Folkestone Herald
28-7-1956
Obituary
For many years the licensee of the British Lion, The
Bayle, Mr. Harry Pankhurst, of 9, Segrave Road, Folkestone, died recently at
the age of 87. The last surviving member of an old Folkestone family, he took
over the licence of the British Lion from his father, on the latter`s
retirement. His wife died in February. Since his retirement about 25 years ago
illness prevented him from leading an active life, but he was very popular.
Interment was at Hawkinge Cemetery.
Folkestone Gazette
27-3-1957
Local News
Folkestone will soon be
losing one of its best known personalities, for Mr. Charles John Uden, licensee
for the past 18 years of the British Lion, The Bayle, is retiring. Aged 65, Mr. Uden and his wife are to
live with relations at Dartmouth in Devon, where, as Mr. Uden explains, “I am
going to potter about and take it easy”.
Because he is by now undoubtedly an integral part
of Folkestone it is difficult to believe that Charles Uden was not born in the
town; however, he can qualify as a Man of Kent, being a native of Petham. He left the village school at the ade
of 12 and obtained his first real job as a bus driver of the early motor public
transport with Walcher and Company, Herne Bay, who were one of five companies,
operating services throughout East Kent. When the companies were merged into the East Kent Road Car Company, Ltd., in September,
1916, the Herne Bay branch was closed and Mr. Uden was transferred to the busy
Canterbury depot. Three years later he was back in charge of the Herne Bay
Depot of the Company, where he remained for a further 10 years before retiring
from driving public transport due to health reasons. During his period at Herne
Bay he achieved the distinction of holding the No. 1 Driver`s Badge of the
Herne Bay Urban District Council; he also drove the fire engines
of the local Voluntary Fire Brigade for 10 years. “I had to pay 10/- to
join”, he recalls. In 1924 Mr. Uden was a
member of the Herne Bay Fire Brigade team which competed at the Wembley
Exhibition.
In 1929, he became licensee
of his first public house, The Bull’s Head, Adishamam, which was owned firstly
by Jude Hanbury, then by Mackesons Ltd., who were, in turn, absorbed by the
Whitbread group. He stayed at Adisham for eight happy
years, afterwards
moving to the Mill Inn, Deal, for a further 18
months, before coming to Folkestone in 1939. Helped in a very great and loyal measure by his
wife who capably continued the business when her husband suffered bouts of bad
health, Mr. Uden kept his house open throughout the whole of the last war.
Soon after he moved to Folkestone, he joined the Royal Observer Corps and was on duty
at the Martello Tower post at the top of the Leas during some of the most
eventful days of the war. On
retiring from the Corps last November, he received a presentation from his colleagues.
Mr. Uden well remembers many humorous instances and
experiences throughout the war years, including a series of competitions
between a male team, drawn from the customers of The British Lion and a team from the
women’s Home Guard, who used a room at the public house for their headquarters. Contests were arranged in sports such
as table tennis, darts and shove ha’penny, and also included was a hilarious
slow bicycle race round The Bayle, “pints down-in-one”, culminating in a
cricket match on the Harvey Grammar School Ground in Cherry Garden
Avenue. After all the contests, the teams gathered at the British Lion and the
one who had gained the least points was called upon to supply the refreshment.
Mr. and Mrs. Uden were married at Herne Bay in
1925. They have one son, Anthony, who is an engineer in Canada. Cricket is the
favourite sport of Mr. Uden, for he was Secretary and Treasurer of the local
cricket club at Adisham for several years, and was a member of Kent Cricket Club
and Folkestone Cricket Club. He has also been associated with the Association
of Men of Kent and Kentish Men, and the Folkestone, Hythe and District Licensed
Victuallers` Association.
The new tenant of the British Lion will be Mr. P.G.
Hourahane, who is at present licensee of the Clarendon Inn, Brewer`s Hill,
Sandgate.
Mr. Uden is deeply sorry to leave the town, where he
has made many good friends, who in turn will greatly regret his departure. He
says he will take with him in his retirement pleasant memories of many happy
years in the town.
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| Photo from Folkestone Gazette |
Folkestone Gazette
4-11-1959
Townsman`s Diary
Three local inn signs will be displayed in Brussels
shortly. Perhaps you may have noticed that the colourful sign of your favourite
hostelry has disappeared recently and been replaced with a notice such as is
pictured on this page. What`s behind their disappearance? Well, the
enterprising House of Whitbread are taking part in an exhibition one of the big
stores in the Belgian capital is staging from November 19th to
January 1st. The accent will be on the British way of life and many
British goods will be on sale. Included in the exhibition are signs from Kent
inns. Whitbreads are displaying the signs at their prefabricated public house.
From Folkestone the brewers have taken the signs of the British Lion on
Folkestone`s old Bayle, the Lifeboat Inn, North Street, and The Star,
Newington. The signs were on their way to Brussels yesterday.
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