Janine Robinson and her husband, Steve, are tenants at the Light Horseman pub and hotel in Fulford Road in York.

On a Saturday morning, the first thing she usually hears downstairs is the cleaner coming in at about 8am.

But on August 23, she heard an unusual sound at 7.30am. “It sounded like the hand dryers you get in toilets,” she said.

The pub has digital cameras in all communal areas constantly recording. “I put the cameras on in the office upstairs to have a look,” she said. “I saw what I thought was a man going up the stairs. I saw something else going behind it and going into the poolroom.

“But when I switched to the camera in there, it was all locked up and there was nothing there.”

Janine had to go downstairs to make breakfast for her guests. Later, she went back to look at footage from the camera in the downstairs hall and saw ghostly orbs floating up the stairs.

“I’ve no idea what it is,” she said. “We’ve had the camera looked over. There’s no fault on it, nothing hanging down on to it and no torch because you’d see the beam – it’s just weird.”

“If someone can tell me what it is, I’d love to know,” the sceptical landlady said.

The Robinsons took over the premises four-and-a-half years ago. Janine said she had been told it had been purpose-built as an officers’ mess for the nearby Imphal Barracks in the 19th century.

“I’ve never seen anything like this before,” she said. “But if they’re checking into the B&B, I want paying!”