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| Photo from Folkestone Herald |
Folkestone Herald 23-10-1971
Local News
Courteous, distinguished and impeccably dressed, Mr.
Charles Welling could be mistaken for a retired Army officer. But the crowd which packed the bars at
the Two Bells, Canterbury Road, Folkestone, on Monday night was there to give Mr.
Welling and his wife, Gladys, a triumphant send-off after 18 years as tenants
of the pub.
Sixty-seven-year-old Mr. Welling moved to the Two Bells from
London, where he had spent seven years as a carpet layer and planner. Early this year he slipped a disc in
his spine and feels the time has come for him and Gladys, to retire to their
home in Walton Manor Close. “I wanted to leave in the same way as I came - standing up”, he
grinned.
Why does Mr. Welling think the Two Bells has been
so popular since he's been in charge? “I think it’s because I’ve always respected my customers,
and they’ve respected me”, he said. “That`s the secret – and they`re a
wonderful crowd. We`ve all had a whale of a time here”.
A couple, who might be called Mr. Welling`s protégés,
travelled from Hythe for the celebration. Three years ago he taught all the
intricacies of the licensed trade to Cyril and Jessie Webb. Cyril was shown how
to cope with the cellar, while Jessie worked behind the bar. They now run the
Star Inn, at Hythe.
As the evening neared its climax, Charles and
Gladys nearly collapsed under the weight of the gifts pressed on them by the
assembled throng. They included a tea and coffee set from the Ladies`
Auxiliary, three vases, a sun-ray lamp, a tea trolley, and a Teasmade “from the boys and girls of
the public bar”. And
Gladys replied with a cry of “Drinks all round on the house!” Mr. Welling intends to pop into the Two
Bells every now and then. But,
as a member of Folkestone Park Bowls Club for 12 years, he wants to spend most
of his spare time improving his game.
Folkestone Herald
19-7-1975
Local News
Two cross-Channel ferry stewards raised £61 towards the cost of a
pacemaker machine for a boy in Southampton hospital by a sponsored run from
Dover to Folkestone on Tuesday.
The Townsend Thoresen stewards, Robert Beazley, aged 31, of Calgary
Crescent, Folkestone, and Derek Shopland, 29, of Dover, decided to make a
special effort to help the fund to buy the machine for Simon Waite, the son of
an officer on the cross-Channel ferries They ran from Dover Town Hall to the Two Bells public house in
Canterbury Road, Folkestone, in 50 minutes, and raised £61.24 towards the
target of £3,000.
Robert said afterwards “We thought we would do our bit towards the fund
by organising our own sponsored run”.
Folkestone Gazette
26-1-1977
Local News
Rebel landlord Ken Champion has hit out at Folkestone colleagues
threatening to take action against brewers, Whitbread Fremlins. The 40
Whitbread tenant-licensees in Folkestone, Sandgate and Hawkinge plan to refuse
to sell wines, spirits and minerals marketed by the company. The sanctions
will start if the brewers do not agree to consult tenants before price
increases.
Mr. Champion, landlord of the Two Bells, in Canterbury Road, Folkestone,
said last week “Sanctions are a lot of rubbish. I don’t agree with them. What
difference does it make if you are forewarned about price increases?” But Mr. Champion added he would
impose sanctions if asked to.
Angry pub tenants, fuming over two drinks price rises in January, are
meeting Whitbreads on Tuesday. If agreement over prices and re-assessment of the present renting system
is not reached, the sanctions will be imposed. Other sanctions include delays in paying brewery
bills, using cheques rather than direct debit. Arrears will be paid quarterly instead of weekly to
hit the company’s balance books.
Mr. Vic Batten chairman of the Folkestone
Whitbread Tenants’ Association, and landlord of the Jubilee Inn on The Stade, said “Every
time a new increase is imposed, pubs lose customers”.
A spokesman for Whitbread said price
increases were still behind inflation. “Duty is the main factor in the soaring costs”,
he added.
South Kent Gazette
3-5-1978
Local News
Police collected an
unwanted passenger from a Folkestone public house on Thursday. For a man they asked to leave the Two Bells, in Canterbury
Road, did – and climbed straight into the unattended
police vehicle.
At Folkestone
Magistrates’ Court on Friday, Harry Queen of Spring Terrace, Folkestone,
admitted being drunk and disorderly.
Police Inspector Ron
Young said Queen climbed into the police Dormobile and asked to be taken home. When he was told to get out Queen offered to fight the
officers and was arrested after ignoring three warnings to go home. The inspector said Queen has “an impressive list of
previous convictions”. He added “He has a
serious drinking problem. An alcoholic on his own
admission, it has ruined his life. He has been for treatment on several occasions
but it doesn’t seem to help”.
Queen told the court
“I bumped into my son. I hadn’t seen him for quite a while and I don’t know
what happened after that”.
He was ordered to pay
a fine of £15 or spend one day in prison.
Folkestone Herald
4-8-1979
Local News
A pub card game for high stakes ended in a punch-up when
the loser refused to settle his debts on the spot.
Seaman Frank Gockelen
bet a gold ring worth £150 in a final attempt to clear his £310 debt with
Kenneth Champion, landlord of the Two Bells public house, Canterbury Road,
Folkestone. But he lost the game of
three-card brag and then refused to part with the ring, a court heard on
Tuesday. And a fight broke out involving the
two men and part-time barman Keith Watkinson, of Elm Road, Folkestone. As a result, Champion, 51, and Watkinson, 27, were charged
with causing actual bodily harm to Gockelen. Both pleaded Not Guilty. At Folkestone Magistrates Court, Champion was acquitted.
Watkinson, a welder with British Rail, was convicted and fined for the
assault.
Gockelen, who lives
in Canterbury Road, said that he went to the Two Bells at lunchtime on March 7. Sometime after 2 p.m. he started to play cards with
Champion, whom he knew very well. They played
and drank, watched by Watkinson, until about 6 p.m., when the fight occurred.
“I lost all the money
I had on me at the time, so I said I would put my ring up for a wager. I had no
intention of parting with the ring that afternoon”, he said. “When I lost the hand, I picked up the ring and told
Champion I would pay what I owed, together with a previous debt, by the end of
the year”. He said that Watkinson tried to grab the ring as he sat at the
table. He resisted and blows started raining down upon him.
But Champion claimed
that Gockelen stood up and faced him after taking the ring from the table. The
next thing I knew I fell backwards over a table. I think I overbalanced
avoiding a blow. When I got up Frank and Keith were grappling on the floor”, he
said.
Watkinson told the
court that Gockelen had aimed a blow at Champion, but missed and hit him
instead. “Then I had a set-to with Frank”, he said.
Both Champion and
Watkinson agreed that the scrap finished with the barman sitting on Gockelen
demanding the ring. Eact time he refused, Watkinson punched him in the face.
"I told Keith “That’s
enough”. Then I dragged Frank by his jacket to the inner door of the bar. I
left him there and Keith kicked him out”, Champion told the court.
However Gockelen told
a different story "I don't know who hit me but I was being kicked and
punched in the body and head”, he said. "I dragged myself outside the pub.
Keith was still kicking merrily. I was calling for help and passers-by were telling Keith to
leave me alone. The next thing I knew, the police had arrived”, Gockelen said.
Because of the beating, his jacket was badly ripped
and stomach wall broken resulting in a large hernia, he told the court. A doctor's report listed Gockelens injuries as a badly
swollen lip and cuts to his head, hands, ribs and knees.
In evidence, the
defendants said that Gockelen’s jacket was torn as he was dragged to the door.
Watkinson said the
man still refused to leave and had to be thrown out. “In Canterbury Road we had
another set to”, Watkinson said. “But it was no more than two or three punches”.
Eye-witness, Mr.
Clive Wire, of Joyes Road, said he saw Gockelen flat out on the pavement being
kicked by both defendants.
They denied kicking
Gockelen at all. “No way will I kick anybody. I have never kicked a dog, let
alone Frank”, Champion said.
But Mr. Wire claimed
that if he had not phoned the police Watkinson would have kicked Gockelen to
death. By the time police arrived the fight had
stopped.
Mrs. Barbara Friend,
of Denmark Street, said she saw Watkinson kicking Gockelen in the head and
punching him as Champion watched from the pub doorway. She said: “I called out “Leave him alone you bloody great
bully, you`ll kill him”, but he just threatened me”.
After the police
arrived, Gockelen tried to kick Watkinson, Gockelen told the court. Watkinson
tried to kick him. This was the only blow
aimed by him during the argument, the seaman said.
Defending, Mr. Edward
Ellis said that the defendants had used no more force than was reasonable in
evicting Gockelen from the premises.
Prosecuting, Mr.
Michael Batt said Gockelen did not throw the first punch and even if he had, unreasonable
force was used.
Doubt as to the
extent of his involvement in the fight was the reason Magistrates gave for
Champion’s acquittal.
Convicted on the
assault charge, Watkinson was fined £120 with £43.40 costs.
South Kent Gazette
26-11-1980
Local News
A pub landlord and his wife are hopping from port to
port. No, they have not gone from ruby to tawny, but from Liverpool to
Folkestone.
Ron and Dolly Mercer have given up their pub in
Liverpool`s dock area to take over the Two Bells, in Canterbury Road. But the
Scousers are no strangers to the town. Ron has one brother in Folkestone,
another in Dover, and a sister in West Kent. It was on a holiday to Folkestone
earlier this year that they heard about a vacancy at the Two Bells, following
the retirement of Ken and Edna Champion. Ron, 46, has been a pub manager for
the past 16 years and saw Liverpool`s dockland decline. “Our customers were
mainly dockers and seamen. We had every nationality under the sun”, he said.
“We`re not sorry we made the change. We had a very good time there and a
successful pub, but already we are finding the people here so friendly. There`s
a different sort of attitude to life”.
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| Photo from South Kent Gazette |
South Kent Gazette
24-2-1982
Local News
Darts players from a Folkestone pub came out tops
at the weekend when they aimed to help handicapped youngsters. Regulars at the Two Bells, Canterbury
Road, scored a bullseye with Parkfield School, Folkestone, by staging a 24-
hour sponsored marathon. Backed
up with camp beds for the very tired, a television and plenty of support from
other customers, the pub’s darts team raised money for Parkfield, which caters
for physically and mentally-handicapped youngsters. One of the Parkfield pupils,
13-year-old Tony, went along on Saturday lunchtime to throw the first dart.
South Kent Gazette
7-4-1982
Local News
Within hours of being released from Canterbury Prison, 21-year-old Edward Caine was
back in trouble. Jailed last November for making hoax bomb warning calls, Caine was freed
on January 20. That evening he went to celebrate in the Two Bells pub,
Canterbury Road, Folkestone. There he had a row with his girlfriend, Folkestone Magistrates heard last
Tuesday. He
walked away upset and when outside No. 4, Black Bull Road tripped over. This
made Caine so angry he kicked the nearest thing – a window of Santa`s Bazaar.
Five days later Caine and an accomplice stole 5 C.B. radios from Folkestone
Motor Spares, Canterbury Road, in a smash-and-grab raid. He was arrested four
days following and admitted offences of criminal damage and burglary, Inspector
Tony Ralph told the Court.
Miss Diane Wray, representing Caine, said her
client`s crimes must be set against a very upsetting background. “There is an
underlying current of drinking troubles. As soon as he gets free, and the
moment he gets near alcohol, problems arise”. Miss Wray said on the night of
the burglary Caine had a fair bit to drink. During the break-in Caine cut his
hand on the smashed shop window. Afterwards the radios, worth £540, were hidden
under a bush. But the radios disappeared – and so did Caine`s colleague. She
said Caine had a new girlfriend who is helping him keep out of trouble and he
has broken with all his old contacts. “If you send him back inside a lot of
what he has tried to do in the past few weeks simply goes by the board”, she
told Magistrates.
Caine, of Marshall Street, Folkestone, was jailed
for six months on each charge, but the sentences were suspended for two years.
He was ordered to pay compensation totalling £644.
“The public must think we are as soft as we can be,
but we are trying to lean over backwards to give you another chance”, presiding
Magistrate, Mr. George Hyde, told Caine.
Folkestone Herald
17-12-1982
Local News
Regulars of the Two Bells pub in Canterbury Road,
Folkestone, raised £240 for handicapped children with a 24 hour darts marathon. The money bought three go-karts and two
bicycles for the youngsters of Parkfield Special School in Park Farm Road,
Folkestone. They were officially handed over on Monday night at the school.
Folkestone Herald
21-10-1983
Local News
Publican Ron Mercer is a walking testament to the
miracles of modern medicine. Three weeks ago his chances of living were slim,
but now he has been given a new lease of life. Surgeons at a London hospital
spent six hours on a major operation to bypass his heart with a vein from his
left leg. Normally people have one or two bypasses but Ron`s heart was so badly
damaged it needed four. He has a foot-long scar on his chest and another
running the full length of his leg, with 150 stitches on the outside and more
inside.
The 49-year-old landlord of the Two Bells pub, Canterbury
Road, Folkestone, had no sign of heart problems a year ago. But after his last
birthday he was bugged with heart attacks and angina. He has been in and out of
the William Harvey Hospital, Ashford, seven times. “The Ashford Hospital kept
me alive for 12 months and pushed me into having the operation”, Ron said.
Within hours of coming round from the anaesthetic at St. Thomas`s Hospital,
Westminster, he was joking with nurses and doctors. Only three days after the
operation he was on his feet and raring to get back to the William Harvey to
convalesce. “I promised myself I would walk back into the William Harvey and
when I got there I burst into tears like a little baby”.
He has returned home with a promise to get fit and back to work behind
the bar before the spring. By the time he goes back to St.
Thomas’s in January for check-ups he expects to be walking two miles a day. “That’s
something I owe them, to make this new heart work as best I can”. The
operation cost about £25,000 and Ron says you would not get much change from
£75,000 after paying for all the care and treatment he has had over the past
year. “If I had been in America I probably would have ended up dying because I
couldn`t afford treatment. Whatever the weather is like when I wake up it`s
beautiful I thank God for a new morning because every day I live now is a
bonus”.
Folkestone Herald
18-7-1986
Local News
A pub landlady deserted by her husband faces
eviction and nowhere to go with just her cat Sooty and pet parrot Polly for company. And she
feels bitter at the treatment handed out from the brewery.
Publican’s wife Dorothy Mercer of the Two Bells, Canterbury Road,
Folkestone, was left to carry the can when husband Ron walked out two years
ago. Liverpool born Dorothy, 55, nursed her sick husband before and after his
massive open heart operation. Ron recovered from the ordeal and now lives in
Cheriton. Believing the pub licence would he transferred to her, Dorothy carried
on with business as normal. But then the brewery giants Whitbreads
told her she must go. Now she lives in constant fear of a knock on the door
from bailiffs. And she explained how the housing
allocation system has backfired, making a council home impossible in the near
future. “Ron and I were on the housing list years ago, as a precaution. But when
I went to enquire about it recently they said there would be no problem. Now Ï have been told that as I am officially single the same rules do not
apply. At least I have the support of the customers - they feel I have been
treated shabbily”.
Whitbread’s area manager was on holiday this week, but spokesman Mr
Brian Birchall told the Herald “We try to be as sympathetic as possible, bearing
in mind the previous service of the tenant. But I am
not able to comment fully on this particular case because I’m not fully aware
of all the facts”, said Mr Birchall.
Last month Whitbreads obtained a possession order for the Two Bells in
the County Court at Folkestone.
Folkestone Herald
30-9-1988
Local News
A pub landlord has quit the trade after nearly ten years
because the new drinking laws had him over a barrel.
Within a month, Brian Harrington said his regular customers at The Two
Bells, Folkestone changed and the bar became crowded with rowdy, drunken
labourers. People took advantage of the new laws, using the extended hours for
all-day drinking sessions. And with the brewery, Whitbread, on his back to stay
open longer, keeping order became increasingly difficult, said Mr. Harrington.
It became so bad that Brian and Barbara Harrington left the Canterbury Road pub
without a new job to go to. Mr.
Harrington, uncertain of his future, said he will never go back into the pub
trade. “The pub was really changing. Instead of people using the longer hours
to have a quick drink at 4 o’clock, they were using it for all-day drinking
sessions. Our customers started to change once they had a few drinks and
instead of people you knew, the pub became filled with strangers. Folkestone
has more of a problem with that than anywhere because of the Channel Tunnel
workers. No-one really caused trouble, but you’d get people in there who’d been
drinking for hours and by the time a regular popped in for a drink at 6.30, he would be sober and everyone else would be on a different
level. It was very off- putting and used to drive customers away”. Mr.
Harrington added “It was so difficult to keep order. At one time, when the landlord
said “cut it out”, that was it. Now, they don’t take any notice. Anyway,
there’s always another pub round the corner. We had originally planned to stay
at the pub. But it was just a build-up of these things that forced us out. It
is a great pity, but I am sure other publicans have experienced this”.
Brian and Barbara are planning to rest for a few months and then start
looking for a new job - away from pub bars.
Folkestone Herald
1-2-1991
Local News
A leather coat containing a Visa card and cheque card was
stolen from the Two Bells pub in Canterbury Road, Folkestone, on Monday. It
belongs to Pamela Irving, of Folkestone.
Folkestone Herald
21-5-1998
Toby Jugs
You know how it is. The pungent smell of exotic smoke
fills the air; people with thick accents party day and night; and no-one seems
to have heard of sun-tan cream. But enough about regulars at the Two Bells in
Canterbury Road.
Seriously, though, as summer holidays are taken and
tourists flock to Shepway, Jugs asked the punters in the Bells what they made
of all the strangers in town.
Landlord Duncan Bown sighed “I just wish they`d come up
here a bit more. I love absolutely everyone. Black, white, pink – it doesn`t
matter”.
Robin James, who was sitting at a table by the bar, is
the boffin of the pub. He was thinking globally. “It doesn`t matter where the
visitors come from. There`s all this talk about foreigners, but we`re all
Europeans”. (Except, of course, all those who aren`t Europeans – Jugs).
Ches Jackson is another who wishes there were more
visitors in the town, and endorses our new niche in Europe. “I love the French
market that comes to town. Everyone likes shopping there, and the smell of the
cheese is wonderful”.
It wasn`t so much the smell of cheese that Dave Alacton
spoke on. More the whiff of garlic. “But I AM a Northerner”, he smiled.
Two visitors from London weren`t taking any xenophobia.
Victoria Philipson had nothing but good to say about our coastal people. “It`s
lovely. We love the beaches and the shops. I`ve just spent £11 in the High
Street”. Mum Michelle said “We`re spending our money in the shops and looked at
a pair of shoes”.
So, when you see the queues at the stalls of the French
market, you`ll realise the battle against “foreigners” is all but over.
P.S. Landlord Duncan Bown has run the Two Bells for only
a year, but has already made it one of the friendliest boozers Jugs has so far
visited. Keep it up, Duncan.
Note: No mention of Bown in More
Bastions.
Folkestone Herald
27-8-1998
Local News
Three Folkestone watering holes have new owners after the
sale of more than 250 pubs owned by brewing giant Whitbread.
The Royal Standard and the Two Bells, both on Canterbury
Road, and the Brewery Tap at Tontine Street have been sold to Avebury Taverns.
Martin Foulkes, landlord of the Brewery tap, believes the
new ownership could have positive effects. He said “No changes are going to be
made to the pub for three months, but then Avebury Taverns are talking about
introducing some new beers”.
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