new spooky premises to haunt. In an explosive interview with world-renown spiritual medium, Madame Lenka Gabor, all 27 of the Hotel's ghosts have indicated their intention to leave the premises on the grounds of, "lack of meaningful work". Speaking through the famous Eastern European medium, the oldest resident ghost on the Great Northern, old Johnny O'Riordan expressed his dismay that the pub's owner had been "promising but not delivering" on plans to redevelop the grand old hotel back to being a 'going concern' for over a decade. "Without any people staying here, we can't be doin' our jobs of scaring people in the corridors and halls", claimed the voice of old Johnny. "We're just sitting here staring at four walls, day in day out". An exhausted Mme Gabor, after connecting with every disgruntled ghost on site, was first on the phone to the company that owns the hotel. "I politely explained to the owners that their promises of restoration of the hotel has not only confused the people of the city, but also the ghost spirits who have looked forward to - first of all - scaring the tradespeople working on the restoration into the evenings, but also in the future when they'll be scaring the traveling public who want desperately to stay in the old hotel. The grand old hotel they remember, near the city and near the beach." Mme Gabor went on to explain, "Many of the ghosts who spoke through me threatened to move their entire ghost families down to the owner's houses in Sydney in order to send their message to the owners to 'restore or sell to someone who will restore'. Most of these ghosts I spoke with were terribly upset and suspect the owner is really wanting to tear the hotel down". A spokesperson for the establishment suggested they may be willing to seek a compromise. "Maybe we could just show up in some utes one day, bring a few tools in and bang a few nails around the place, just to make it sound like something is being restored?", said the spokesperson, who asked not to be identified. The local representative for Save Our Pub says "We've all been waiting to see The Great Northern renovated, we've heard story after story of the restorations beginning next month, next year, etc, etc. We just can't trust what the owners say anymore". Madam Gabor promises to come back to Newcastle in early 2016, "When I spoke with the owner, he promised me and the ghosts that the restoration will begin soon and that it will be the best hotel in town again, and that the entire city will be delighted with the result. Nice words, but as we say in my country; the sweeter the tongue, the sharper the tooth!".