AN 18th century pub has been put up for sale — and it comes with its own ghostly resident.

The Punch Bowl in Hurst Green was visited by highwaymen Dick Turpin and Ned King in the late 1730s and the ghost of ‘Old Ned’ is said to still roam the pub.

The pub has stood on the site in Longridge Road since the 1720s and the Grade Two listed building been put up for sale for £375,000.

Turpin and King arrived at the pub in 1738 from Essex and stayed for three days before Turpin left for York, with Ned staying behind to stalk the nearby roads.

Ned, who was helped by the pub’s landlord Jonathan Brisco, met his end in 1741 when he was captured by the army and hanged from a tree outside the pub.

Supernatural expert and historian Simon Entwistle said: “I really do hope that the pub is sold to the right owner and that it is reopened as a pub.

“It has a wonderful and rich tradition and that needs to be preserved.

“The pub has a deep connection with highwaymen and is an important part of the story of Dick Turpin as well.

“It has a lot of character and I hope that it is brought back to life soon.”

A spokesman for AC surveyors and Valuers, who are marketing the property, said that the property was in need of a full refurbishment and that a pre-application for planning permission to convert it into a residential property was under way.

He said: “The property offers an a outstanding opportunity to acquire a property rich in character and history and to redevelop it into something that with imagination.”

The pub has previously been included in haunted pub tours in the Ribble Valley including The Lower Buck in Waddington, The Sun Inn at Chipping, The DeLacy Arms in Whalley.