Thanks And Acknowledgements

My thanks go to Kent Libraries and Archives - Folkestone Library and also to the archive of the Folkestone Herald. For articles from the Folkestone Observer, my thanks go to the Kent Messenger Group. Southeastern Gazette articles are from UKPress Online, and Kentish Gazette articles are from the British Newspaper Archive. See links below.

Paul Skelton`s great site for research on pubs in Kent is also linked

Other sites which may be of interest are the Folkestone and District Local History Society, the Kent History Forum, Christine Warren`s fascinating site, Folkestone Then And Now, and Step Short, where I originally found the photo of the bomb-damaged former Langton`s Brewery, links also below.


Welcome

Welcome to Even More Tales From The Tap Room.

Core dates and information on licensees tenure are taken from Martin Easdown and Eamonn Rooney`s two fine books on the pubs of Folkestone, Tales From The Tap Room and More Tales From The Tap Room - unfortunately now out of print. Dates for the tenure of licensees are taken from the very limited editions called Bastions Of The Bar and More Bastions Of The Bar, which were given free to very early purchasers of the books.

Easiest navigation of the site is by clicking on the PAGE of the pub you are looking for and following the links to the different sub-pages. Using the LABELS is, I`m afraid, not at all user-friendly.

Contrast Note

Whilst the above-mentioned books and supplements represent an enormous amount of research over many years, it is almost inevitable that further research will throw up some differences to the published works. Where these have been found, I have noted them. This is not intended to detract in any way from previous research, but merely to indicate that (possible) new information is available.

Contribute

If you have any anecdotes or photographs of the pubs featured in this Blog and would like to share them, please mail me at: jancpedersen@googlemail.com.

If you`ve enjoyed your visit here, why not buy me a pint, using the button at the end of the "Labels" section?


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Friday 9 October 2015

Updates

9th October, 2015: Folkestone Herald Reports for 1992 Added

Railway Bell 1970s - 1990s



Folkestone Gazette 19-2-1975

Obituary

Mrs. Elsie Reader, landlady of the Railway Bell public house in Dover Road, Folkestone, for almost 30 years, has died, aged 81. Mrs. Reader was born in Elham, and her husband took over the public house in 1945. A funeral service at Hawkinge was conducted by the Reverend W. Foster.

Photo from Folkestone Gazette
 
Folkestone Gazette 25-3-1975

Local News

Landlord Harry Reader believes he is the longest serving publican in Folke­stone. He retires soon after having been mine host of the Railway Bell, Folke­stone, for 30 years. Mr. Reader, aged 67, has been given a good send-off by his Ind-Coope col­leagues. Eight Folkestone publicans got together and presented Harry with an inscribed clock at a surprise meeting in the saloon bar of the Railway Bell on Wednesday. When he moves to a new home at East Cliff, Folke­stone, he plans to spend his time gardening and taking photographs.



Photo from Folkestone Herald 11-2-1978 Shows Railway Bell 19-10-1940

 
South Kent Gazette 22-11-1978

Local News

Empty tankards brought few cheers at four Folkestone pubs when beer kegs and bottles ran dry. Regulars had to make do with fruit juice and spirits as a result of a brewery workers` strike at Ind Coope. The brewery supplies local pubs including the Black Bull, Nailbox, Morehall and Railway Bell from its Aylesham depot. After missing three deliveries, pub supplies dwindled last week to nothing.

One landlord said his trade had been cut by 50 per cent, and another claimed his darts league and pool players had turned to lemonade and Coke.

Now customers will be finding what their right arms are for again. The 14 workers at Aylesham agreed to return to work yesterday. A spokesman for the brewery said the strike by a total of 1,750 production and distribution employees was over a pay claim. Most of the other workers agreed to return to work on Monday.

South Kent Gazette 25-11-1981

Local News

Cheers ten times over was the cry when a group of sponsored walkers set out on a pub crawl to help the Kent Association for the Blind. Ten pubs were visited, and on Thursday walk organiser, postman Dave Garrod, handed over a bumper cheque for £1,210 to association deputy secretary Les Ellis.

Mrs. Olive Hallett, landlady of the Railway Bell, in Dover Road, Folkestone, received an award for the most cash raised. Her customers collected over £350. It was a double night of success for the pub, with regular Mike Kingston winning an award as the highest individual money-raiser by raking in £222.

South Kent Gazette 27-4-1983

Gravesend Crown Court

After being struck in the face with a broken bottle by a man in a pub, Michael Reece needed 25 stitches in his wounds, a court heard.

Sean Coyne, 23, and Mr. Reece were playing pool in the Railway Bell in Dover Road, Folkestone. Trouble broke out as they chalked up their names, Gravesend Crown Court was told on Tuesday. Before it finished Coyne had broken an empty bottle and hit Mr. Reece in the face.

Mr. Simon Buckhaven, prosecuting, said that according to Coyne the incident started when Mr. Reece nudged him. Coyne started a short fight and another and another brief fight outside the toilets was stopped by one of the pub`s customers. Later Coyne picked up an empty bottle from a crate, and broke it against a toilet wall. He rushed past the publican into the bar and struck Mr. Reece in the face with it. Before the two men were eventually separated there was more fighting. Mr. Reece was taken to hospital with wounds on his face and neck. Seen by police, Coyne, who bore some bruises, admitted being involved in fighting, but at first denied using a bottle. Next day he admitted what had happened, and said “He was antagonising me. He really got on my back. I have never been so mad in my life, and I just did it”.

Coyne, of Tyson Road, Folkestone, admitted wounding Mr. Reece on February 4 last year. His Not Guilty plea to a charge of intending to cause grievous bodily harm was accepted.

Sentence was postponed for a psychiatric report and Coyne was bound over until then.

For Coyne, Mr. Elikkos Georghiades said he had been epileptic since boyhood and showed signs of possible brain damage. Further reports were necessary before sentence was passed, both in the public interest and Coyne`s own, he submitted.

Folkestone Herald 9-12-1983

Local News

A cheque for more than £1,000 was handed over to the Kent Association for the Blind on Thursday, thanks to the efforts of local postman David Garrod and a band of thirsty walkers. The money was raised during a charity pub crawl organised by Mr. Garrod in August, when 84 people went on a 10 mile trek from Folkestone to Hythe and back, boozing all the way. They visited ten pubs en-route with varying amounts of sponsor money riding on them.

After handing the cheque to K.A.B. representative Mr. John Crook at the Railway Bell in Dover Road, Folkestone, Mr. Garrod said he was delighted with the result. It was the third year running that the sponsored crawl, which has now become an annual event, has raised more than £1,000. He said he had first held the walk in 1978 when just himself, his wife and a couple of friends took part. They raised £70, but it started the postman thinking about the fundraising potential of such an event. Now he is determined to continue the yearly crawl, but says next year it will be held in July rather than August to avoid clashing with a number of other sponsored events which are held in the town.

Folkestone Herald 23-8-1985

Local News

Angry about missing a ferry, Adrian Hall hurled a stool through the window of a pub, a court heard last Wednesday.

Thirty-year-old Hall was preparing to leave the Railway Bell pub in Dover Road, Folkestone, after having a couple of drinks in the saloon bar. He picked up his haversack, shouted some­thing, then picked up a stool and threw it through a side window. Landlord Edward Hallett and some customers chased Hall, said Jackie Morey, prosecuting at Folkestone Magistrates’ Court. Mrs. Morey said she understood Hall got into the back of a lorry and stayed there until the police arrived. After seeing Hall hiding in the parked lorry, they took him to the police station and questioned him. Asked why he threw the stool he said it was bad temper caused by the frustrations of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was then asked if he had missed a ferry or something. He replied “Yes” and said that he should have been in Germany. Told he could have hit two elderly women sitting near the window, Hall said he did not mean to hit anyone, he aimed at the window Mrs. Morey said Hall had already given Mr Hallett £20 towards the £56.75 cost of repairing the window.

Hall, who comes from Devon, admitted des­troying the window. He was given a one-year conditional discharge and ordered to pay £36.75 compensation.

Folkestone Herald 5-6-1987

Local News

Regulars of the Railway Bell Pub in Dover Road, Folkestone, recently completed a marathon darts game where the final score totalled 323,000,064. A team of 10 people including licensees Mike and Wendy Roberts spent an exhausting 12 hours playing, starting at 11 a.m. in the morning and continuing until 11 p.m. closing time. Around £500 was raised from the game, and this will be donated to the Les Adams appeal, an International Charity - which will finance a holiday for handicapped children.

Folkestone Herald 28-8-1987

Local News

The British Heart Foundation was £200 richer this week thanks to the efforts of regulars at a Folkestone pub who played pool for 12 hours. Six regulars at the Railway Bell, Canterbury Road, were sponsored by family and friends. The marathon match started at 11 a.m. and ended with the last orders bell at 11 p.m. that night. Mike Roberts, landlord of the pub said “It was a good turn out especially as there was lots going on in Folkestone that same day”. Mike chose the British Heart Foundation as the charity as his father-in-law suffers from a heart condition. Mike and his wife Wendy are moving to Scotland at the end of the week so they can be nearer to him.

Folkestone Herald 11-3-1988

Local News

Red-faced pool player Keith George is still squirming about the day he stopped the yellow ball from jamming the table. For he got his hand trapped in the pocket of the pool machine and became the centre of a full-scale rescue operation while his mates just carried on playing. Pub regular, Keith, of Westbourne Gardens was trying to stop a yellow ball that kept getting stuck in the machine, from falling into one of the holes. But when he put his hand down it got painfully lodged and wouldn’t come out. Watching the spectacle was a full house at the Railway Bell pub in Dover Road on Saturday. People had packed in to see the local band Tom and Jerry. Relief manager Sylvia Colboume tried washing-up liquid but with no suc­cess, so the fire brigade was called. Eventually Keith was cut free and was taken to William Harvey Hospital for treatment to his hand.
 
 
Folkestone Herald 24-6-1988

Local News

Still smiling after 24 hours of continuous darts, the ladies of the Railway Bell on Dover Road were on double top form last Saturday. Landlady Susan Bridle and her team of hardy players started their marathon at 8 p.m. on Friday night. They raised £90 in a raffle, and hope for another £500 from sponsorship. The hard-earned money is to go to the William Harvey Hospital baby care unit and to the National Schizophrenia Fellowship Folkestone Group.

Susan Bridle said “We stayed out of the Telethon fever because we felt that our efforts would be swallowed up in the masses and would not have a noticeable local effect. We are hoping to present the money personally when we have collected it. We were all very pleased with the way the event went, although we’re a bit stiff now”.

Photo from Folkestone Herald


Folkestone Herald 19-5-1989

Local News

Our super readers lost their hair and their dignity to help raise over £2,000 for the Herald`s William Harvey Appeal. The fun began when students from South Kent College took to the streets in weird and wonderful outfits for a sponsored walk from Folkestone to Hythe, Over 130 joined in and those who didn`t handed over £3 “fines”.

Meanwhile at the Railway Bell in Folkestone, landlord George Bridle organised a fund fun night, with regulars lining up to have their heads shaved, wrestle with an Alsatian or play one-armed pool. He said “The ladies with the razors were a bit nervous, and quite a few plasters were used –but it was all good clean fun”. George himself was one of the sponsored baldies, and he added “It`s a bit cold now, but the best thing is you can wash your face all over. The only trouble is, I don`t know where to start when I have a shave in the mornings”.

The pub was packed right through to closing time, and new sponsors were continually found and promises of money soared to more than £1,000. Organisers also ran a raffle with prizes ranging from French lagers to Hagar the Horrible T-shirts. George added “The whole evening was one big party, and the pub was just teeming with people enjoying themselves. But the most important thing is the amount of money raised. Everyone was great and we are all over the moon with the cash we collected. Thanks everyone”.

Folkestone Herald 20-7-1990


Local News

Shepherd Neame has bought four pubs in Shepway from Ind Coope. It was part of a £5.85 million deal for 33 public houses in Kent, London and the south east. The pubs taken over in Shepway are: Britannia Inn, Shorncliffe; Harvey Hotel (sic), Folkestone; the Nailbox, Shorncliffe; and the Princess Royal, Folkestone.

Note: It was Railway Bell and not Harvey Hotel.
 
Folkestone Herald 30-10-1992

Local News

The manager of a pub has been left baffled by the theft of his sign.

Michael Lowe, who runs the Railway Bell in Dover Road, Folkestone, locked up as usual on Saturday night and put his clocks back. An hour later his wife thought something outside was missing, and when Mr. Lowe checked the sign had gone. “God knows where it`s gone”, said 46-year-old Mr. Lowe. “It was 15 feet off the ground and it took two men to get it up there. It must have been well planned. Whoever took it had to get a ladder, unbolt it and lower it down. If it had just blown down in the high wind and someone had picked it up it would have hit one of the cars parked nearby first. But nothing was heard or seen by anyone. It`s a complete mystery why anyone would want it, unless they`re a connoisseur or railway freak”.

The 4ft x 3ft. Sign, which Mr. Lowe said was worth £250, was hand-painted by an artist and had only been up for two months. It depicts a steam engine, the Railway Bell, on a red background.