In the earlier episodes, when George Ward (
Stuart Golland) was in charge of the Aidensfield Arms, it was mentioned on several occasions that the fire in the bar had never been allowed to go out since the pub first opened. This was based on the real-life tradition at The Legendary Saltersgate Inn on the Whitby-Pickering road near the Hole of Horcum, a few miles from Goathland, where the Aidensfield village scenes were filmed. It was said that the fire at the Saltersgate stayed lit for over two hundred years, reputedly because an early publican had killed a customs officer and buried his body beneath the fireplace, and then lit a fire to avoid the hiding place being detected.
