DOVER KENT ARCHIVES
PUB LIST PUBLIC HOUSES Paul Skelton

Earliest 1934+

 Mermaid

Still open

The Street

Bishopsbourne

01227 830581

Mermaid at Bishopsbourne Mermaid at Bishopsbourne Mermaid sign at BishopsbourneMermaid sign 1986

Photos left by Paul Skelton, 22 Aug 2008.

Mermaid Inn sign right August 1986 with thanks from Brian Curtis www.innsignsociety.com

 

 

The pub was built in 1861 as a tap house for estate workers and was originally known as the "Lions Head".

When Sir John Prestige acquired the estate, the name was changed to the Mermaid because a mermaid featured on Sir John's coat of arms.

The pub was extended in 1968.

While Jack Creed was licensee the beer was still drawn from  the wood down in the cellar.

 

From an email received 13 June 2012

Regarding your list of licensees for the "Mermaid" at Bishopsbourne, one long-standing one was Tony Aldington, landlord until around 1973.

He was the brother of the writer Richard Aldington ('Death of a Hero'), and this was not the only literary connexion the pub has enjoyed: the Folkestone wine-merchant family of Jocelyn Brooke ('The Orchid Trilogy') had a weekend cottage in Bishopsbourne, and Brooke describes this pub (as well as a thinly-disguised "Jolly Sailor" at Capel-le-Ferne in his novel 'Image of a Drawn Sword'). And then of course there is Joseph Conrad, who lived the last years of his life in Bishopsbourne, and certainly echoes the snug bar of the "Mermaid" in several pieces.

Andrew Heritage.

 

Renowned for its real ale, The Mermaid has appeared in the Campaign for Real Ale's (CAMRA's) Good Beer Guide for 18 successive years.

 

LICENSEE LIST

PEACOCK Mrs H to Sept/1946 Dover Express

SCOTT Douglas L Sept/1946+ Dover Express

CREED Jack early 60s to (Aldington)

ALDINGTON Tony to 1973

RELF Colin & Bunty to (Archer)

ARCHER Steve & Jackie 2008-13+

 

Dover ExpressFrom the Dover Express

 

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