Updates

26th June, 2015: Folkestone Herald Reports from 1985 Added

Bottoms, The Leas c1985 - Early 2000s

No details available

Folkestone Herald 26-7-1985

Local News

Cash and cigarettes were stolen after intruders forced vending and gaming machines at Bottoms Bar in the Carlton Hotel, on Folkestone`s Leas, on Monday night (July 22).

 

Updates

19th June, 2015: South Kent Gazette and Folkestone Herald Reports for 1984 Added.

Jubilee Inn 1980s

South Kent Gazette 18-3-1981

Local News

Furious pub landlords say shock rises of up to 8p. on a pint of beer could put them out of business. Tenants of Whitbread Fremlin pubs in Shepway are bitter and incensed at the massive increase imposed by the brewery.

The rise, brought in on Monday, could put many of the landlords in the area out of the business or force them to go out to work while their wives manage the pub. This was the message from landlord Vic Batten, of the Jubilee Inn, Folkestone, who spoke on behalf of 40 tenants in the area on Monday. “We deplore the breweries increase”, Mr Batten said. “It means the Whitbread tenants are going to have a “very, very lean time””. On top of the four pence excise duty which came out of the Chancellor’s Budget, the brewery has placed an extra few pence on prices be­cause of “inflationary costs of raw materials and delivery services”, a brewery spokes­man claimed. To the customer this means between 56p and 58p for a pint of bitter, with lager costing 68p for the usual types and 74p for the Stella Artois brand. Guinness will also be over the 70p mark. “This is the highest increase the trade has ever been faced with”, Mr. Batten said. “We are having a lean enough time with the recession. This is obviously going to aggravate things even more. The pubs are already in competition with licensed clubs in the area. It could result in some of the licensees having to get out of the trade or going out to work while their wives run the pub”.

The local tenants held a special meeting at the Golden Arrow public house in Golden Valley on Sunday to discuss the situation. “But there is nothing we can do; we are tied tenants, contracted to get supplies from Whitbread”, said Mr. Batten. “We have had reactions from free-trade licensees. They are very incensed at Whitbread and talking about organising some sort of a boycott”.

Mr. Batten, a landlord for 13 years, said the increase adds up to a 66 percent rise on beer in the last three years and 50 percent up in spirits. His prices were put up in December and only two weeks ago the cost of bottled beer and spirits were increased.

However, the brewery has written to tenants stating that after this increase prices will remain the same for 12 months. A spokesman for Whitbread Fremlin said this will be the case providing there is not a mini-budget or any unforeseen problem in that time.

Folkestone Herald 24-2-1984

Local News

Non, nein, or however you want to put it, Shepway drinkers have given the thumbs-down to Common Market tinkering with the price of a pint. Brussels bureaucrats have said that Britain discriminates against wine in favour of beer and have asked for a harmonisation of prices. But with one eye on the budget, drinkers and licensees alike suspect that is 1984 doublespeak for a thumping increase in the price of a pint.

First into the counter-attack against whatever Whitehall and Brussels have in mind is Folkestone and District Licensed Victuallers` Association, which says the price of a pint is already too high, and if any adjustment is to be made, wine costs should be cut. “I`ve been here 15 years, and in that time I have seen the price of a pint of beer double inside five years and the number of customers fall off” said Vic Batten, Chairman of the association, and innkeeper at the Jubilee on The Stade, Folkestone. “In January, 1979, mild was 30p a pint, and out two bitters 34p and 38p. A pint of mild now costs 66p and the bitters 72p and 74p respectively. You can go into any pub in the area and they will tell you the same thing, and it amounts to this – the higher the price of a pint, the more the average person is put off from visiting their local. The ridiculous thing is that in this country we aret axed more heavily on drink than in any other country in the Common Market with the exception of the Irish Republic”.

As the lounge bar of the Jubilee cleared at the end of the lunchtime session Mr. Batten`s grandson, three-and-a-half months old Thomas came down with his mum to see what was going on. Rapid calculations revealed that, assuming prices rise on the current scale, Thomas will be tipping back pints at more than £12 a time – if there are any pubs open by the time he is 20.

One of the last customers to leave was fellow-publican and ex-journalist, Brian Potter, now licensee at the Clarendon in Tontine Street, Folkestone. Said Brian between mouthfuls of ale “If nobody says or does anything then I reckon they`ll get away with pegging wine at the price it is and harmonising the prices by jacking up the price of a pint. What Vic says is dead right. The average bloke is beginning to realise the cost of a pint of beer has already been increased out of all proportion. I mean, have your wages doubled in the last five years?”

Opinions of the same sort were voiced by Mr. Danny McNeill, late of Balloch, Scotland, and now not-unacquainted with the bar of the Globe in Folkestone`s Bayle. “If the people who fixed the prices could stand in here and listen to what people are saying, their ears would burn”, he said. “There’s definitely some­thing wrong with the pricing when you can get a super strong lager in Scotland for less than 70p. It seems to me that the brewers and the government are pricing them­selves out of a good thing”.

 

Toby House, Grace Hill ???? - ????

Licensees

No details available

Photo from Folkestone Herald 12-2-1977

Folkestone Herald 6-1-1984

Local News

Former disco and bars complex the Toby House is up for sale at £105,000. The two-storey building at Grace Hill, Folkestone, has been closed for more than a year and been on the market for over six months. It used to be run by Mr. Mike Oliver, of Oliver’s La Clique discotheque, Dover Road, Folkestone. The disco and its bars is up for sale through Folkestone estate agent Daniel Smith. This freehold also includes a nearby Victorian house at 13, Copthall Gardens. Toby`s was once one of only a handful of discotheques for young people in Folkestone. A season of live gigs for local and national bands was put on in 1982 and during this period the now chart-topping band Blancmange played there. Although the disco and house are together in the package for £105,000, the brewery which owns both is willing to let them go separately. Daniel Smith says the business had a turnover of £100,000 a year. It is at present vacant and requires “to be refitted with a new inventory”. A spokesman said there are several parties interested in the disco building and until a genuine offer for purchase is made the name of the brewery is being withheld.

 

Updates

12th June, 2015: South Kent Gazette and Folkestone Herald Reports for 1983 Added

Casablanca, Cheriton Road 1984 - 1987

Licensee
Achmed Hamdu 1984 1987 Renamed Royal Cheriton

Folkestone Herald 27-5-1983

Local News

A Cheriton cafe may soon be turned into a wine bar. A planning application to change the use of the Sunshine Cafe in Cheriton Road has been lodged with Shepway District Council.

 

Updates

5th June, 2015: South Kent Gazette and Folkestone Herald Reports for 1982 Added

Norfolk Cellar Bar, Langhorne Gardens c1980 - 1982

Licensees
Ian Fell and Simon Fell 1982 c 1995 Renamed Harvey`s Wine Bar

South Kent Gazette 3-12-1980

Canterbury Crown Court

A former Lydd man who hit another man with a beer glass was put on probation for two years and ordered to pay £100 legal costs at Canterbury Crown Court on Friday. Peter Bryan, now of Anson Road, Tuffnall Park, pleaded Not Guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm on Carl Yearsley in May, 1979.

Mr. Christopher Hookway, prosecuting, said Bryan and another man called Michael Blythe were in the cellar bar of Folkestone`s Norfolk Hotel when there was some sort of staring encounter between them and Yearsley. Blythe spoke to Yearsley, who then went up to the two men and suggested they went outside. Blythe and Yearsley left, followed by Bryan, and outside Bryan saw Yearsley on the ground with Blythe on top hitting Yearsley, said Mr. Hookway. “Yearsley was hit with a pint glass by Bryan, and remembered no more until he woke up in hospital”, he said.

Bryan had a number of previous convictions, but his counsel, Mr. J. French, said he had left the area now and was living and working successfully in London. At the time Bryan lived at Brooks Way, Lydd, and Mr. French said he bitterly regretted the incident. “He realises he is in serious trouble and it was a very foolish thing to do but it seems the only injury caused by the glass was a cut to Yearsley`s forehead. Thi matter has been hanging over him for a long time and he has felt remorse ever since”.

South Kent Gazette 4-2-1981

Rochester Crown Court

A man involved in a fight that went too far was given a suspended prison sentence last Tuesday after a judge described it as a case of “least said, soonest mended”.

Michael Blythe, formerly of St. John`s Street, Folkestone, pleaded Guilty at Rochester Crown Court to a charge of causing grievous bodily harm. But Judge John Streeter, imposing a 12 month jail sentence, suspended for two years, said “One is bound to bear in mind this is not your first charge involving violence, but I accept the part the victim played in this, though I dare say he expected a fair fight”.

Earlier, the Court heard how an argument between Blythe and a friend, and the victim, Karl Yearsley, developed into a fight outside the Norfolk Hotel, in Folkestone. Blyth was on top of Yearsley and his accomplice was kicking him and hitting him with a beer glass. The other man involved had already been dealt with by the courts.

Mr Anthony Webb, defend­ing, said Blyth, who now lives at New Addington, accepted that the fight had gone too far. But initially it was the victim, Yearsley, who was responsible, in part, at least, for what happened.

Folkestone Herald 20-8-1982

Advertising Feature

Wine bars tend to have a snobby image where the customers prefer to discuss whether wine grown on a north or south facing slope is better, rather than drink. They`ve also got a reputation for being expensive, where a credit card and not a wallet is the order of the day. But Ian Fell and his brother, Mark, aim to change all that with the opening of their wine bar, Harvey`s, in Sandgate Road, Folkestone. A wide variety of wines to suit everyone`s pocket, with cheap and plentiful food, plus the cosy atmosphere of the cellar bar add up to a great night out that will not cost you a fortune.

Harvey`s is situated in what used to be the basement bar of the Norfolk Hotel, now renamed the Langhorne Gardens Hotel, and taken over by Mark and Ian`s parents, Doug and Audrey. The hotel is undergoing extensive renovations to change its image, under the watchful eye of Doug and Audrey Fell, both veterans of the hotel and licensed trade.

Ian, too, has plenty of experience to call on, beginning with three years learning the nuts and bolts at catering college. But the day-to-day realities of the trade were learnt at the exclusive Cafe Royal in London, where Ian spent seven years, ending up as deputy banqueting manager in charge of a £13 million a year turnover. That included a drinks bill of £250,000 a year! Despite the attractions of the Cafe Royal, Ian wanted to start up his own wine bar. He hunted for premises all over London, but his search was fruitless until his parents took over the Norfolk. The cellar bar presented an ideal challenge, so Ian came back to the town he was brought up in. London`s loss became Folkestone`s gain. “We felt there was a need for another wine bar in the town, and Harvey`s gives us the sort of image we`re looking for”, said Ian. The wine starts at 55p a glass or £3.30 for Ian`s own label house wine. The selection is enormous, with wines from France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain and California, and even champagne for that special occasion. There`s food too, from toasted sandwiches, ploughman`s lunch (75p) to a very reasonably priced, locally caught, trout, with peas and chips, at only £1.95.

Ian hopes to get the population of Folkestone drinking wine in a big way and plans to extend the wine bar later in the year to include a cosy seated area at the back for diners. Cocktails are also promised in the near future. It sounds like 1982 is going to be a very good year.