Updates

4th September, 2015: Folkestone Herald Reports for 1987 Added

Rene`s Cafe Bar, Marine Parade c1992 - c2009

Rene`s Cafe Bar 1999. Credit Martin Easdown

 

Licensees

James Godden and too many to mention 1992 Folkestone Herald 24-12-1987 Local News A new pub, disco and shops may soon open on the seafront at Folkestone. Jimmy Godden – boss of the Rotunda Amusements Arcade – has been given permission to convert the Marine Pavilion at Marine Parade.

c 2009

Black Bull 1960s - 1980s

Folkestone Herald 12-2-1966

Annual Licensing Sessions

The number of cases of drivers unfit to drive through drink trebled last year, it was re­ported at the annual licensing meeting at Folkestone on Wednesday.

In his annual report Chief Superintendent W. Pearce said “This is a position which can­not be accepted with complacency, and the co­operation of everyone, including licensees, is necessary to bring about an improvement”. The number of cases rose from three in 1964 to nine last year.

The number of full licences in the district increased by three to 133. One more club had been registered, bringing the num­ber to 33. The number of drunks prosecuted was 24, the highest since 1961. Of these two were females. Half the total was local residents.

The Chief Superintendent said that licensed premises in the borough had been generally well conducted dur­ing the year, but the num­ber of convictions for drunkenness had remained comparatively high. “Four young persons were prosecuted in respect of the consumption and supply of intoxicating liquor to persons under 18”, he said. He added that licensees must be on guard to prevent this type of offence. Two licensees had been warned by the police for minor breaches of the licen­sing laws.

At the meeting the following licence was transferred: The Black Bull Hotel, Canterbury Road, from Mr. E.E.G. Mansell to Mr. W. R. Scarbrow.

 

South Kent Gazette 22-11-1978

Local News

Empty tankards brought few cheers at four Folkestone pubs when beer kegs and bottles ran dry. Regulars had to make do with fruit juice and spirits as a result of a brewery workers` strike at Ind Coope. The brewery supplies local pubs including the Black Bull, Nailbox, Morehall and Railway Bell from its Aylesham depot. After missing three deliveries, pub supplies dwindled last week to nothing.

One landlord said his trade had been cut by 50 per cent, and another claimed his darts league and pool players had turned to lemonade and Coke.

Now customers will be finding what their right arms are for again. The 14 workers at Aylesham agreed to return to work yesterday. A spokesman for the brewery said the strike by a total of 1,750 production and distribution employees was over a pay claim. Most of the other workers agreed to return to work on Monday.

Folkestone Herald 3-11-1979

Local News

A window was smashed when the Black Bull public house in Black Bull Road, Folkestone, was broken into on Tuesday night. The float of about £30 was stolen from the bar till.

 

South Kent Gazette 17-2-1982

Annual Licensing Sessions

Publicans` applications for transfer agreed by the Bench include: The Black Bull, Folkestone (music and dancing); Bouverie Arms, Folkestone; Honest Lawyer, Folkestone; Old Harbour Crab and Oyster House (extension to cover restaurant area); Royal George, Folkestone. Approval of plans to alter Folkestone`s Pullman Wine Bar was given.

Folkestone Herald 12-3-1982

Local News

Regulars at Folkestone’s Black Bull pub are on cue to break the world non-stop pool playing record in a bid to raise cash for kidney victim Lee Prothero. Yesterday morning John Winyard and Jack Cathrew chalked their cues and got down to the business of raking in the cash for the £5,000 appeal. Plucky schoolboy Lee, 13, was on hand to see the two men break off in an aim to beat 207 hours and earn a spot in the Guinness Book of Records. The pair are allowed a five-minute break each hour and if all goes well will be breaking open the champagne sometime next Saturday.

According to landlady Mrs Christine McAllister, both men are feeling pretty confident. “If they carry on the way they have been I’m sure they’ll make it”, she said. One of the drawbacks each man faces is a ban on alcohol during the record attempt because, says Christine, it’s likely to send them to sleep and destroy their chances. “I’m expecting our takings to go down”, she quipped. Folkestone Lions, too, have joined the appeal with a £250 cheque delivered to the home of appeal organiser Mrs. Gloria Stone, in Downs Road, Folkestone.

South Kent Gazette 9-3-1983

Local News

Clerical assistant Gillian Godden had a nasty experience tucking into a jar of seafood. Floating among the cockles in her night-time snack was a cigarette butt. Mrs. Godden, of Thanet Gardens, Folkestone, had difficulty opening the jar, which she bought at the lounge bar of the Black Bull Hotel, Folkestone, on November 4. After eating a couple of cockles she noticed they had a strange taste. Making a closer examination of the jar she found the filter tip end of a cigarette.

And on Thursday Folkestone Magistrates found the firm which sells the jars Guilty of selling sub-standard food.

Bottling firm Leslie A. Parsons and Sons, of Burry Port, Dyfed, Wales, was fined £50 and ordered to pay £25 costs. Managing director Mr. 

Les­lie Parsons wrote a letter to the court, pleading Guilty to the offence. He asked for the case to go ahead without him appear­ing because of the distance from Wales to Folkestone.

Mr Michael O’Flaherty, prosecuting for Kent County Council, was taken to Folkestone`s Trading Standards offices and sent for analysis. This showed that the cigarette had been smoked, he added.

Giving evidence, Mr. James Bell, a trading standards officer in Folkestone, said he telephoned the firm`s managing director, who accepted the analyst`s report.

In his letter Mr. Parsons said his company had been going since the 1940s and sells about three million jars a year. Out of more than 90 million jars sold it has only been prosecuted once before, he said. When cockles are collected from the sea bed there is a lot of “bric-a-brac” among them. The factory has a rigorous sorting method and the cockles are inspected before being sterilised and bottled, he added.

Mr. O`Flaherty said he had no information of any previous convictions and as far as he knows the company has an “unblemished record”.

Folkestone Herald 13-4-1984

Local News

A Cockney night with a Pearly King and Queen is being held to raise money for charity. As part of a nationwide campaign Folkestone`s Black Bull pub will be aiming to raise cash for Muscular Dystrophy. On May 12 landlord Pat Gill hopes to hold competitions to encourage customers to dress up in Cockney style.

Folkestone Herald 10-8-1984

Local News

A pub has been honoured by the Muscular Dystrophy Group of Great Britain for its fundraising work for the charity. Local Chairman David Miller presented the Black Bull in Canterbury Road, Folkestone, with an engraved tankard and certificate signed by Sir Richard Attenbourough on Friday. Landlord Pat Gill has raised £464 for research into the muscle-wasting disease in the past three months.

Folkestone Herald 20-11-1987

Local News

Beer drinkers in Folkestone have passed a bitter milestone in pint prices. This week the Good Pub Guide book was frothed up over Kent regulars digging deeper into their pockets than most of Britain`s pub-goers. The guide criticises a one third increase in Surrey, Sussex and Kent during the year “pressing towards the £1-a-pint barrier which London has passed”. But some pubs in Folkestone broke the barrier up to two years ago and finding a brew in the area for less is a problem.

Folkestone landlords this week criticised the guide for being out of touch and blamed high rates plus brewery increases for the pricey cost of their pints.

Geoff Gosford, landlord of the Lifeboat in The Durlocks, said “Prices are quite high, but so are the overheads. Folkestone rates are the same as some London boroughs. Our beers can be expensive, but it is all real ale. We recently had the legendary Conqueror here as a guest ale. It was £1.28 a pint but three pints of that beer was worth nine of any other. I haven`t had one complaint about my prices”.

Eileen Lewis, landlady of the Guildhall on The Bayle (£1 a pint) said “Some pubs may take advantage and raise prices higher. But the majority are very conscious of the cost of beer to their customers. It is not publicans clamouring for expensive beer, it is breweries”.

Ken Holletts, landlord of the British Lion (£1 a pint) said “I have not raised the price of beer since becoming the landlord. All increases have been imposed by the brewery. Our prices are reasonable, and as cheap as you`ll find in the town centre”.

Black Bull landlady Maureen Coles in Canterbury Road (prices again in the £1 range) said “Rates and electricity and so on are all expensive and brewery increases take their toll”.

A spokesman for Whitbread, a major brewery supplying Folkestone, said “Beer prices are cheaper in other parts of the country, but Folkestone is no different, really, to most other parts of the South East”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fifth Avenue Bar, Sandgate Road 1987 - 1988

Licensees
Catherine Smith and Ena Smith 1987 1988 Renamed Tiffany`s

Folkestone Herald 9-10-1987

Local News

Wine bar boss Jason Anthony has been found dead at his home. Neighbours alerted police after hearing loud music from his flat all night and through the morning. Officers found Mr. Anthony, 26, slumped in a chair at the flat in Broadmead Road, Folkestone, last Thursday. Results of a post mortem have been postponed pending further tests and an inquest has been ordered.

Anthony and former girlfriend and business partner, Diane Bryant, opened Ritzy`s Wine Bar in Sandgate Road in 1985 on the premises of the former wine merchant`s, Lukey`s. But the business venture turned sour when Miss Bryant, 30, and Anthony ended their relationship. Anthony appeared before Folkestone Magistrates in January charged with causing Miss Bryant actual bodily harm. He admitted smashing a glass dish over his former partner`s head, punching her in the mouth, poking fingers in her eyes and repeatedly punching her. He was fined £150 plus £20 costs. At the time Anthony commented “I am extremely sorry for what I have done – words cannot change the past”.

Last month Mr. Anthony was with six men arrested by Dover police climbing the White Cliffs near Dover Castle and tunnels into the former Regional Seat of Govern­ment, contained in the cliffs. In the incident an unnamed 26-year-old Folkestone man fell down the cliff. It has since been confirmed that the injured man was Mr. Anthony. He was taken to hospital before police officers could question him.

At the time of his death Mr. Anthony was manager of the Fifth Avenue wine bar, the successor to Ritzy’s in Sandgate Road. When he appeared in court earlier this year magistrates were told that while no longer holding a financial interest in the business, Mr. Anthony had been re-employed in the renamed business as a manager.

Folkestone Herald 23-10-1987

Local News

An inquest into the death of wine bar boss Jason Anthony was expected to be opened and adjourned this week. Mr. Anthony, 26, was found dead in his flat at Broadmead Road, Folkestone, on Thursday, October 1. Neighbours called the police after hearing loud music playing in his home throughout the previous night. Following a post mortem examination of his body, pathologists said this week he died from inhalation of vomit and cardio-respiratory failure. At the time of his death, Mr. Anthony was manager of the Fifth Avenue wine bar in Sandgate Road, Folkestone.