Stag's Head

Kent & Sussex Courier, Friday 23 July 1971.

INNKEEPER.

TONBRIDGE’S newest landlord is Frederick Robins, 61, who has recently refurbished the 150-year-old "Stag's Head" in Stafford Road.

Mr. Robins, who used to be licensee of the "Woolpack" at Yalding before taking on the "Stag's Head" three months ago, has plans to turn the Tonbridge building into a fashionable, modern comfortable, club-type pub.

"It is rich in history. It was built originally as two workmen's cottages and its first licence was issued in the reign of George IV to sell beer only," he said.

A pair of plate-glass doors, one inscribed "Bottle and Jugs," the other "Public Bar," are regarded as particularly fine examples of old bar glassware and are estimated to be about 100 years old.

Mr. Robins, who was born in Acton, has been an innkeeper for 21 years.

One thing Mr. Robins finds lacking at the "Stag's Head" is the ghost he had in his last pub.

"I often used to sense and hear the old smuggler's ghost in the "Woolpack;" I'd suddenly feel a cold, clamminess when he was near, and I'd hear him coughing.

“There was an old secret underground tunnel leading from the Medway to the pub and the smugglers used to bring their casks of brandy up to the bar and exchange them for packs of wool, which they sold for cash."