Princess Royal 1960s

Folkestone Herald 2-9-1961

Local News

A 27-year-old window cleaner pleaded Guilty at Folkestone Magistrates` Court on Thursday to stealing £5 from the Princess Royal public house in South Street.

D. Inspector Ivan Packman said the accused, George Jolly, who lives in lodgings in Folkestone, went with another man to the public house for a drink on Tuesday. They ordered drinks, and one of them tendered a £5 note, which the wife of the licensee, Mrs. Dennis, put on a shelf at the back of the bar. She left the bar for a few moments, and when she returned the note was gone, said the Inspector. She stopped Jolly outside the public house and demanded the money back. He gave it to her. In a statement at Folkestone police station on Thursday morning, Jolly was alleged to have said he was tempted, reached over and took the note.

“I realise how stupid I was”, he told the Magistrates. “I immediately admitted I was wrong to do it, and gave the note back”.

D. Inspector Packman said the defendant had been in court four times between 1951 and 1957. In 1951 he was put on probation; three years later he was sent to prison for nine months for shop-breaking and larceny. In 1956 he was sent to prison for two months for taking away a car without consent, and in 1957 he went to prison for three months for unlawful wounding.

Folkestone Herald 12-10-1968

Local News

Bill and Annie Dennis, mine hosts at the Princess Royal public house for the past seven years, retired this week. And in doing so they paid tribute to Folkestone. Said Mr. Dennis “This was our fifth pub. We have been in towns throughout the country and we have decided Folkestone is the place for us. We shall continue to live here in our retirement.”

On their last night at the Princess Royal - Monday - there was a special ceremony and farewell presentation for Mrs. Dennis. Friends from the local Women’s Auxiliary of the Licensed Victuallers’ Associa­tion visited to wish her a happy retirement. And the Chairman, Mrs. Mick Rayner, presented her with a standard lamp on be­half of the auxiliary. Later in the evening the glass-fronted wall collection boxes, which have been a feature of the pub, were emptied. In them was £15, which will go to local charities.

Mr. Dennis is not giving up his interests in the licens­ing trade. He has agreed to fill the offices of treasurer and secre­tary of the Folkestone Licensed Victuallers’ Associa­tion.