Railway Bell 1960s

Folkestone Gazette 4-5-1960

Local News

Development consent has been granted for the erection of a new building to replace the war-damaged Railway Bell public house in Dover Road for Ind Coope (London) Ltd.

Folkestone Herald 28-5-1960

Local News

The Railway Bell public house, near Folkestone Junction Station, which is to be rebuilt and furnished at a total cost of £27,000, will be opened within the next year or 18 months.

This was stated at a licensing transfer sessions at Folkestone Town Hall on Wednesday, when the Justices approved plans for the building.

The Chairman, Mrs. D.M.T. Buttery, commented "We think it will be a great asset to that part of Folkestone”.

Submitting the plans, Mr. Gerald Block said the public house had been very badly damaged in the war, but there had been just enough of the old building left to enable the trade to be carried on in two bars under somewhat difficult condi­tions. The new building would be set back from the road to allow parking space for 15 cars. It would have two bars of approxi­mately equal size, with a small off-licence department.

Advert from Folkestone Herald 14-10-1961

Photo from Folkestone Gazette 18-10-1961

Folkestone Herald 21-10-1961

Local News

Twenty one years ago this week two German Messerschmitt 109s dive-bombed front line Folkestone. A public house and 19 houses were damaged in the raid on the afternoon of October 17^th, in the second year of World War II.

The public house was the Railway Bell, in Dover Road. It was partially demolished by bombs which fell at the junction of Alexandra Street. Fortunately, the licensee, his wife and daughter were at a cinema. But the Railway Bell was only closed for a few weeks for first-aid repairs and then business was resumed as usual, although only the lower half of the building could be used. And thus it remained for 21 years. But on Thursday Group-Captain Bernard Carfoot, an executive director of Ind Coope, declared open a new Railway Bell – a contemporary public house with a light and colourful exterior.

There are two spacious bars and every effort has been made to retain the link with “railway”. Generations of railwaymen working at the Junction Station have used the “Bell”, and the association has not only been perpetuated but stressed in the decor of the new house. A feature is an enlarged line drawing in the saloon bar of one of Harry Wainwright`s old South Eastern and Chatham Railway “D” Class locomotives, which were current from 1900 – 1912. The handsome lines of the 2-4-0 locomotive were a familiar sight on the railway to Folkestone. And now No. 273, drawn to scale by the late Mr. J.N. Maskelyne, is in the British Transport Museum at Clapham.

Saloon and public bars, and a home sales shop, occupy the ground floor of the pleasant building, incorporating in its construction natural hardwoods and Kentish ragstone. On the first floor is a spacious three-bedroom flat for the tenants, Mr. And Mrs. Harry Reader, who since 1945 have commuted between the Railway Bell and a private house.

The remains of the old building will disappear within the next fortnight to provide a car park for 15 vehicles.

Photo from Folkestone Herald 21-10-1961

Photo from Folkestone Gazette 25-10-1961

Folkestone Gazette 17-5-1967

Local News

Mr. Leonard Barker, of 14, Segrave Road, Folke­stone, retired licensed victualler, who died in March, left £12,491 gross, £12,416 net. Duty paid was £745. Probate has been granted to his niece, Miss Winifred M. Barker, of 10 Hurst Avenue, Horsham, and nephew Walter E.J. Barker, of 148, Comptons Lane, Horsham. He left £500 and certain effects to Mrs. Dorothy M. de Vere, if still in his employ at his death and not under notice; £50 to Dr. Fritz Ewer, of Greenoaks, Military Road, Sandgate, “for his kindness and attention to my late wife during her long and painful illness”; and £25 to the Rev. Gethin-Jones, late of The Vicarage, Sandgate.