Clarendon Hotel 1970s - 1980s

Folkestone Herald 15-5-1971

Local News

When 1,400 continentals visit Folkestone next Thursday the doors of local pubs will be open to them all afternoon. On Tuesday local Magistrates decided in favour of a second application to allow 17 pubs to remain open especially for the visitors. They had vetoed a previous application. The second made by publicans was amended to allow for a half-hour break at 5.30 p.m. before their premises opened for the evening session.

Mr. J. Medlicott, for the publicans, told the Magistrates that the visitors were delegates attending a conference in Bruges. One of its highlights was to be a visit to England. He referred to a letter received by Folkestone Corporation from the British Tourist Authority supporting the publicans` application. The visit – by Dutch, Swiss, Belgians and Germans – was a special occasion, not just a shopping expedition, said Mr. Medlicott. It had been arranged by a Bruges tourist organisation which had particularly asked that pubs should be open in the afternoon.

Police Inspector R. Sanders made no formal objection to the application – but doubted whether the visit was a special occasion.

The Chairman of Folkestone Chamber of Trade, Mr. Alan Stephenson, said later “The cross-Channel visitors` committee of this Chamber is very pleased that this has been seen as a special occasion by the Justices. When one is reminded that this extension is no more than happens in many market towns every week of the year, it seems a fair request, especially as Folkestone’s image abroad could be much influenced by the original decision not to allow the pubs to open”.

The pubs which will stay open are; Jubilee, Ship, Oddfellows, Royal George, London and Paris, True Briton, Harbour Inn, Princess Royal, Clarendon, Brewery Tap, Earl Grey, Prince Albert, George, Globe, East Kent Arms, Guildhall and Shakespeare.

Folkestone Herald 23-8-1975

Local News

Three men appeared before Folkestone Magistrates on Tuesday on charges ranging from drunkenness to dis­orderly behaviour. All three had been in the Clarendon Hotel, in Tontine Street, Folkestone, on July 31 and had refused to leave when police arrived. The Court was told that they had been drinking and had to be forcibly evicted after a scuffle.

Kevin Joseph Jordan, aged 25, of Maidstone, and George Arthur Daley, 20, of St. John Street, Folkestone, both ad­mitted disorderly behaviour while drunk. Stuart Hibbert, aged 21, of Biggins Wood Road, Folkestone, denied the same charge. All three were found Guilty and fined £5 each. Hibbert further denied a charge of being drunk on the Sunny Sands Promenade, Folkestone, on August 3.

Mr. Brian Deaville, defend­ing, said there was not enough evidence to convict Hibbert. The case was dismissed.

Both Hibbert and Daley admitted a charge of using insulting words and be­haviour likely to cause a breach of the peace in Sandgate Road in May this year. They were each fined £5.  Daley admitted another offence of using threatening behaviour in Cheriton Road, Folkestone, in May. He was fined a further £5 for the offence. An inquiry into Daley’s un­paid fines revealed that he had paid only £6 in the last 14 months of fines totalling £90. He was ordered to pay the fines at the rate of £1 a week and to appear before the court in three weeks’ time for a report on his circumstances.

Folkestone Gazette 12-11-1975

Local News

When asked to leave a pub, a man swore at two police officers, Folkestone Magi­strates heard on Friday.

Robert Baldock, aged 21, of East Cliff Gardens, Folke­stone, denied being disorderly while drunk at the Claren­don Hotel, Tontine Street, on October 24.

The Magistrates found the case proved and Baldock, a self-employed carpenter, was fined £10.

Police Constables Nigel Wil­liams and Archibald Houston were called to the pub where they saw Baldock, the court was told. Both officers said he appeared to be drunk. He was staggering and leaning against a brick wall. When the licensee asked him to leave, he refused and started swearing.

Folkestone Herald 15-11-1975

Local News

Young men in Folkestone were turning to crime out of the sheer boredom of living in a town with nothing to offer, it was claimed this week. A black picture of Folkestone was painted by barrister Mr. David Voelcker, who told Canterbury Crown Court on Tuesday “There is nothing to do there, and there is no employment as such, and the centre of entertainment or meeting appears to be a wall”. The “Folkestone boredom” was blamed for a young man appearing before the Court. Mr. Voelcker, representing one of them, added “The trouble of this young man is probably common to many young men in Folkestone. The first offence was committed by the defendant through sheer boredom”.

He was representing 18-year-old Geoffrey Chantler, of Denmark Street, Folkestone, who had pleaded Guilty to two offences of taking cars, one of going equipped to steal, burglary, and escaping from police custody. He admitted entering the Clarendon Hotel in Tontine Street and stealing £10, having a pair of gloves for use in the course of burglary, and walking out of his cell at the police station after the door had been accidentally been left open. One car was taken from Folkestone and driven to Dover. The other, taken from Dover, was driven back to Folkestone. Mr. Voelcker said another youth, who Chantler refused to name, had done the driving.

Chantler, an unemployed labourer, was ordered to do 10 hours` community service for the car offences, and was placed on probation for three years for the others. He was also ordered to pay £10 compensation to the pub and £50 towards the legal costs.

Charges of burglary at the New Metropole and damaging a window there were dismissed. The case was stopped at the end of the prosecution case, with Judge John Streeter directing the jury to bring in verdict of not guilty because he said the evidence was unsatisfactory.

Folkestone Herald 25-3-1978

Local News

Local publicans put all hands to the pumps this week in a bid to stem Folke­stone's wine bar boom. But their appeal against a drinks licence for a wine bar in Tontine Street, Folkestone, was thrown out at Canterbury Crown Court on Tuesday. Already there is one wine bar in the town, at Church Street, Folkestone, and an­other is planned for Sandgate Road. The publicans say wine bars affect their declining trade.

Mr. Vic Batten, vice-chairman of the Folkestone and District Licensed Vic­tuallers’ Association, and licensee of the Jubilee Inn in Folkestone Harbour, said his trade was affected by some of his customers going to a wine bar. “Folkestone’s popularity is waning and as a result, trade diminishing. I feel there are too many public houses in the town already”, he said.

Mr. Peter Philpott, of the Oddfellows Arms, in The Stade, said he saw no rea­son for a full licence to be granted to the new wine bar.

Mr. David Anderson, of The Clarendon, Tontine Street, said the venture would seriously affect his trade.

The publicans also said that Folkestone has reached saturation point and pubs’ trade is already being affec­ted by supermarkets and other retail outlets.

The application for a drinks licence, granted by Seabrook magistrates, was made by Mr. Michael Pat­ten who runs Oliver’s Discotheque and wants to open Oliver`s Wine Bar in Tontine Street It would be primarily a wine bar, he said, but he would sell other drinks for those who prefer it. “The prices of other drinks would be loaded to encourage people to drink wine and I feel there is a need for such a venture”, he told Mr. Recorder Michael West, Q.C. “We will also provide food, hot and cold, and are satisfying a demand. If I were to find demand for other drinks was greater than wine, it would be em­barrassing and I should have to try to meet these de­mands, but I hope this won’t happen”.

Mr. Recorder West dis­missed the appeal. He said he felt that if someone wanted to use a pub they would do so and the dif­ferent ventures could be complementary to each other.

Folkestone Herald 24-2-1984

Local News

Non, nein, or however you want to put it, Shepway drinkers have given the thumbs-down to Common Market tinkering with the price of a pint. Brussels bureaucrats have said that Britain discriminates against wine in favour of beer and have asked for a harmonisation of prices. But with one eye on the budget, drinkers and licensees alike suspect that is 1984 doublespeak for a thumping increase in the price of a pint.

First into the counter-attack against whatever Whitehall and Brussels have in mind is Folkestone and District Licensed Victuallers` Association, which says the price of a pint is already too high, and if any adjustment is to be made, wine costs should be cut. “I`ve been here 15 years, and in that time I have seen the price of a pint of beer double inside five years and the number of customers fall off” said Vic Batten, Chairman of the association, and innkeeper at the Jubilee on The Stade, Folkestone. “In January, 1979, mild was 30p a pint, and out two bitters 34p and 38p. A pint of mild now costs 66p and the bitters 72p and 74p respectively. You can go into any pub in the area and they will tell you the same thing, and it amounts to this – the higher the price of a pint, the more the average person is put off from visiting their local. The ridiculous thing is that in this country we aret axed more heavily on drink than in any other country in the Common Market with the exception of the Irish Republic”.

As the lounge bar of the Jubilee cleared at the end of the lunchtime session Mr. Batten`s grandson, three-and-a-half months old Thomas came down with his mum to see what was going on. Rapid calculations revealed that, assuming prices rise on the current scale, Thomas will be tipping back pints at more than £12 a time – if there are any pubs open by the time he is 20.

One of the last customers to leave was fellow-publican and ex-journalist, Brian Potter, now licensee at the Clarendon in Tontine Street, Folkestone. Said Brian between mouthfuls of ale “If nobody says or does anything then I reckon they`ll get away with pegging wine at the price it is and harmonising the prices by jacking up the price of a pint. What Vic says is dead right. The average bloke is beginning to realise the cost of a pint of beer has already been increased out of all proportion. I mean, have your wages doubled in the last five years?”

Opinions of the same sort were voiced by Mr. Danny McNeill, late of Balloch, Scotland, and now not-unacquainted with the bar of the Globe in Folkestone`s Bayle. “If the people who fixed the prices could stand in here and listen to what people are saying, their ears would burn”, he said. “There’s definitely some­thing wrong with the pricing when you can get a super strong lager in Scotland for less than 70p. It seems to me that the brewers and the government are pricing them­selves out of a good thing”. 

Folkestone Herald 13-12-1985

Local News

Councillor`s son, Russell Copping, lost his cool when his pub drinking mates were allegedly threatened with an ice pick and a pickaxe handle.

Fisherman Copping, of Sydney Street, Folkestone, the 20-year-old son of Liberal Kent and Shepway councillor Brian Copping, admitted damaging glasses and a window belonging to Martin Foulkes. He was given a one year conditional discharge and ordered to pay £140 compensation and £10 costs.

Jackie Morey, prosecuting, said Copping and two others had been to the Clarendon pub on August 2. It became clear to the landlord that they had perhaps had too much to drink. He refused to serve them and they were asked to leave. Perhaps the landlord acted in a rather headstrong manner in the circumstances, becoming aggressive too quickly and perhaps aggravating the situation, said Mrs. Morey. It was alleged that the landlord got a pickaxe handle and his son, who was working as a barman, picked up an ice pick. Mrs. Morey said it was alleged that that was when Copping picked up the stool. He later said he had been drinking a lot and could not really recall what happened. His friends were being threatened and he supposed he had lost his temper. Although he was very drunk, they had only been laughing and joking among themselves and were not involv­ing anyone else. “In these circumstances you may think the landlord over reacted”, Mrs. Morey told the Magistrates. Copping had never been in trouble before, she said, adding she believed he had since been to see the publican and was prepared to pay for the damage.

Presiding Magistrate Conrad Blakey commented “We are going to treat this as a one off. You have shown remorse”.

Folkestone Herald 26-8-1988

Local News

Pubs in Folkestone, Hythe and Romney Marsh will continue with the time-honoured cry “Time, please” despite the big shake-up in pub hours this week.

Some will “test the beer” with all-day opening, but most land­lords contacted by the Herald felt there wasn’t the demand, and that they would be out-of-pocket if they had to pay staff to man empty bars.

Martin Foulkes, landlord of the Clarendon, Tontine Street, Fol­kestone, said “I run a night pub really. I do not have enough cus­tomers during the day to keep it open. It just would not make sense. On Fridays and Saturdays I might stay open in the afternoon; it depends on how many people we have in”.

At the Guildhall, The Bayle, Folkestone, landlady Eileen Lewis said “I am waiting to see how it goes. I might stay open on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, but only if we are busy”.

The White Lion, Cheriton, is going to be open all day, every day except Tuesdays and Sundays. “There are plenty of workers who finish their shifts in the afternoon who will come here for a drink”, said the landlord.

Kent’s biggest brewery, Shep­herd Neame, welcomed tie change. Chairman Robert Neame said “It is a victory for common sense. The new laws provide licen­sees with an opportunity to improve their trading”.