Folkestone Herald
26-3-1982
Local News
Landlady Lilian Hawkes has been given 14 days to quit her
Folkestone pub. At a County Court hearing last Thursday the owners of the
Prince of Wales in Guildhall Street, brewers Whitbread Fremlins Limited, were
granted a possession order for the premises.
Mrs. Hawkes, agreeing the brewers were entitled to have
thr order, did not contest the application. She told Judge Donald Sumner,
presiding, that the brewery is willing to let her stay on at the pub until she
has found a new home. The landlady has already approached Shepway District
Council and has been told it will find her a place to live as soon as possible,
she added.
Solicitor Mr. Christopher Bushnell, for Whitbread
Fremlins, said the brewery will not take any steps which will cause hardship to
the landlady.
Judge Sumner said “They have said they will do all they
can to assist her and not enforce the claim unreasonably. I think they are
being very fair and helpful”.
There were no claims for money or costs from the
defendant.
A spokesman for Whitbread Fremlins said the eviction took
place because the landlady wanted to be evicted. Mrs. Hawkes is a widow and due
for retirement. The pub has been closed since Christmas, but no decision has
been made yet on a new manager or tenant. The brewery will probably go through
its usual process to get a new publican. This could take up to three months.
But it depends on what the brewery decide to do, the spokesman added.
South Kent Gazette
5-5-1982
Local News
Days of pulling pints are over for Folkestone landlady,
Mrs. Lilian Hawkes, who has retired from the Prince of Wales pub. She managed
the Whitbread-owned pub in Guildhall Street for 31 years with her husband until
he died four years ago.
Now Whitbread has decided to sell the Prince of Wales to
a freeholder.
Whitbread officials, local licensees and members of the
Licensed Victuallers` Association turned out to give Mrs. Hawkes – known to
regulars as Jean – a good send-off during a reception at the Guildhall Hotel.
 |
| Photo from South Kent Gazette |
Folkestone Herald
1-4-1983
Advertising Feature
The Prince of Wales is one of those “blink and you miss
it” sort of pubs. Situated
in the heart of a residential area on the comer of Guildhall Street and
Coolinge Road, it never pretended to be anything other than a quiet local. But
there have recently been some big changes. In fact it has both a new look and a
new landlord. Three small bars have been knocked through into one and there are
plans to build up a darts team and serve hot and cold food.
The new
man in charge is 40-year-old Kevin Atkins, who says proudly that the pub has
been packed every day since he re-opened on March 1. “We`ve still got a bit of
work to do, but I think we are well on the way to achieving what I want – a
good, friendly pub”.
A free
house, it serves 14 different draught beers and lagers – one of the biggest
selections in the area.
Before
coming to Folkestone, Mr. Atkins was manager of the White Hart in Reigate and
before that worked in the Middle East. He was originally a career soldier but
after 18 years in the Army was given a medical discharge after being injured in
an I.R.A. explosion in Londonderry.
Photo from Folkestone Herald
Folkestone Herald
10-2-1984
Local News
His name was Atkins, late of the British Army, and the
order rang down the years since demob – “Atkins! Get your `air cut!” Now
remustered into civilian life as a landlord Kevin Atkins jumped to it, and half
an hour later stood shorn as any rookie soldier recently subjected to the
tender ministrations of a camp barber.
“It was a bit of a laugh, but there was a more serious
purpose behind it”, said Kevin, landlord of the Prince of Wales pub in
Folkestone`s Guildhall Street, as he brushed away the stray hairs from his
collar. “We wanted to raise money for the Poppy Appeal in a way that would give
the regulars a bit of a giggle. My hair was 18 inches long, and I suppose
someone must have thought that was a bit unmilitary. I suppose I should have
seen what was coming next. The idea was that customers should be able to have a
go at my hair for five pence a snip. Now I should say that my hair varies in
length between four inches and a quarter of an inch. Still, it was 24 years ago
on Monday that I went into the Army, and I don`t think the camp barber did any
worse”.
Kevin`s previous hairstyle – long tresses almost to the
shoulder – had earned him the nickname “Buffalo Bill” among the regulars. As he
stared wistfully at the growing golden pile he reflected with some pleasure
that the whole exercise had raised £35 for the Poppy Appeal. AQ helmet which
had found its way out of the possession of the Argentinian government was
produced, and Kevin placed it on his head with not a hair out of place, simply
because there was very little hair to be out of place. And as smart as the
Atkins of 24 years ago, Kevin posed for the camera, head up, chest out and
thumbs in line with the seam of the trousers.
Folkestone Herald
14-6-1985
Local News
A pub landlady had her arm slashed by a pint glass and
her door smashed after telling Elizabeth Queen to get out of the pub.
Folkestone Magistrates heard Queen and a group of
friendswere creating a disturbance in the Prince of Wales in Guildhall Street.
Landlady Minaxi Atkins asked one of the group to leave and Queen got involved
in a row with her, said Gareth Isaac, prosecuting. Queen had a pint glass in
her hand, said Mr. Isaac. She threw it, cutting Mrs. Atkins, who needed
hospital treatment. Outside the Folkestone pub she started to hit a glass door
with her hands, eventually smashing it.
She pleaded Guilty to the offences of causing actual
bodily harm and criminal damage, said Susan Watler, for Queen. But Queen, of Keyes Place, Folkestone,
had drunk so much she could not remember assaulting Mrs. Atkins. “She has had
problems with her drinking”, Mrs. Watler told the court. Queen had attended a
special clinic in Canterbury to help with these problems, Mrs. Watler told the
Magistrates. But Queen’s family problems meant she lost the incentive to stop
drinking.
“You must realise drinking is no friend to you”, said presiding Magistrate
Mary Bean. “You seem to lose your temper.” Queen was given a year’s conditional
discharge for each of the offences and ordered to pay compensation of £20 to
Mrs Atkins and £28 for the damage caused to the door.
Folkestone Herald
4-4-1986
Local News
Champion money raisers at the Prince of Wales pub in Guildhall Street,
Folkestone, are celebrating their success with an off-beat New Year’s party -
on April 5.
“It all started with a bet, really”, said landlord Kevin’s wife Minaxi
Atkins.
The pub, which has raised over £600 for the Royal British Legion outside
their annual Poppy Appeal Week, stands to raise well over £100 from the oddball
scheme. Christmas decorations have been left up since the end of 1985 and
Christmas Eve will be celebrated on April 1. With cards
from regulars and the full party spirit, a New Year’s party will be held on
April 5 - all for a joint bet of £80 from beer suppliers Charringtons.
Folkestone Herald
2-5-1986
Local News
Patriotic pub customers marked St. George`s Day in fine
style. Regulars at the Prince of Wales in Guildhall Street, Folkestone, joined
landlord and landlady Kevin and Minaxi Atkins by dressing up to celebrate the
country`s patron saint`s day. Costumes with an English theme were set off by
red roses. As a result of the evening`s fun, a feature of which was country and
western music by Keith Harwood, £40 was raised for the Royal British Legion`s
Poppy Appeal. There was further fun at the Prince of Wales on the following
evening, when the pub met a team from the British Sailors` Society, Dover, in a
friendly game of pool.
Folkestone Herald
10-10-1986
Local News
Another royal port of call has been found for the ship’s badge from the
last H.M.S. Folkestone. The Prince of Wales pub in Guildhall
Street succeeds the Prince Albert in Rendezvous Street as home for the solid
brass plaque. It had been in danger of leaving the Shepway area - where it has
been on public display for over 30 years.
Alan White, retiring landlord of the Albert where the badge has spent
the last 22 years, wanted to sell it to a local buyer. But only
on condition that it would be kept in the public eye when he and his wife Kay
left Rendezvous Street. Otherwise it went with him into safe keeping. His S.O.S. in the Herald was answered by a concerned regular, who wants
to stay anonymous. He bought the badge for £250, and donated it to the Prince
of Wales where he also enjoys a pint.
Landlord Kevin Atkins - “Yorkie” to his
friends - has pledged to keep the maritime relic in Folkestone. “I will carry on the same tradition as Alan”, he said at Thursday night’s
presentation by Mayor Kelland Bowden. “The badge will stay in Folkestone when I
move on”. Mr Bowden told the packed Prince Albert that
he remembered the ship’s badge when it hung on the bar wall at the Ship in
Sandgate over 30 years ago. He also had the pleasant task of presenting £100 to
the Kent Blind ¡ation’s Dave Garrod collected by customers at the Albert.
Alan and Kay White retired after 22½ years behind the bar of the
Rendezvous Street pub at the end of last week. What would
they remember most from over two decades of serving drinks? “Our
friends in Folkestone”, said Mr. White, “and that includes our fellow licensees”.
Photo from Folkestone Herald
Folkestone Herald
14-11-1986
Local News
Customers at the Prince of Wales pub in
Folkestone got together on Sunday to remember those who fought in the First
World War, commemorated by the presentation of £650 to the Poppy Day Appeal. The Mayor of Folkestone, Cllr. Kelland Bowden, was presented with the
cheque at the pub in Guildhall Street, by Mr. Kevin Atkins, landlord of the
pub.
Folkestone Herald
2-12-1988
Local News
Kind-hearted regulars at The Prince of Wales
pub, Folkestone raised over £1,000 for a Poppy Day appeal. The cash was raised
during the year by filling a large whisky bottle with cash, and also by running
sweepstakes.
By the last sweepstake £840 had been raised,
and then landlady Mrs Minaxi Atkins won £200 in her own competition. Generous Minaxi decided to donate some of her winnings to the appeal to
make the pub’s total £1,001. "Every
year we raise more money, and this year we were going for the £1000 mark”, Mrs.
Atkins said. “It looked as
if we were going to fall short of our target until I won the sweepstake, so I
gave the extra money to the appeal. It had to
happen. The first time I win I have to hand over the cash”.
Folkestone Herald
24-11-1989
Local News
Regulars at the Prince of Wales pub in Folkestone raised
more than £1,000 for charity this year. The money went to the Poppy Appeal, the
Royal Marines School of Music Appeal Fund, Guide Dogs for The Blind, and the
elderly in need.
Chelsea Pensioners Ron Heritage and David Redpath-George
came from London to collect a cheque and meet Folkestone Mayor, Michael Luck.
The money was raised by collections, auctions and selling
lottery tickets.
Folkestone Herald
19-4-1991
Local News
A man threw a part-filled charity bottle from a bar at a
licensee after being asked to leave a Folkestone pub, a Court heard. Empty
glasses and pump tops were also thrown.
Kevin Atkins, licensee of the Prince of Wales, in
Guildhall Street, was left with four cuts on the side of his head needing 13
stitches after the incident last June, said Tracey Ayling, prosecuting at
Maidstone Crown Court.
Stephen Paul Currie, 23, of Naseby Avenue, Folkestone,
was jailed for a year, suspended for two months, after a jury convicted him of
unlawful wounding. Currie, who denied the charge, was also ordered to pay £250
compensation and £220 prosecution costs.
Judge Keith Simpson told him “Mercifully Mr. Atkins
didn`t suffer more serious injuries, particularly having regard to the area
where the wounds were inflicted”.
Miss Ayling said Currie was in the pub with two women and
a child. “There came a time when there was a slight argument between Mr. Atkins
and the defendant, first about someone sitting on a pool table, and a drink
spilt on the table. Mr. Atkins asked Mr. Currie to leave”. The woman and child
went out first. Currie went up to the bar, behind which was Mr. Atkins, and
asked people around for a cigarette. “Mr. Atkins again asked him to leave
because his presence was not wanted – he had been a little aggressive –
whereupon Mr. Currie started throwing things”. After his arrest Currie told
police that he lost his temper after the licensee allegedly dragged the child off
the pool table. There was an argument and he was asked to leave.
Mr. Atkins said in evidence that after asking Currie to
leave the second time, he turned back to the optics. “The next thing, I got a
smash on the head from a large collecting bottle we had for the poppy appeal”.
Cross-examined by Maureen Fleischmann, for Currie, Mr.
Atkins said he did not touch the child or take her off the table. He also
denied snatching Currie`s glass and hitting himself with it.
Currie did not give evidence at the trial.
Folkestone Herald
12-6-1992
Local News
Cigarettes and spirits, totalling £300, were stolen from
the Prince of Wales pub in Guildhall Street, Folkestone.
Folkestone Herald
12-3-1998
Toby Jugs
Picture the scene .... December 31, 1999, The Prince of
Wales pub in Guildhall Street, glasses raised as Big Ben strikes .... The bar
TV shows the usual crowds swaying in unison in the crisp night air of Trafalgar
Square – some risking a dip in the freezing fountains. But the main
conversation in the Prince of Wales is still – love it or loathe it – is the
Millennium Dome.
It is here to stay, though, and even my drinking pals who
mock the idea can not, in their heart of hearts, imagine life without it. Of
course Folkestone Royal Victoria Hospital needs more money, but will you be
heading down there to dance in the aisles in the early hours of 2000, as you
can at the Dome?
Not landlord Norman King, anyway. Crystal Palace in
London was thought to be a white elephant when it was built a hundred years
ago, he comments. “Everyone said that wouldn`t work, and it proved a success”.
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