Woolpack

Above photo, circa 1897, kindly sent by Rory Kehoe. Sadly, the identity of these smartly-dressed gentlemen isn't known, nor is the reason why there were posing outside the Woolpack.

Above postcard postmarked 11 February 1914.

Above postcard, date unknown.

Above postcard, circa 1957, kindly sent by Rory Kehoe. Like many pubs in Kent, the pub changed owners several times in the mid-20th century. In the inter-war period, the Woolpack was one of circa 15 licensed houses, which comprised the tied estate of George Ware's Pale Ale Brewery, Frant. In 1950, Ware's was acquired and closed by E & H Kelsey's Culverden Brewery, Tunbridge Wells which, by then (since 1948) was itself a subsidiary of J W Green's Phoenix Brewery, Luton. Green's morphed into Flower's Breweries in 1954 on their acquisition of Flower & Sons' Brewery, Stratford-upon-Avon. All change again in 1961, when Whitbread's swooped and the pub, along with about another hundred Kent pubs, joined their already vast tied estate. Which of Whitbread's breweries in Kent supplied the pub isn't yet known but it was, most likely, the former Frederick Leney's Phoenix Brewery, Wateringbury. It might, just as easily, have been Mackeson's Hythe Brewery though. At some point (in the 1990s?) the pub was turned into a Beefeater Steak House: a Whitbread subsidiary, offering family-friendly restaurant meals.

Above showing a label from Frant Brewery's Oatmeal Stout.

Above photo 1987, from Chris Louis Green.

Above photo 2014.

Above sign left, July 2001, sign right, 2014.

Above with thanks from Brian Curtis www.innsignsociety.com.