SHIP INN Pub of Sittingbourne

DOVER KENT ARCHIVES

Sort file:- Sittingbourne, February, 2022.

Page Updated:- Sunday, 27 February, 2022.

PUB LIST

PUBLIC HOUSES

Paul Skelton

Earliest 1822-

Ship Inn

Closed 2015

22 East Street

Sittingbourne

https://whatpub.com/ship

Above photo, date unknown.

Above photo 1905, kindly sent by Rory Kehoe.

Photo date 2005 from http://www.flickr.com by John Law.

Above photo 2013 by Chris Whippet Creative Commons Licence.

Above beermat, circa 1958, kindly sent by Rory Kehoe.

Above sign 2008.

There has been a pub on this site since around 1582, it was first licensed in 1832 and the present Victorian building was constructed in 1899. There is a car park at the rear, entered through the back streets. There is a dartboard, karaoke and gaming machines. The floors are wooden, and there is a mix of bench seating and bar stools.

Kentish Weekly Post or Canterbury Journal 05 February 1822.

DIED.

Jan. 27, Mr. Bamford, landlord of the "Ship" public-house, Sittingbourne.

Kentish Gazette, Tuesday 9th July 1833.

Public houses to be let, with early possession, the "Thatched House," in the parish of Minster in the Isle of Sheppey; also the "Ship," in the parish of Sittingbourne.

Apply at Mr. Vallance's is Brewery, Sittingbourne.

Kentish Gazette, Tuesday 29 October 1861.

Sittingbourne Petty Sessions.

Edward Horton, a labourer, was brought up in custody, charged with breaking a window at the "Ship Inn," Sittingbourne, belonging to Mr. Francis Bower, on Monday, evening. Prisoner pleaded that he was drunk, and did not know what it was about. He was ordered to pay the damage and costs, amounting to 9s. 3d., or in default to be committed for 14 days.

From local paper 1885

PROBATE.

Edward Parker, Late of the “Ship Inn” Sittingbourne in the County of Kent Publican who died 3 December 1885 proved by Edward Henry Bones of the "Prince of Wales" Sittingbourne, Publican the sole Executor.

From the https://www.kentonline.co.uk By Hayley Robinson, 5 February 2010.

Landlord's pub closures warning.

Mick Page landlord of the The Ship.

The days of the traditional British pub are numbered, according to one of Sittingbourne’s longest-serving landlords.

Mick Page, who runs the "Ship" in East Street, spoke out after Derek Lee, landlord of the nearby "Wheatsheaf" pub was declared bankrupt at Medway County Court last Friday.

The 67-year-old, who took over the "Ship" in 1975, blames a change in people’s social lives for the demise of the pub trade and predicted at least five pubs will close their doors for good in the Sittingbourne area in the next three to four months.

He admitted his could be one of them.

Echoing fears he raised in the Sittingbourne Messenger last year, he said: "The licensing situation in Sittingbourne has gone to pieces, people are just not using the pubs.

"Some of it is down to cheap booze coming from the supermarkets, then the smoking ban came into effect – although people adapted to it, but the biggest change is people’s social lives.

"They are spending more and more time at home.

"Your old 19in TV screen is now 42in and you can hire films.

"People call their friends and say ‘come round bring a crate of beer and a pizza’ and they sit in, there’s no need to go to the pub, it’s completely changed.

"I can assure you in the next three to four months five pubs will shut and the "Ship" might be one of them.

"I’m saddened by it but I understand the circumstances – it’s not a case of someone doing something against you deliberately, it’s just that life has changed."

Pub life is in Mr Page’s blood.

He was born at the "Rose and Crown" in West Malling in 1943 and married a landlord’s daughter.

In 1973 he moved to the Swale area and took over the "Golden Fleece" before taking on the "Ship."

At one time he also ran the "Halfway House" in Bobbing.

Mr Page is so synonymous with the "Ship" that people refer to it by his surname.

"Sadly the days of the great traditional pub have finished, but at the same time you’ve got to move on," he said.

Still open in 2013 the pub was closed by 2017 and was seeking for redevelopment.

LICENSEE LIST

BAMFORD Mr to Jan/1822

MANGEAN John 1828+

JACKSON James 1832-39+

SMEED George 1840+

ROPER Bachelor 1847+

HEDGECOCK Henry 1851-58+ (age 25 in 1851)

BOWER Francis 1861-62+ (also Horse trainer age 41 in 1861)

PARKER Edward 1870-3/Dec/85 dec'd (age 54 in 1881)

CONLEY George H 1899+

VAUDEPEER George Henry 1901-03+ (age 50 in 1901)

PENFOLD W 1913+

PACKER William 1918-45+

???? June & Jack 1958ish

PAGE Mick 1975-2010+

https://pubwiki.co.uk/Ship.shtml

From the Pigot's Directory 1828-29

From the Pigot's Directory 1832-33-34

From the Kelly's Directory 1903

Census

If anyone should have any further information, or indeed any pictures or photographs of the above licensed premises, please email:-

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