Thanks And Acknowledgements

My thanks go to Kent Libraries and Archives - Folkestone Library and also to the archive of the Folkestone Herald. For articles from the Folkestone Observer, my thanks go to the Kent Messenger Group. Southeastern Gazette articles are from UKPress Online, and Kentish Gazette articles are from the British Newspaper Archive. See links below.

Paul Skelton`s great site for research on pubs in Kent is also linked

Other sites which may be of interest are the Folkestone and District Local History Society, the Kent History Forum, Christine Warren`s fascinating site, Folkestone Then And Now, and Step Short, where I originally found the photo of the bomb-damaged former Langton`s Brewery, links also below.


Welcome

Welcome to Even More Tales From The Tap Room.

Core dates and information on licensees tenure are taken from Martin Easdown and Eamonn Rooney`s two fine books on the pubs of Folkestone, Tales From The Tap Room and More Tales From The Tap Room - unfortunately now out of print. Dates for the tenure of licensees are taken from the very limited editions called Bastions Of The Bar and More Bastions Of The Bar, which were given free to very early purchasers of the books.

Easiest navigation of the site is by clicking on the PAGE of the pub you are looking for and following the links to the different sub-pages. Using the LABELS is, I`m afraid, not at all user-friendly.

Contrast Note

Whilst the above-mentioned books and supplements represent an enormous amount of research over many years, it is almost inevitable that further research will throw up some differences to the published works. Where these have been found, I have noted them. This is not intended to detract in any way from previous research, but merely to indicate that (possible) new information is available.

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If you have any anecdotes or photographs of the pubs featured in this Blog and would like to share them, please mail me at: jancpedersen@googlemail.com.

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Friday, 13 November 2015

Imperial (1) 1970s - 1990s



South Kent Gazette 8-11-1978

Local News

A man declared by the court to be “an habitual drunk­ard”, last week broke an order prohibiting him from entering licensed premises in Shepway and was fined £20.

John Paterson of 4 Spring Terrace, Folkestone, was fined £5 by Folkestone Mag­istrates for being drunk out­side the Imperial Hotel in Folkestone and a further £15 for breaching a court order not to buy or attempt to buy alcohol in Shepway for three years.

In his defence Paterson said “I thought I had to sign papers before the order was forwarded to the Chief Constable and became bind­ing.”

The court clerk told him that this was not the case.

South Kent Gazette 30-9-1981

Local News

It must have been a hairy experience for three regulars at the Imperial pub on Saturday. For when Tony Plummer, Tom Moon and Paul Stutchbury emerged from the scissors of Folkestone hairdresser Mr. Bob Quaife, half of their respective beards or moustaches had gone. But the three seemed fairly happy about the situation. They are prepared to spend 21 days in the lop-sided state to raise money for Ashford`s William Harvey Hospital. Initial volunteer Tom said about £250 in sponsorship money has already been promised.

South Kent Gazette 9-6-1982

Local News

Fifty pounds was stolen from the till of the Imperial pub, Black Bull Road, Folkestone, between midnight and 8.40 a.m. on Monday.

South Kent Gazette 9-2-1983

Local News

A publican who drove his car at night with no lights after he had drunk more than double the legal limit was fined a total of £175 last week.

Victor Clark, 58, who runs the Imperial pub in Black Bull Road, Folkestone, pleaded Guilty to the two offences. Clark, of Aerodrome Road, Hawkinge, was also banned from driving for a year for the drinking charge. Folkestone Magistrates ordered him to pay £19.40 doctor`s fees on Tuesday.

Inspector Peter Hopkins, prosecuting, said Clark was stopped in Black Bull Road by a traffic officer because he did not have his lights on. The officer noticed Clark smelt of alcohol and asked him to give a breath test, which proved positive. At the police station a specimen of blood was taken and later found to contain 184 milligrams of alcohol to 100 milligrams of blood.

Clark said he must have accidentally put the lights off and did not notice because it was a well-lit road.

Folkestone Herald 24-6-1988

Local News

Pint-size grandmother Jeanne Robey is clean, well-dressed and politely spoken. Yet she is banned from at least five pubs in Folkestone alone. As soon as she walks into the bar, customers and publicans threaten her, call her names, refuse to serve her, and then demand that she leaves. Her crime? The 5ft 2ins gran works on a P&O cross-Channel ferry.

The 46-year-old grandma was a geriatric nurse for eight years before ac­cepting a job with the ferry company last May when money ran short.
Now, the extra cash in her pocket has meant that Jeanne has to pay heavily in another way. Once a bar assistant and regular in a handful of pubs in Folkestone’s town cen­tre, she is now booted out of those same drinking holes, threatened with vicious beatings and vulgar jibes.

This week, after hearing of her story, the Herald insisted on checking the facts.

On Monday, usually a quiet night, Jeanne and I walked into The Earl Grey in the Old High Street and quietly asked for a drink. Minutes later we were hand-clapped out of the pub. Even before we reached the counter, a young man sitting in the comer got up, and told the landlady “Don’t serve her, she’s a scab”. The landlady then refused to serve us, saying “You’re not welcome in here. I’m on strike and it’s against my morals to serve you”. We left.

At the Portland in Langhome Gardens, landlord Brian Godfrey immediately refus­ed to serve us, saying “Jeanne, you know you’re not allowed in here”. When asked why, he said “She causes too much aggravation”.

But the worst treatment came at the Bouverie Arms at Cheriton Road, Folke­stone. As soon as we walked through the door, a customer sitting near the doorway, yelled “F.... scab” at Jeanne. As we walked towards the bar, he continued swearing and shouted “You’re not allowed in here. Get out”. We were refused drinks at the bar, and as we walked out, a customer threatened “If you come back, I’ll get the whole pub to walk out.” Genuinely afraid, Jeanne left immediate­ly. I then asked the man why he treated Jeanne like that. He said “She’s a scab. She knows she’s not allowed in here. This is not a pub for scabs. If she stays in here, I’ll get the whole pub out. I’ve done it before, and I know they’ll walk out again if I told them. Scabs don’t drink in here”.

Jeanne was convinced we could drink at The Imperial, in Black Bull Road. She’d worked there as a barmaid and had known landlord Mr. Vic Clark as a friend for 20 years. She was wrong. As we walked in, the pub went quiet. The landlord told Jeanne “I can’t serve you. I’m on the line. I’ve got the boys in here”.

Jeanne says she can count another four pubs in Folkestone who have also banned her. Bitter Jeanne said “I have lived in this town all my life. My father had a tobac­conists shop in Tontine Street for over 50 years. Now I am being threatened and always have to watch my back. It is terrible that P&O workers have to be careful where they drink. Surely in this free country, people who want to work should be allowed to without recrimina­tions”, she said.

Folkestone Herald 24-1-1992

Local News

Publicans are prepared to lose their jobs and homes rather than sign new leases they say could double their rents. Half the publicans in Fover being offered these contracts and two thirds in Shepway are rebelling, say the local branches of the Licensed Victuallers` Association.

“It`s like signing a suicide pact, and I won`t do it”, says Rick Abbott, who runs the Cricketers in River. He added “I have a wife and three children and we would lose our home, but we would be ruined if I signed”.

Big breweries, with more than 2,000 pubs in the country, are selling pubs or offering 20-year leases because the Monopolies and Mergers Commission is restricting how many they can have.

Alf Bentley, landlord of the Red Lion in Charlton Green, Dover, said “This is as ill-conceived as the poll tax. What use is a 20-year lease to me when I am 60? The breweries are also driving out experienced landlords and replacing them with people who were probably bakers before”.

Leslie Carpenter, of Carpenter`s in The Stade, Folkestone, said “My own rent will only go up by a third, but I couldn`t even manage that. I am prepared to lose my job rather than accept. It`s hard enough to survive with the recession. We`ve just lost more customers through the Sealink redundancies”.

The L.V.A. says the increases would further damage pubs because landlords would have to put up their prices to try to survive. They say the cost of a pint is now pushing £2.

Only last week Barry Musk walked out of the pub where he had been a tenant for four years, the Red Cow, in Foord Road, Folkestone. He now manages a free house, the Imperial, in Black Bull Road. He said “Signing would have meant my rent going up from £12,000 a year to £20,000, which would have ruined me. I was lucky because I found another pub without that kind of expense”.

All four pubs are owned by Whitbread. A spokesman said the company was willing to negotiate with landlords if they could not afford new rents. “The LVA claims that rents will double, but I dispute that. Our own survey shows that overall rents have increased by just 45 percent”, he added. Whitbread says Government legislation has been put it and other brewers in a dilemma. The new Landlord and Tenant Act gives publicans security of tenure, yet the Monopolies Commission says brewers must get rid of pubs.

Folkestone Herald 1-5-1992

Local News

A bankruptcy order has been made against Barry and Victoria Musk, of Alder Road, Folkestone. The couple used to run and live at the Red Cow Inn, Foord Road, Folkestone. The petition was filed at Canterbury Crown Court by the Musks, and the Official Receiver has been appointed to safeguard their assets.

Folkestone Herald 22-5-1992

Local News

We would like to point out that despite a bankruptcy order being made against Barry and Victoria Musk, who used to run the Red Cow Inn, the pub itself has not closed. The inn, which is in Foord Road, Folkestone, has been taken over by Jim and Madeleine Tansey. We would like to apologise for any misunderstanding our story about the Red Cow in our May 1 edition may have caused.


Folkestone Herald 4-8-1994

Local News

Lewis Dawes, landlord of the Imperial pub in Black Bull Road, Folkestone, is planning a sponsored pram push to raise money for the baby care unit at Guy`s Hospital in London. He and friends will start the push from the King`s Head, Hastings early on August 13 and plan to arrive at the Imperial the same evening.

Note: Date is at variance with More Bastions.
 
Folkestone Herald 25-8-1994

Local News

Ten people raised more than £1,000 for a hospital`s baby unit by walking 40 miles in one day.

Landlord Lewis Dawes hiked from Hastings to his pub, The Imperial in Black Bull Road, Folkestone, with nine of his regulars. Most money was pledged to walkers beforehand, but people they passed along the way donated £110. “We would have liked to have got a little bit more, but of course we are happy with what we got”, said Mr. Dawes, adding “It was an excellent response”.

Mr. Dawes singled out Larry Slade, of Linden Crescent, for his courage in finishing the trek despite being in agony from blisters 15 miles from the end. “It was sheer guts and determination”, said Mr. Dawes. “I can`t put it down to anything else”.

The walk was in aid of the baby unit at Guy`s Hospital in London.

Folkestone Herald 27-3-1997

Maidstone Crown Court

Two men have been cleared of assaulting a youth and throwing him over a steep cliff on The Leas in Folkestone.

Stephen Cornish claimed that his attackers were Tony Morosoli and his half-brother Terry Philpot, saying that he recognised them from drinking in the Imperial pub in the town. Mr. Cornish, who suffers from a behavioural problem, had gone to The Leas at around 11 p.m. on March 3 last year, Maidstone Crown Court was told. He said he bumped into an old school friend and after they separated he was set upon by the two men he identified as Morosoli, 27, and 32-year-old Philpot. Mr. Cornish, of Shorncliffe Road, claimed that they dragged him down concrete stairs and started laying into him. Philpot, he said, struck him across the face with a long chain, splitting open his right eyebrow. The two men were calling him a homosexual, using words like “gay” and “shirtlifter”. Said the father of a nin-month-old child, “I am not homosexual”. Mr. Cornish said he was then thrown head-first over a fence leading to the cliff-top. He managed to stop himself going all the way by clinging to a tree stump.

Morosoli, of Bouverie Road West, and Philpot, of Garden Road, both Folkestone, denied causing actual bodily harm. Both said they had been in the Imperial pub, but did not go to The Leas on the night of the incident.

The jury deliberated for just over 2½ hours before acquitting both men.
 
 
 
 

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