THE QUEEN'S ARMS INN

by Philip E Robinson (April 1983)

My Grandfather was the landlord of this inn from about 1885-1895. My father, Mr E F Robinson took it off him and continued as tenant from 1895-1916.

This was an inn and as such, bound to provide accommodation and refreshment. Even on a Sunday, when the bar was closed for a few hours, as long as a traveller could prove be came from over 3 miles away, he could claim refreshment.

The inn was of fairly small frontage but great depth, most of the rooms leading off a long central passage.

In the front was a bar and living room, almost all in one, with just a curtain between. No seating in the bar. On the other side of the the passage in the front was the tap-room, which had a large table and some chairs for the convenience of people who would like to sit down. This was, however seldom used, and was latterly used as a sitting when the family appeared. My mother and father were both between 20 and 21 when they were married and took over the inn, and whilst there, seven children were born.

A small scullery with no sink or water laid on, was at the back of the bar, though this lack of water was remedied later. From the scullery, steps led down to a cellar which ran under the two front rooms and partly under the pavement. This was earth-floored and held stock.

Moving towards the the back of the house, on the left of the passage, was the lodgers' mess room. This was at a rather lower level, two steps down from the passage. The floor at this was covered with sea sand.

Further down the passage at the rear of the building were two dormitories, one on either side.

At the back was a big cobbled yard with outhouses and lavatories. In the outhouses was a sink, a huge copper for boiling clothes, a water butt and tap, also lockers for the lodgers to keep perishable food in ex. There was also a coal and wood store. Coal, incidentally, was £1 per ton.

From the back yard an alley led into Duke Street, also to the stables belonging to the inn. The main entrance to the sables being in Duke Street.

During the tenancy of our family, no horses were stabled, but they were let to Mr. Harry Hayward, a boat-builder, whose house was in Middle Street. The mangers and hayracks were still in position in 1916, as far as the writer knows. Mr. Hatward built good boats and was helped by his son. The writer felt very proud when at times he was allowed to assist in "clinching" the copper nails. The normal price for a 14 foot punt, as used on Deal beach in those days, was £12.

Incidentally, on the outhouses, was a fine growth of House leek, or Semper vivum.

The living room of the family was adjacent to the bar, screened from it by a 3 foot wide matchboard partition, and the rest by a curtain. All conversation in the bar could be heard in the living room. This room was about 10 by 9 feet and in it we lived. There was not much furniture because there was not much room, a table, a few chairs, a bureau, and a couple of big cupboards on the wall. A naked gas jet, and a coal range on which all cooking was done and water heated. In the evening when we were ready for bed, we washed in a big bowl on the table, and then in our night-dresses we had to walk through the bar, amongst the customers into the passage, from whence a staircase led up to our bedrooms over the front of the house. It amused the customers and we did not think it unusual, for we had grown up with it.

LODGER'S MESS ROOM

As mentioned before, this room was at a lower level than the passage, a large room about 20 by 14 feet. The floor was wood and was kept clean and fresh with sea sand. In general charge of this room was my father's deputy, a manwho kept order. He kept it tidy, tended the fire, kept the kettles filled with water. Also sometimes he would wash clothes for some of the lodgers and probably act as cook if required.

The room was furnished with two big wooden tables made of elm, 4 wooden forms and a few chairs, utility, not comfort, being the keynote. There was a huge cupboard on which the lodgers kept their stocks of tea, sugar etc., also the communal crockery. Incidentally, the tables and chairs were scrubbed every night by the landlord after the bar was closed, probably about 11.15 p.m.

There was a large open grate which burned coke and was generally kept well stoked up, for on this the lodgers cooked all their meals. Coke was 4d. per bushel at the time of which I am writing. On the hob were usually kept boiling two big iron kettles holding a couple of gallons each. There were also two large oval iron cauldrons which were used for soap making, and a large iron frying pan with which most of the cooking was done. Basins for drinking, also cutlery and crockery were supplied. The lodgers cooked and ate all their meals in this communal mess room.

DORMITORIES

The dormitory on the right of the passage held 12 single beds, six a side with a wooden table down the centre, there were also chairs and chambers supplied. Iron bedsteads, some beds stuffed with oat chaff and some with feathers, the usual number of sheets and blankets as required. Incidentally when my mother and father took over, they increased the number of beds. My father bought a sewing machine and my mother spent the first few days making sheets from unbleached calico.

The dormitory on the left, had six beds, a table and the usual furnishings.

Upstairs there were four bedrooms for lodgers, double beds for married couples, and one with a single bed. There were three bedrooms over the front for the family, which were locked away from the lodgers quarters. My father was mindful of fire precautions, for in my parents' room was a home made rope ladder, which would fasten on to hooks on the wall under the window sill.

The rent of the inn paid to the brewers (firstly Messrs. Hills and then Messrs. Thompson, the Walmer Brewers) was £16 per year, also rates and taxes.

PRICES FOR LODGING

A bed in a dormitory was 4d per night. He single room upstairs was 6d per night, and double rooms 8d per night.

BAR PRICES

Beer and porter drawn from the cellar by engine was 2d per pint. Old ale and bitter which had to be brought by hand from the cellar - old ale 4d and bitter 3d per pint.

My father was noted for his old ale, probably because he never tapped it under 3 months, and preferred to keep it longer before sale. Some folk swore by it for stomach trouble, and people used to come for it from Walmer and Kingsdown. Gin, rum and brandy was sold over the counter at 1/- per half pint. The normal call over the counter was for two pennyworth of any spirit.

Very little bottled beer was kept, except for a few customers, to whom my father delivered.

There was also a big stock of clay pipes which were given free to customers on request. These pipes cost 1/- per gross and were made by Mr. Harrison who lived in Beach Street just at the back of the "Port Arms."

Shag tobacco was 4d per once, Woodbines 5 for 1d. Brimstone matches were bought from the shops at 2d per dozen boxes.

OPENING HOURS

From 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. weekdays. On Sunday 12 noon to 2 p.m., and 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. But if a traveller came along on Sunday he could be served at any time.

There were some early morning callers on weekdays, who came in for twopenny worth of rum and a ha-porth of milk.

Also sold in the bar were big round hard, crisp biscuits. These were about 5" diameter and were made by Mr. Selth, a baker on the South corner of Coppin Street and Middle Street. These were of the texture of a ship's biscuit, and eaten with a piece of cheese and a glass of bitter, were very tasty. This was often called for at the bar.

My father had a long day. He opened the bar at 7 a.m. By 9 a.m. all the lodgers would be up, and he would turn down all the beds in the dormitories, open the windows and clean and sweep up. My mother, in the meantime, would have got the breakfast, the children to school, and the usual housewifely duties, at the same time tending the bar. During the rest of the day my father would serve at the bar. My grandfather would sometimes come in from 10 a.m. to noon whilst my father looked after his allotment, which was situated at the level crossing near the Potteries. We always kept a punt on the beach at the opening near the Pilot House, and sometimes he would go off fishing for a couple of hours, when grandfather came down, I generally went with him when it was school holidays or on a Saturday. I would dig the bait the day before. Of interest to the younger generation is the fact that one could always go opposite the Coastguard Station at low tide, whether at "Springs" or "Neaps" and dig plenty of common lug. No need to go further North. At the Equinoxes, the writer has dug log off Farrier Street.

During the evening, my father was always busy at the bar till 11 p.m., when it was cleared and the door closed. The bar would be locked up and my father would then scour the tables and chairs in the lodgers' mess room, and then to bed. A woman came in once a week and washed sheets in the outhouse, blankets were washed in the summer.

About dinner time quite a few people would come in for jugs of beer to take home, and there were some regulars to whom my father delivered jugs of beer or porter, most days.

At 11 a.m. or thereabouts on most mornings, there were regular customers for a "schooner" of bitter, in much the same way as coffee is now taken. These regulars were mostly nearby tradesmen. I can remember two butchers coming with their aprons on, a greengrocer, a baker and a blacksmith. Just a short chat and away to their business again. In the evening, the patrons would be the usual callers with some of the lodgers.

LODGERS

These were a real cross section of the community. Some were regulars who made their homes there. Amongst there were 5 Deal boatmen - Tom Kemp, "Chummy" Hayward, "Shoreham" Shelvey, "American" Dave Foster, and Tom Buttress. Also among the regulars were 4 farm labourers and 3 fish hawkers. Also there ere those who made their living from the fields and country in general, i.e. water lilies, and the different spring and summer flowers such as primroses, cowslips and king cups; also blackberries. In the winter one man used to get the sharp thorns from blackthorn. In the evenings he would scrape off the black covering and sell the white spikes to the local butchers, who used them for spiking the price tickets to joints. The scrapings of the thorn were used to make a palatable brew which they called Jerusalem tea. The writer has watched these thorns being scraped, many times, and once tasted the brew, but after this passage of time cannot recall the taste.

The transient lodgers were of many kinds. Among them being painters, who followed the towns around, where there was plenty of work. Also hawkers, who peddled baskets of haberdashery and probably stayed only a few days. Also travelling tinkers and china riveters. These seemed to come about the same time every year, and generally had a handbarrow. It was a sif they had a regular round in this part of the country. Especially in the summer months there was usually an organ grinder staying there, one Italian stayed a year.

These also would usually come round yearly at about the same time. There was a German string band which usually came in the summer, a sextet, which played in the streets and must have gained a fair living. Also a regular one summer was a hapist named Prospero, who played in an orchestra having a summer season on the pier.

During the summer months there was an influx of travelling pea-pickers, and the occasional fruit pickers in the autumn.

There were three different saw-sharpeners.

The lodgers who were out all day generally made a goo breakfast and evening meal, mostly fried. For 3d in those days one could get a fair amount of bacon or meat pieces and these with an onion made a tasty meal. With bread and a pot of tea they were well fed. In the autumn, herring and sprats were a cheap and satisfying meal, when one remembers that when planty of herrings were being caught, they were hawked around the town at 48 for 1/-, sprats 4d a 100, or often given away for a helping hand in heaving up the boats. My father reckons that at these times there were easily 1000 sprats a day being cooked. Sometimes in the winter, when times were hard, a most excellent jug of soup could be had at the soup kitchen in brewer Street. My mother has also made a huge cauldron of soup for the needy ones.

The regular lodgers were, without exception, orderly and hard working.

At the time of which I write, Deal had 4 lodging houses, generally fairly well filled. The "Queen's Arms," "Noah's Ark" in Ark Street, the "Jolly Sailor" in Western Road and the "Maxton Arms" in Western Road.

In the beer cellar under the pavement was an arched vault or passageway leading both North and South, but after some 6 yards either way, this was bricked up. What lay beyond no-one seemed to know. Under the dormitories at the rear of te building was a huge cellar extending the width of the building. This had an earth floor and a chimney breast at either end and was approached by steps leading out of the lodgers' mess room. Again I could never find out if this had even been used.

In the alley leading into Duke Street there was a rain water well or tank, with a pump. Also in the yard was another well or tank covered by a stone slab, with no pump.

In the opening between the Inn and the present garage was a coach builder's premises, the owner's name being Burgess. In the days of which this was written, the business slowly deteriorated and the premises were taken over by a firm of mineral water manufacturers named Souter Mackenzie. In the adjoining cottage on the north side lived old Mrs. Nancy Budd and her invalid husband, the grandparents of those well known Deal boatmen - George, Darky and Bill Budd.

I suppose no description of licensed premises at this period would be complete without some mention of dutiable goods. Tobacco could be bought in our bar. My father would buy cake tobacco at 2/6 per 1lb, this was called Yankee Cake and as the name implied, was in flat oblong cakes. These went 13 to the pound and they were sold for 3d each. There was also shag in packets, and cougars with 50 in a box. My father well remembers a Canterbury man coming in one day with about half a bushel of tobacco and cigars in a sack. He was taking it back to Canterbury to raffle for Xmas.

My father joined the army in 1914, and with some assistance, and my eldest sister, my mother carried on till 1916. It then became more than they could manage, and they gave up the tenancy.

A short history of this kind would not be complete without some mention of the family concerned with the old inn. The writer, one of the sons is writing in the first person, so there should be no confusion over the generations.

Paternal Grandfather Robinson was born in 1845 of an old Deal family closely connected with the Roberts of North Deal, who was second coxswain of the lifeboat.

Paternal Grandmother was born in 1848 in the old "Woolpack Inn," North Lane, Canterbury. Her maiden name was Stroud.

Granfather had three brothers, Ted and Harry were brick-layers like himself, and Bill was in the Navy. Bill deserves some mention bacause his entry into the Navy was unusual. At that time a public house called the "Harp" stood in Middle Street, between Oak and Brewer Streets where a fish and chip shop now stands. The landlord of this was a Mr. Desormeaux, who combined this with a barber's business next door. Young Bill started here as a "lather boy." One day a choleric old boatman was in the chair and annoyed Bill by his irritability. Bill became so incensed that at last he jammed the lather brush in the old chap's mouth, and fled from the shop to the beach - straight into the arms of the Navy. He served in the Navy at the siege of Sebastopol in the Crimean War, was eventually on the Australian station and deserted there. He returned to Deal many years later and finished his active life as a boatman. He was well known for his drinking powers. In those days, money was scarce between "hovels" and the men used to have their beer "on the slate." Bill used the "Napier Arms" and ran up a tidy score. He knew how much he had though, and one day when he called for a pint, said "Landlord, that just makes a barrel."

Grandfather stayed with us for a while just after we were married, and told us that as a young man, he walked to Guston and back each day, to work. It was about a 12 hour day. He could also tell of the great gale of February 1870, when every ship except one, was driven ashore. He was also quite a good performer on the Jew's Harp, an instrument never seen these days. He and Grandmother were married in 1871.

My maternal Grandfather Belsey was born in Canterbury and was a coach painter by trade.

My maternal Grandmother was born in Bury St. Edmuns in an army barracks. Her father Barrettt was a Lifeguardsman, and was at that time the tallest man in the regiment, 6 feet 6½ inches. The Belsey's moved to Bromley, where he worked Messrs Chitty, coach-painter. In those days, it was paint and rub down, paint and rub down many times before it was a complete job. He was an excellent and noted craftsman, and as such was entrusted with the most skilful jobs such as lining the panels and painting the monogram. Our young family spent many holidays there when I was a boy. He one thing I can remember of Grandfather Belsey, is of a short man, surly and grumpy.

My father was born in Duke Street, in 1874, and my mother in Canterbury in the same year, and they were married in 1894.

When father was about 10 years old, his parents moved to the "New Inn" in Havelock Street.

He was extremely good at drawing in those days, so much so that he went to the Canterbury School if Art for a time. without paying any fees. However, his parents showed no interest and he eventually left. His drawings and paintings still at home testify to his skill. His parents returned to Deal and took over the "Queen's Arms." He joined the Garrison Artillery and was at Dover Castle for a time.

However, my grandparents wanted to retire in 1895, so father bought himself out of the army, married and took over the "Queen's Arms."

There were 11 children of the marriage, 6 girls and 5 boys, 9 of whom are still alive, one boy dying in infancy. As I mentioned earlier, some were born at the Inn and some at the Homestead, Middle Deal Road. My father had this house built in 1902.

Father was a powerful chap in his young days. When we came ashore from fishing, he would pull the boat up the beach by himself, with some slight assistance from me, I was a lad of about 9 or 10 and I would lay the greased "woods" and "tail" on the painter with him. the boat being a normal 12 foot punt.

He joined the National Reserve just prior to the 1914 war, it was composed of ex-army men. Their job as to guard railway bridges etc. in the event of war. e was called up when war broke out and served for a time around the Medway towns. He transferred to the Royal West Kents and was eventually posted to Lowestoft. In the meantime, mother carried on at the Inn with the help of my sisters Nora, but it was too much for 2 women. They relinquished the tenancy, and mother eventually went to Lowestoft to join my father and took a house near the High Lighthouse. Father finished up as a Physical Training Sergeant at the end of the war. Two sons were serving - one in the Navy and one in the RFC. One daughter was in the WRAAC, one in the Land Army, and one daughter-in-law in the QMAAC, and one son-in-law in the Army. The house in Deal was let during the family's absence.

Father now had to find work and took a job in a herring curing factory. After a time the family returned to Deal and Father tried another couple of jobs, before being employed as a gardener by the War Graves Commission, on the war graves in France. Mother followed him and took a house at Fricourt. My sister looked after the rest of the family, who were working in Deal. My two youngest sisters went to the village school in France.

My parents eventually came back to Deal where my father realised his ambition of working his own piece of land.

Some mention should be made of Mother's activities during the First war after she had relinquished the tenancy of the Inn and gone back to Middle Deal. Apart from looking after her young family, she had soldiers billeted on her from time to time. She still managed to keep the kitchen garden in good order, and exhibited in the local flower shows. I remember coming home on leave and seeing the prize certificates on the mantelpiece, firsts among them.

The family did their share during the second war. Father was an enthusiastic air-raid warden all the time. Mother escorted parties of evacuee children to their destinations. She assisted at the Borough Restaurants at Tormore, and "Feed Thy Lambs" in Middle Street. All 4 boys were in the forces, 3 as professionals. The two daughters who served in the first war, joined up again and served in the ATS. It is interesting to note that these 2 women join up again at the time of Munich. Also in the forces were three sons-in-law, two grandsons, one grand-daughter and her husband. One son had the distinction of having himself, his wife, and two sons all serving at the same time. All the family and in-laws did well in their chosen branch of the Service.

Life has been good to the family, Mother and dad still with us, but we feel the loss of a son, son-in-law, a daughter and a daughter-in-law.

Father was a good raconteur and often kept us amused at family gatherings with his yarns of the good old days.

One interesting point. I mentioned earlier on that Father brought Mother a sewing machine when they married. That machine is still in use over 70 years later and still in good order.

The family is scattered but united. The last time we had a gathering was on the occasion of our parents' 71st wedding anniversary. We are all proud of our family, and would like to record the admiration and esteem in which we hold our Father and Mother.

Grandma's 100th birthday celebrated 12th April 1974 at the "Clarendon Hotel," Deal, 63 descendants being present.

Further reading can be found at the following web site:-

http://home.freeuk.net/eastkent/deal/historic/robinson2.htm