Folkestone Herald
5-2-1982
Local News
Burglars broke in through the front door of the Red Cow
pub in Foord Road, Folkestone, last Monday night, and stole a video recorder,
12 video cassettes and £400.
South Kent Gazette
15-6-1983
Local News
The Red
Cow pub in Folkestone has a plush new image. A renovation campaign costing
several thousand pounds and lasting six months has transformed the hostelry.
Landlady
Mrs. Joan Biggs told the Gazette “It was just an old spit and sawdust pub until
after Christmas. We are delighted with it”. She and husband Geoffrey took over
the pub 13 years ago and have been pressing the brewery for renovations for
nearly as long. The work has included knocking the two bars into one and
complete re-decoration.
An informal reopening ceremony was performed on Thursday by owner of
Lingfleld Racecourse Mr. Ron Muddle and his wife Joan. Mr. Muddle who is a former chairman of
Folkestone Football Club said he has
used the pub for many years. “The
transformation work is terrific and I hope Joan and Geoff do very well from it”,
he said.
Oldest customer Mr. Bill Davies was the first to pull a pint in the refurbished
pub. Mr.
Davies, 83, has been a regular in the Red Cow since he moved to Folkestone in
1928.
Photo from South Kent Gazette
Folkestone Herald
24-6-1983
Advertising Feature
Anyone walking into the Red Cow pub in Foord Road after a few months`
absence could be forgiven for wondering if they were in the right place For what
before Christmas was a basic spit `n` sawdust local has been transformed into
an attractive and elegant hostelry set to compete with some of the smartest
places in town. The original public and saloon bars have been knocked into one
and a special eating area has been set aside. In fact the whole pub has been
modernised and improved, but with the installation of false beams and the
carefully selected decor, the atmosphere is very much one of bygone days.
Landlord and landlady Geoff and Joan Biggs are delighted as are their
regulars and an ever increasing number of new customers. But for them the
virtual overnight transformation of the Red Cow marks the end of a long, long
wait. Fourteen years ago the couple, who have been in the licensed trade since
1938, ran the old Foresters Arms in Shellons Street, Folkestone. It was a
thriving business, regularly packed and serving umpteen lunches every day. But
their success was short-lived. A compulsory purchase order forced them to move
and they took over the Red Cow with high hopes of improving it. They made
repeated requests to the brewery but it was 13 years before they got the
go-ahead for their new-look pub. “People have to pay a lot of money for drinks
these days. It is only right that they get something a little bit special in
return”, says Geoff.
Photo from Folkestone Herald
Folkestone Herald
9-9-1983
Local News
A pub landlord has died after a lifetime in the licensed
trade. Mr. Geoffrey Biggs, landlord at the Red Cow in Folkestone`s Foord Road,
died in the early hours of last Thursday, apparently from a heart attack. His
death at the age of 63 came as a shock to his wife Joan, son Stephen, daughter
Vicky and many friends. He had been a publican in the town for nearly 20 years.
Mr. Biggs had been landlord at
the Red Cow for 15 years. Before taking over he was at the Foresters Arms in
Shellons Street, Folkestone. He and his wife have wanted to improve the Red Cow
since they first moved there and in June their dreams came true when
modernisation work was completed. Well-known in the town, Mr. Biggs was heavily
involved in the darts leagues. A funeral service takes place today at Hawkinge.
Folkestone Herald 24-1-1992
Local News
Publicans are prepared to lose their jobs and homes
rather than sign new leases they say could double their rents. Half the
publicans in Fover being offered these contracts and two thirds in Shepway are
rebelling, say the local branches of the Licensed Victuallers` Association.
“It`s like signing a suicide pact, and I won`t do it”,
says Rick Abbott, who runs the Cricketers in River. He added “I have a wife and
three children and we would lose our home, but we would be ruined if I signed”.
Big breweries, with more than 2,000 pubs in the country,
are selling pubs or offering 20-year leases because the Monopolies and Mergers
Commission is restricting how many they can have.
Alf Bentley, landlord of the Red Lion in Charlton Green,
Dover, said “This is as ill-conceived as the poll tax. What use is a 20-year
lease to me when I am 60? The breweries are also driving out experienced
landlords and replacing them with people who were probably bakers before”.
Leslie Carpenter, of Carpenter`s in The Stade,
Folkestone, said “My own rent will only go up by a third, but I couldn`t even
manage that. I am prepared to lose my job rather than accept. It`s hard enough
to survive with the recession. We`ve just lost more customers through the
Sealink redundancies”.
The L.V.A. says the increases would further damage pubs
because landlords would have to put up their prices to try to survive. They say
the cost of a pint is now pushing £2.
Only last week Barry Musk walked out of the pub where he
had been a tenant for four years, the Red Cow, in Foord Road, Folkestone. He
now manages a free house, the Imperial, in Black Bull Road. He said “Signing
would have meant my rent going up from £12,000 a year to £20,000, which would
have ruined me. I was lucky because I found another pub without that kind of
expense”.
All four pubs are owned by Whitbread. A spokesman said
the company was willing to negotiate with landlords if they could not afford
new rents. “The LVA claims that rents will double, but I dispute that. Our own
survey shows that overall rents have increased by just 45 percent”, he added.
Whitbread says Government legislation has been put it and other brewers in a
dilemma. The new Landlord and Tenant Act gives publicans security of tenure, yet
the Monopolies Commission says brewers must get rid of pubs.
Folkestone Herald
1-5-1992
Local News
A bankruptcy order has been made against Barry and
Victoria Musk, of Alder Road, Folkestone. The couple used to run and live at
the Red Cow Inn, Foord Road, Folkestone. The petition was filed at Canterbury
Crown Court by the Musks, and the Official Receiver has been appointed to
safeguard their assets.
Folkestone Herald
22-5-1992
Local News
We would like to point out that despite a bankruptcy
order being made against Barry and Victoria Musk, who used to run the Red Cow
Inn, the pub itself has not closed. The inn, which is in Foord Road,
Folkestone, has been taken over by Jim and Madeleine Tansey. We would like to
apologise for any misunderstanding our story about the Red Cow in our May 1
edition may have caused.
Folkestone Herald
5-8-1993
Local News
A man who conned a salesman out of a £90 car, attempted
to break into a pub, and then burgled a house in Folkestone has been jailed for
18 months.
Canterbury Crown Court heard that at the time of the
burglary Sxcott Doherty was wanted on warrant for failing to appear before
local Magistrates. Doherty, 25, from Glasgow, admitted obtaining the Vauxhall
from Peter Kent by deception in March, 1991, attempted burglary at the Red Cow
three months later and burglary at Jointon Road a year later.
Julian Woodbridge, prosecuting, said Doherty used the
name Tagford when he obtained the car for £90 from Mr. Kent at Kent Car
Breakers in Dover. He signed a cheque in the name of Tagford, the cheque having
come from a cheque book stolen in an earlier burglary in Folkestone. In June Doherty
was caught by an off-duty policeman, who spotted Doherty and another man by the
Red Cow at Foord Road early in the morning. Doherty was then bailed to appear
at Folkestone Magistrates` but failed to turn up. In August, 1992, he broke
into a house in Jointon Road and stole property worth £1,185. He was traced
because of his fingerprints, but was not arrested until January this year.
Cairns Nelson, defending, said his crimes stemmed from
heroin addiction, but since serving a three month sentence in Scotland he had
been drug free.
Folkestone Herald
14-9-1995
Local News
Liverpool soccer fan Steve Gill had a hair-raising ordeal
after his side were beaten by Wimbledon. His head was shaved in front of a
cheering crowd packing the Red Cow pub in Foord Road, Folkestone, on Saturday
night.
Liverpudlian Steve, of Marshall Street, Folkestone, runs
the Kent Reds Liverpool Travel Supporters Club. He was joined by three mates
for the shaves. The brave four had a sponsored “grade one”, leaving a little on
top, to raise hundreds of pounds for Parkfield Special School in Folkestone and
the William Harvey Hospital Cancer Day Care Centre.
Steve, married with two children, was joined by Phil
Walker, Shane England, and Tony Bennett, 23-year-old son of Red Cow landlord,
Liverpudlian Louis Bennett. Hairdresser les Neill did the cuts before having
his own hair cut close. And soon other Red Cow customers were getting theirs
done while a bucket was sent round the pub for more money.
Steve said afterwards “I`ll be wearing a wig for a time!”
Raffle prizes included a football signed by the Liverpool team.
Folkestone Herald
12-3-1998
Local News
Regulars at a Folkestone pub have raised enough money to
buy seven vital communication devices for children with special needs.
Customers and staff at the Red Cow in Foord Road, Folkestone, filled a
collection bottle with £290, and the figure was matched by local firm Breda
Transport. The cash will be used to buy a number of “BIGMacks” for pupils at
the Foxwood School in Seabrook Road. BIGMacks are saucer-shaped devices which
record messages and aid communication. Red Cow landlord, Louis Bennett, said
“We try to do quite a bit for charity and we like to raise money for local
causes. We are only too happy to help and I am really grateful to all our
customers”.
Foxwood head-teacher Chris Soulby said “I can`t thank the
people at the Red Cow enough. The children at the school will benefit greatly
from this money, and they, too, will be very grateful”.
Folkestone Herald 12-8-1999
Local News
Veterans of the great Folkestone
floods have had their annual celebration scuppered by licensing laws. Plans to
hold the party in the garden of the Red Cow, Foord Road, were ruined after the
pub was told it could not hold live music outdoors. Organisers refused to hold
the bash indoors because it meant children who suffered through the floods
three years ago would not be allowed in.
Now Louis Bennett, landlord
of the pub for three years, said it would be business as usual on Sunday. He
said “We feel this is very petty of the Council. We can`t afford a live music
licence because we cannot pay £600 for just one day. This was popular with all
the family. Now there will be no celebration. We cannot hold the event in the
pub because we want children to be able to join in. We were told we would be
allowed to hold a private party, but then people will not be able to come and
go as they please”. The party was to include music and drinks for the adults
who braved the floods, which devastated Foord Road in 1996. For the children
there would have been face-painting and food and drinks in the garden.
In 1996 floods submerged
ground floors, cars and roads in central Folkestone and the harbour after
torrential rain.
Council Licensing Officer,
John McEwan, said the pub could have up to two musicians in the pub to
celebrate. Or they could hold a private party. The pub would have had to have
applied for an outdoor public entertainments licence 28 days before the event.
He added “I had a conversation with someone at the pub and explained the
options open to them if they still wanted to hold the event. We have to operate
within the rules”.
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