From the https://www.kentonline.co.uk By Beth Robson, 8 June 2021.

Family pays tribute to pub landlady Margaret Moran of The Forester, Deal, who died on Friday.

The death of Deal's longest serving landlady has prompted an outpouring of grief from her family and many customers who became her friends.

Margaret Moran, 79, was landlady of the Forester in The Marina for in excess of 40 years.

Margaret Moran, the late Landlady of The Forester with a vodka and soda. Picture Geeta Seegobin.

She was described by her family as a "real life Peter Pan" with a sharp wit and prone to "sporadic outbursts of dance".

Born in December 1942 in Glinsk, Galway, Ireland, she worked at the Odeon Hotel where she saved up enough money to travel to London by boat, a journey she took in 1966.

Her first job was at the Cumberland Hotel in London. She also worked at Buckingham Palace as a waitress at the Queen's garden parties.

Margaret Moran on her wedding day.

From there she had a series of pubs which she ran with husband Patrick who she married in 1968.

The couple's pubs included The Prince of Wales in Balham and the "Coach and Horses" in Blackheath.

Together they had daughter Jacqueline, who was born in the capital in 1969.

Patrick died in 1974 aged 27. Four years later in 1978 Mrs Moran moved to The Forester at Deal.

Margaret Moran with her pool team at the Forester in Deal. Picture Geeta Seegobin.

Grandson Patrick Townsend said: "She got to the point where she wanted to buy her own pub and Deal was somewhere she thought would be a good place for that."

She made it her own and lived above the pub overlooking the sea.

Despite changes in the pub trade, with boozers being turned into trendy bars, Mrs Moran kept the establishment as a traditional pub. This added to the attraction for her many customers.

Margaret 'Mags' Moran. Picture Luke Smith.

The Forester was always immaculate and her beer garden was pristinely kept, the lawn was adorned with colourful borders and rose bushes. In the summer, roses cut from her garden were often seen in a vase or glass on the bar, a sign of her pride in the place.

But aside from providing a warm and welcoming establishment, it was Mrs Moran's kind and quirky personality that turned a customer into a regular and a regular into a friend - of which she had a great many across the town and beyond.

She was known affectionately as 'Mags' by some of her friends.

Margaret was true to her Irish roots. Picture Ginny Potter.

Mrs Moran would regularly be seen perched on a chair behind the bar sipping vodka and soda or prosecco from a test tube shaped glass. With a traditional Irish welcome she would pour the perfect Guinness complete with shamrock on the top.

Mrs Moran died at the Queen Elizabeth Queen Mother Hospital on Friday.

Margaret Moran and her family.

She became unwell on Thursday and suffered what was described as heart attack symptoms in the morning before being taken into the Queen Elizabeth Queen Mother Hospital.

Mr Townsend added: "By chance, Raj, a regular at the pub, happened to be the paramedic who was on call.

"He and a team of them did a fantastic job to get her out and give us the opportunity to be able to say goodbye to her properly.

"As a family we want to say a huge thanks to them and Geeta who found her at the pub and called the emergency services."

At the hospital Mrs Moran held on until her family arrived and she passed away with her daughter and son in law beside her.

In a joint statement, her family said: "Margaret was a real life Peter Pan, always reminding us to 'Never grow up, because grown-ups are boring'.

"She has filled so many people with joy over her long and fulfilling life and will always be remembered for her sharp wit, huge heart and sporadic outburst of dance when she was excited."

She leaves a daughter Jacqueline, son in law Colin, grandson Patrick and two grandaughters Shannon and Erin and many friends.

From the https://www.kentonline.co.uk By James Pallant, 30 December 2025.

The five women who saved The Forester pub in Deal after pooling savings to buy £470,000 freehouse.

With pubs across Kent closing at an alarming rate, five women with no experience of running a boozer took on what many would consider a reckless gamble.

Their mission was simple - to save what has been hailed “the only real pub” in Deal.

The Forester Five, left to right: Megan Smith, Jane Kesley, Gemma Jackson, Becky Artmonsky and Pascale Colony. Picture: Mike Taylor.

Determined not to see their hometown lose yet another long-standing local, Becky Artmonsky, Megan Smith, Pascale Colony, Gemma Jackson and Jane Kesley decide to unite to keep The Forester alive.

None of them had ever owned a pub. All had experience pulling pints at some point in their lives, but their professional backgrounds were otherwise worlds apart, spanning finance, fashion and media.

In fact, before their bold attempt to rescue the 19th-century boozer, most of them didn’t know each other, with Becky the mutual friend who linked the group.

So when the freehouse went under the hammer in July, she floated the daunting idea of pooling their savings and taking it on together.

The ladies debated the wisdom of getting into an increasingly precarious industry, especially in a seaside town hit by a number of recent closures. The "Telegraph" shut in 2019, followed by the "Magnet" in 2020 and the "Hare and Hounds" in 2024. In the past year alone, the "Three Compasses" has become a bed and breakfast, while the "Taphouse Beer Cafe" has closed altogether.

But the group ultimately agreed to take the plunge and submitted a joint offer.

“It was a pretty risky, difficult business to get into, that's for sure,” admits entertainment financier Becky, 55.

“But so many pubs in Deal are now run with visitors to the town in mind - we really felt we needed to keep this going for people who live here.”

Screams of joy rang out in Becky’s living room as the quintet learned their bid of £470,000 had been successful, and the ‘Forester Five’ was born.

From October to November, they set about much-needed structural renovations, had the outside repainted and spruced up the beer garden.

“We wanted to renew the pub sign as that’s obviously the key sort of flag for the place,” continues Becky.

“So we took down the old sign, and when we started taking it apart, underneath we found one of the previous signs - we think it was from the 60s.

“The pub used to be an Irish pub, it had an Irish landlady and the sign was a picture of a boat with a shamrock on its sail.”

Wishing to honour history but also make their own mark, the new owners commissioned a sign with the same illustration, swapping the clover for the number 5.

Their acquisition of the Forester extends its long-running tradition of having women at the helm.

A new plaque at its entrance bears testament to this legacy: Charlotte Ralph 1886-91, Susan Faucheux 1891-98, Mary Annie Redsull 1938-44, Isabella Bolt 1959-63, Margaret Moran 1978-2021.

The Forester Five have updated the pub's 1960s-era sign with a nod to their team name. Picture: Mike Taylor.

The new landladies kept the pub open throughout the renovations and retained the previous team of staff.

Each of them has other full-time jobs: Jane, 61, is a media director; Pascale, 53, is a fashion tech; while Megan and Gemma, both 45, work as a dressmaker and a financial services technologist, respectively.

Nevertheless, Becky says they have all done quite a few shifts behind the bar.

“I'm pretty proud of my Guinness-pouring prowess,” she says.

“None of us are afraid to get our hands dirty and there’s a lot to do. So, yeah, we're pretty actively involved - one or another of us is in there pretty much every day.”

The new owners aim to preserve the site’s classic, if typically male-oriented, pub features - its dartboard, pool room and sacrosanct stout - while also enhancing the inclusive atmosphere cultivated over decades of matriarchy.

“I think we wanted to make it a little more female-friendly,” explains Becky.

“We've certainly upped the wine game and added a few, what you might call, ‘women's touches’, like putting candles on the tables and flowers on the bar and that sort of thing.”

In addition to aesthetic upgrades, The Forester’s latest chapter has also seen the introduction of new traditions.

‘Dip & Sip’ on the first Sunday of each month is a special invitation to the town’s many year-round sea swimmers to pop in for a hot drink and a pastry from 9am.

Becky says the reception from regulars and newcomers alike has been fantastic.

“It's lovely bringing new people into the pub,” she says.

“So that’s the kind of thing we're going to really go for next year, as well as more traditional stuff like bingo and quiz nights.

“For a lot of people, this pub is a home from home, a place where everyone knows your name, and that's what we've loved the most.

“Deal probably is known best for the fact that it is a very sociable town. People love a drink and they love socialising.

“We're not like Margate or Folkestone - what we've got going for us is the people that live in the town who are so fab.”

The Forester Pub at The Marina, Deal, has a long history of being run by women. Picture: Mike Taylor.

Just weeks before The Forester went under the hammer, KentOnline’s Secret Drinker echoed locals’ verdict that the seafront boozer is the best place to drink in a town he says now has far too many trendy pubs.

Under the thoughtful stewardship of the Forester Five, that reputation and the pub itself look to be in safe hands.