Ship Inn 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 22-7-1988

Local News

Bed and breakfast took on a new meaning for a drunken visitor to Folkestone at the weekend. James McKenzie, 54, from Wakefield, fell asleep in the loo after an evening drinking session at the Ship Inn, in The Stade, last Friday. And when he woke up in the early hours of Saturday morning he found himself in a boozer`s paradise – a bar empty of customers but full of drinks!

Owner of the Ship, Stan Dawkins, said “When the man was found in the morning he could hardly walk – he had to be carried out. I didn`t notice the man when I checked the gents` toilets – he was in one of the cubicles. We`ve never had anything like this before and everyone has been having a laugh about it”.