Jubilee Inn 1950s

Folkestone Herald 31-3-1956

Local News

A 22-year-old soldier, who made a “brutal attack” on a Folkestone fisherman in the street, was sent to prison for six weeks by Folkestone magis­trates on Tuesday. Gunner Maurice William Attwood, of 26 Field Regiment, R.A., Shorncliffe, pleaded Guilty to assaulting Mr. Herbert Sidney Reed and causing him bodily harm.

Mr. N.K. Cooper, prosecuting, said at about 10.11 p.m. on March 4^th, Mr. Reed, of 95, Black Bull Road, Folkestone, was walking home with a lady companion, Miss Marsh. They had left a cinema and were walking down High Street where they saw two soldiers coming up the hill towards them. The soldiers were making some noise and it was obvious they had been drinking because they were reeling about the pavement. It so happened, said Mr. Cooper, that Mr. Reed was walking on the inside of the pavement as opposed to the usual practice of walking on the outside when accompanied by a lady. One of the soldiers made some comment about it and Mr. Reed remonstrated with him to the effect that just because the man had had some beer it did not entitle him to be rude to people. While Reed was talking to the man Attwood was stand­ing to his left. Reed did not see what happened but it appeared that Attwood struck him a rather violent blow on the side of the face, which knocked him to the ground. The two men immediately ran away. Mr. Cooper said when Reed got up his jaw seemed to be sunken and blood was coming from a cut above one of his eyes. He went to hospital where he was detained until the following Tuesday. Three stitches were inserted into a laceration over his left eye and it was found that he was also suffering from a compound depressed fracture of the cheek bone. The prosecuting solicitor said Miss Marsh saw Attwood strike the blow and enquiries were made, resulting in a parade being held at Ross Barracks on March 13^th, when Mr. Reed was present with D.C. Crane. A large number of men, including a regimental police unit, were paraded and Reed was able to identify the man to whom he spoke on the night of the assault. As a result of what the man said the police interviewed Attwood. The accused made a statement in which he was alleged to have said that he remembered they had been drinking. They went to the Jubilee and were singing as they came up the hill. A man came down with a woman. His companion said something to the man, who started pushing. Attwood went on to state that he hit the man to stop the argument. The woman screamed and they ran up the road.

D.C. Crane said Attwood had appeared before the juvenile courts on four occasions and had been sent to an approved school. In August, 1953, at Shepton Mallet Magistrates` Court he was conditionally discharged for 12 months for stealing money from a gas meter.

An officer of the 26 Field Regiment said Attwood was inclined to use his fists rather than his head and had been in trouble as a result. In 1955 he was sentenced to six months’ detention for assault­ing a man in the Regiment, and in 1954 received 90 days for causing a disturbance on a bus in Salisbury. “He is not a good soldier in any sense of the word”, went on the officer, “mainly because he does not possess soldierly qualities. If he is carefully supervised he works fairly well”.

 The Chairman (Ald. W. Hol­lands) said Attwood made a brutal attack on a man. The magistrates had listened to his record, which was not at all good, and they had decided that he should go to prison for six weeks.

Folkestone Gazette 15-8-1956

Local News

The sequel to a fight near the Fishmarket late in the evening of July 18^th, when two soldiers were alleged to have been “beaten up” by two other young soldiers, was heard at Folkestone Magistrates` Court on Friday. Before the Court were Pte. John Price, Army Catering Corps, and Pte. James John Nolan, Royal Artillery, both stationed at Shorncliffe. They both pleaded Not Guilty to two charges each of causing grievous bodily harm and actual bodily harm to Ptes. John Kenneth Probert and Anthony Green, both of the Royal Artil­lery, stationed at Ross Bar­racks, Shorncliffe. Defendants were found Guilty and fined.

Inspector A. Gray said at 10.15 p.m. on July 18^th, Probert and Green went into the Jubilee public house for a drink and met several people there. Price and Nolan, who were in uniform, both shook hands with them and began discussing the merits of their respective home towns.

Giving evidence, Probert said when he and Green came out of the public house, defendants were waiting outside and again asked them from where they came. After a scuffle in which neither he nor Green took part, Probert said they left the area of the public house and made their way towards the bus stop to go back to camp. On a piece of waste ground near the Fishmarket arches, Probert said they saw defen­dants who again asked them where they came from and then started fighting. Witness said he was kicked about seven times by one of the two defendants, and was unable to remember anything after that.

Questioned by defendants, Probert said he and Green were with a party of five when they came out of the public house.

Replying to Inspector Gray, witness said defendants were the only two concerned in the assault on himself and Green.

Green, giving corroborative evidence, alleged that he was kicked in the head several times by Nolan before he even­tually lost consciousness. He added that a few minutes after a scuffle outside the public house, in which neither he nor Probert took part, they went to look for their mates who were with them previously, and then they met defendants, who started fighting.

P.C. Wratten said at 11.02 p.m. he went to a piece of waste ground at the junction of Ton­tine Street and the Tram Road, where he saw three men de­tained by some civilians. Witness said Nolan ran to­wards him and he detained him. He then detained Price, who was lying on the ground.  Both men had obviously been drinking and were using abusive language. P.C. Wratten said while he was holding defendants by the arms, Price, who had an Army belt wound round his hand, tried to strike him with it and he had to forcibly restrain him. Nolan meanwhile was trying to reason with Price. Witness said defendants were conveyed to Folkestone Police Station, and Nolan, after being cautioned, said “I knocked one of them down and kicked them both”. Afterwards both men made separate statements.

Lieut. J. Webster, R.A.M.C., Shorncliffe, said at 9.30 a.m. on July 19^th he examined Probert and Green, after they had been admitted to the hospital at 1.15 that morning. Green was suffering from mild concussion and had an abrasion on his forehead. Probert had a large bruise on the left side of his lower jaw and a laceration of the scalp which had been previously treated with five stitches at the Royal Victoria Hospital. He also had abrasions on his lips. Both men were detained in hospital until July 21^st.

Nolan, in a statement to the Magistrates, said they were talking with some other fellows (including a Scots chap) in the Jubilee public house.

When he said he came from Liverpool, Nolan said the Scots chap allegedly kept saying “Oh, that is in Dublin, isn't it?” but he laughed it off.

However, continued Nolan, when he and Price came out of the public house the Scots chap once more made remarks about Liverpool and Dublin, and he (Nolan) started fighting with him while Price fought another chap. Nolan said the two fellows they were fighting afterwards ran away and they ran after them but could not catch them. Returning to the public house to find Price’s cap badge, Nolan said Probert and Green came up behind them and asked them where their mates were. After he and Price said they did not know where they were a fight ensued between the four of them. Nolan said several civilians soon came on the scene and, he alleged, a little fat man hit Price over the head with a fish box They were then arrested by the constable.

Price made a similar state­ment.

Inspector Gray said Nolan was 19 and a National Service­man; Price was 20 and em­ployed as a cook at Shorncliffe.

The Chairman (Ald. W. Hol­lands) said defendants were guilty of most unsoldierly con­duct on very cowardlv charges. Price would be fined £3 and Nolan £2.

Folkestone Herald 9-2-1957

Local News

“A nasty assault at a time when everybody should be cheerful and joyful”, in the words of the Chairman (Ald. W. Holland), was described at Folkestone Magistrates’ Court, on Tuesday, when Gunner Charles Douglas Robinson, Royal Artillery, 20, Married Quarters, Ross Barracks, Shorncliffe, was summoned for causing bodily harm. He pleaded guilty under provocation, and a plea of Not Guilty was entered.

Donald Arthur Mayne, licensee of the Jubilee Inn, Folkestone, said there was an extension at the inn on December 31^st until 12.15 the following morning. At about 10.30 Robinson, with another man and a woman, entered, and were served with two pints and a half pint of mild. At midnight everybody sang “Auld Lang Syne”, and at 12.10 he called “Time”. Witness, after denying that he kissed any woman in the bar, contended that Robinson said to him “You see that woman? She is my wife”. Witness replied “What has that got to do with me?”, to which Robinson replied “You have been over there kissing her”.  “I told him not to be silly, and advised him to go home”, witness said. “I started to turn away, and the next thing I remember was being hit, slap between the eyes”. He again asked Robinson to leave, and the latter said “I will break every bone in your body”. Two soldiers in the Coldstream Guards removed Robinson. Next day he (witness) rang up the Camp and then communicated with the police.

Dr. A. Pearlman, Cornwallis Avenue, Folkestone, said that when he examined Mr. Mayne he found severe bruising on the bridge of the nose, swelling of the face, and an abrasion on the left shin.

Mrs. Mary Mayne, the licensee`s wife, said she heard a voice saying “I will break every bone in your body”. She saw blood streaming down her husband`s face, and two men were holding Robinson back. Robinson tried to hit her husband, but she stood between them. Robinson pushed her aside.

P.C. Logan said he saw Robinson at Shorncliffe Camp on January 9^th, and told him that Mr. Mayne had complained of an assault. Robinson replied “Yes, I hit him”. In a statement, witness continued, Robinson said everybody was kissing the women, including his wife, at the time. The landlord told him to get out, and said “You are barred”. The landlord said something else, and he (Robinson) hit him in the face. Someone hit him (Robinson) on the back of the head.

Robinson told the Magistrates that he never accused Mr. Mayne of kissing his wife, but said that everybody had been doing so. The next thing he remembered was being “smacked behind the ear” and getting a lump on his head.

An officer stated that Robinson was hot-headed and very strong, and did not know his own strength. He was a very useful man to have in the Troop.

Robinson was fined £3, with £3 3/- doctor`s fee.

Folkestone Gazette 7-8-1957

Local News

The licensees of three public houses on the Fishmarket – the Oddfellows Inn, the Ship Inn, and the Jubilee Inn – have placed their premises out of bounds to all troops at Shorncliffe Camp.

One of the licensees informed the Gazette yesterday that the behaviour of some troops was so bad that it injured their holiday trade. “People just walked out when soldiers came in”, stated the licensee. “We have shown great tolerance and tried to reason with these men, but tolerance has been interpreted as fear. There­fore, we have had no alternative but to take the decision we have. We have notified the military authorities of our decision”.

Folkestone Herald 10-8-1957

Local News

Because they allege continuous bad behaviour by soldiers patronising their houses, the licensees of three public houses on the Folke­stone fishmarket, at their own request, have had their premises placed out of bounds to all troops at Shorncliffe Camp. The licensees of the Jubilee Inn, the Oddfellows Arms and the Ship Inn discussed the position and on Friday each of them sent a telegram to the Adjutant at Shomcliffe informing him of their decision. Since the ban was announced, a fourth licensee, Mr. George Prior, of the Royal George, near the Fishmarket, has also placed his premises unofficially out of bounds.

Apparently the main trouble has been caused at the Jubilee Inn, where the landlord is Mr. Donald A. Mayne, who was formerly a Second Officer in the Merchant Navy. He has been at the house for three years. His wife, Mrs. Mary Mayne, told the Herald this week that the trouble had been caused by troops of a certain regiment who arrived back from Malaya about three months ago. “They are so badly behaved, brawling, fighting and shouting”, she said. “If we try to reason with them all they say is “You ought to have been where we have been”, and don`t take any notice. Many times we have sent for the Military Police to deal with them. We have told them time and time again that if they do not behave themselves we would put the premises out of bounds. They just turn round and tell us we can`t turn them away because they spend too much money here”, said Mrs. Mayne. “The fact is that we are losing money because when the troops come in, the holidaymakers walk out rather than sit and listen to continuous shouting and singing. Even our regulars have been keeping away from the premises”. Mrs. Mayne said the houses had to make their money at this time of year from the visitors, but their holiday trade had been greatly affected. She said there was a noticeable improvement in trade following the ban. “We have talked and talked, and tried to reason with these men, but it has only been interpreted as fear. They have been in Folkestone for some time and we have stood it long enough. We have got to put our foot down. We do not like this action, but we have been forced into it. We realise that the good ones must suffer because of the bad. We do not condemn them all by any manner of means”, she stated.

The other two licensees, Mrs. D. Bentley, who has been in charge of the Ship Inn for 25 years, and Mr. George Skinner, of the Oddfellows Arms, said they had not experienced any real trouble from troops, but they had heard them shouting and singing outside. Mr. Skinner and Mrs. Bentley decided to combine with Mr. Mayne and place their premises out of bounds. They said “We have got to do the same thing and stick together. We do not want to catch the overflow if only one of us bans the troops”.

A notice “Out of bounds to troops” is displayed on the doors of the three houses.

On Wednesday morning an officer from the Camp interviewed the licensees and took down details of alleged incidents of fighting and smashing glasses in the Fishmarket during the past few months.

Asked for his views, Major R. Smith, Garrison Adjutant, Shorncliffe, agreed there had been a little touble with one of the regiments on the Camp; he was doing his best to find out what it was all about. “As far as I can make out there has been some shouting, but there are no civil charges pending against any troops at Shorncliffe Camp”, he said. Major Smith said if the licensees wished to put their premises out of bounds it might possibly be a good thing. There had been complaints, but it was always difficult to trace specific instances. On Saturday night, he said, they had heard that troops were rioting in the town, but when patrols were sent out to investigate the matter they found absolutely nothing.