SIR JOHN FALSTAFF Pubs of Dover

DOVER KENT ARCHIVES

PUB LIST

PUBLIC HOUSES

Barry Smith and Paul Skelton

Earliest 1871-

Sir John Falstaff

Nov 2011

Ladywell Place

Ladywell, early 1890's. By then a widening at the previously narrow lane had already taken place. Until 1867 it was only 14ft wide, cobbled, and had a drainage gully running down the centre. At that time the lane was one of the boundaries of the town. Beyond it was open fields and the villages of Buckland, River and Temple Ewell.

In 1867 the lane was widened to 20ft but it was still extremely narrow at the High Street junction. Consequently another widening became necessary in 1893, involving property on the side opposite the Town Hall, between the Sir John Falstaff public house and the High Street corner.

The public house was rebuilt in 1903 and the High Street corner premises in 1907. An interesting feature visible in the original picture is the line of railings of the front gardens of properties facing Ladywell and the Town Hall, known as St Martin's Terrace, which were in domestic occupation when the photograph was taken. These short gardens were removed when the Corporation widened High Street in 1903.

Appeared in the Dover mercury, 23 October 2003. By Joe Harman.

Ladywell, Dover, before the widening in 1900.

The above is a picture of Ladywell taken just before the road was widened in 1900.

I was informed that the people in the photo are members of the Meadows family who traded in second-hand furniture and are standing outside their shop.

Next door, to the right, is Adams the printers. The widening took place, but the frontages were not tidied up until 1907.

You can see the date over the blocked doorway to the present mortgage premises.

Many people will recall the top end in High Street being Knowles the fruiterers. The Sir John Falstaff was rebuilt and set back.

There appears to have been a "sweeterie", hairdresser and shoe-repairer on the site before becoming the present fire station.

Joe Harman.

The fourteen foot road was widened to twenty feet in 1867 and four cottages then stood thereabouts. By 1869, Thomas Chrisie Royce had converted two of them into a pub. Edward Hubbard hosted for four years then sold to the East Kent Brewery, at that time, a subsidiary of the Dane John Brewery, Canterbury. The doors opened at five a.m. to welcome the coffee drinkers from 1876 and continued that practice after 1900.

From the Dover Express and East Kent News, Friday, 16 July, 1869.

WILFUL DAMAGE

George Stanley, a shipwright, was summoned by Edward Pay, a fruitier, for wilfully damaging his front door on the night of the 7th instant.

The complainant said that he lived at Lady Well, next to a public-house known as the "Sir John Falstaff," which is kept by the mother of the defendant. On Wednesday night, at a quarter-past ten, he was in his back room, when he heard a knocking at his front door. His wife was in the shop, and on his hearing the knocking he went into the shop, and found John Stanley and his wife there, trying to shut the door against a crowd outside. The latch of the door was broken in their endeavours to close it. The door was afterwards closed, and the people outside then kicked and pushed against it. As they did not desist knocking, the prosecutor opened the door, and the first person he saw pushing against it was the defendant, who used very bad language.

By the defendant: I am certain I saw you pushing against the door.

John Stanley said he was a mariner and belonged to the Wellington Pilot Cutter. In consequence of something that took place he went into Mr. Pay's house on Wednesday night, the 7th instant, and while there he heard a great noise outside the door. On the prosecutor opening the door he saw George Stanley against it. The crown around the door did some damage to it.

By the defendant: I was not in the back yard of Mr. Pay's house.

Mary Ann Stanley, the wife of the last witness, said that she was in Mr. Pay's house with her husband on Wednesday night. She saw several people outside, and on the prosecutor opening the door, and telling them to go away, she saw the defendant, and he used offensive language.

Defendant denied the charge, and called George Howard, who said he was a butcher and lived in Council House Street. he was in Lady Well on the night of the 7th instant. There was a disturbance outside the house of Mr. Pay. He did not see the defendant among the first who caused the noise. The witness John Stanley was out in the back yard at the time.

George Hambrook said he lived at Finnis's Hill and was employed at the Oil Mills. He was in lady Well on Wednesday night last in the "Sir John Falstaff" public-house. There was a disturbance outside the house occupied by Mr. Pay, but he was not taking any part in the affair. The prosecutor undid the door; but there was no damage done to it. he could see right through the house, and saw the witness John Stanley in the yard.

The Magistrates said they considered the charge proved, and fined the defendant 2s. 6d., the damage to the door 5s., and the costs 13s.; in default, seven days' imprisonment , with hard labour.

The defendant went to gaol.

the prosecutor then made an application that the defendant might be bound over to keep the peace, defendant having threatened to "knock his head off" and to injure him in other ways. In consequence of the threats he was afraid defendant would do him some bodily injury.

The Magistrates bound the defendant over in his own recognisance's and in two sureties of £5 each, or one of £10, to keep the peace towards complainant for two months.

From the Dover Express and East Kent News, Friday 16 March, 1877.

DRUNK AND DISORDERLY

John Henry Wraight, chair mender, was charged with being drunk and disorderly in Park Place.

Police-sergeant Johnston said he saw the prisoner on Friday at Park Place; he had off his coat and seemed in a fighting position. He understood that the prisoner had been turned out of the “Sir John Falstaff” public-house.

The prisoner said he was very sorry, and the bench dismissed him with the usual caution.

From the Dover Express and East Kent Intelligencer, 6 January, 1882. Price 1d.

The members of the Ancient Order of Oddfellows had their annual supper at the “Falstaff Inn,” Ladywell, on Tuesday evening. This has been for many years the lodge house, and it is contemplated to building on these premises a larger room to meet the growing necessities of the case. The supper was admirably served by the host who had secured the assistance of Mr. W. Fox, baker, in cooking the excellent joints supplied by Mr. G. Adams. After supper a very pleasant evening was spent.

1893 saw the road widened again which meant its removal but following the road improvement the present house was erected in 1903. Ash and Company received from Dover Corporation £1,650 in 1902 which must represent the purchase price or compensation.

Efforts made to declare the pub redundant in 1934 were not successful. The local Council were looking for premises to house the police at that time so fingers pointed in their direction but if they were involved, and it would have been convenient right next door to their fire fighting appliances, they were frightened by the price.

Permission was given for it to close for the duration of the war in October 1940. Possibly it did. I know not. Certainly open again in 1948. A Whitbread house

From the Dover Express and East Kent News, 12 March, 1937.

Police Object to Extension.

The licensee of the "Sir John Falstaff" applied for an hours extension for a concert on Thursday.

The Chief Constable said there was no indication what the concert was for and so he objected to the extension.

The licensee, replying to the Magistrates' Clerk, said the concert was by the Druids to raise funds for a children's Coronation treat. He thought it would be open to the public.

The Chief Constable said he would withdraw his objection if no one was admitted to the premises after 10 o'clock.

The licence was granted on that condition.

From the Dover Express and East Kent News, 12 December, 1952.

Dog Match at the "Falstaff"

The last match of the year held by the Dover and District Canine Society was at the "Sir John Falstaff," Ladywell, on Friday, when Miss Monica Boggia was the judge. The cup for the dog with most points for 1952 went to Mrs. Stella Arnold's smooth dachshund "Skipper of the Swatchway," while Mrs. Grierson's golden retriever "Tessa of Breconrea" was the best bitch.

Points awarded at the show were: "Skipper of the Swatchway," "Quixote of Rydens," "Deerbolt of Provachocty," "Deerbolt Scoota" and "Tessa of Breconrea," 8 points; "Seagry Chansonette," "Collinwood Chrysalis," "Colinwood Corvett," "Verity of Hindham," "Commodore of the Swatchway," "Hugo of Nonington," "Crowtrees Captain," and "Thunder of the Swatchway," 7 pts.; "Herarian Flashlight," "Chum of Elms Vale," "Reyway Prince Ti Ang," "Cocos Coral," "Tantalising Red Devil" and "Diana of Mapesbury," 6 points.

Above Sir John Falstaff circa 1980 photo by Barry Smith.

Above pictures showing the Seeboard buildings being built, date pre 1938. The bottom picture also shows the "Park Inn" (right) and the sign of the "Wheatsheaf" (left.)

From the Dover Express 5 April 2001

Fire in pub

A SMALL fire broke out at the Falstaff public house, Dover; at 1am on Monday. The owner was awoken by the sound of crashing glass as fire fighters broke into the pub with a sledgehammer to put out the blaze. There were no injuries and only a small area of carpet was damaged. Police are investigating how the fire started.

Above photo of Sir John Falstaff 2006.

From the Dover Express, 26 April 2007. Report by Phil Reilly and photographs Andy Jones.

She's back: Sarah Webb outside the to-be-renamed Sir John Falstaff pub DOAJ200407Sarah

The landlady with a golden touch whose Finest Hour is still to come.

The no-nonsense approach SARAH WEBB has taken to running the Britannia pub in Townwall Street has earned her many admirers, as well as a reputation in some quarters as "The Bitch". The businesswoman is now expanding her empire to the Sir John Falstaff in Ladywell, another pub that comes with a troublesome reputation that she hopes to turn around. Reporter PHIL REILLY and photographer ANDY JONES met her in the newly refurbished premises to hear how a childhood playing with guns and tanks led her to Dover and a very strange encounter.

PUB GHOST

ONLY two days after taking over her new pub, landlady Sarah Webb came face to face with a ghost.

As she crept around the ancient basement of the Sir John Falstaff in November, acquainting herself with her new premises, she saw a young girl dressed in rags by the entrance to a blocked-off tunnel that once linked the pub to the police cells across the street.

For the feisty landlady, who was nicknamed "The Bitch" during three years behind the bar at the Britannia in Townwall Street, it was a strange but oddly comforting experience.

"This, might sound a little silly but I have a ritual that I kiss every wall in the building when I move in," explained Sarah between puffs on a cigarette on one of the refurbished pub's leather sofas.

"It was about 11pm, there was no one else in the pub and I was in the basement: I suddenly felt really cold, which was horrible at first.

"Then I saw this girl with really short hair dressed in rags by the steps to the tunnel, she just stood there staring at me.

"I wasn't scared, which I know sounds strange, but I actually had a conversation with her.

"I apologised for the previous owners and told her she was going to be safe now and asked her for protection.

"I looked away for a second and when I looked back she was gone."

It was only afterwards that Sarah found out the building was reputed to be haunted by a ghost called Queenie, a 19th-century servant girl who was found dead in the tunnel.

"I was told she was beaten to death," she said. "Someone said it was an escaped prisoner, but who knows what the true story is, it's all folklore now."

It is no surprise that Sarah, 34, was not fazed by a ghost - in fact it is hard to imagine her being fazed by anything.

She learned to stand up for herself during a childhood spent between a Catholic convent school education in Leicestershire and firing guns and playing in tanks with the Territorial Army.

Her grandfather ran the local TA club bar and the soldiers would take Sarah along to the firing range, where at the age of just seven she fired her first bullet.

"I was a soldier when I was a kid. I mean that, they showed me everything," she explains with a glint in her eye and a sip of a cappuccino.

"To me it was just play, but when I wasn't firing guns or playing in tanks the office girls were showing me Morse Code."

She moved to Dover five years ago for her job as a contract manager working with Customs and Excise.

She gave it up in 2003 to realise her dream of running a pub and took over the ailing Britannia.

She has turned the pub's fortunes around and earned a reputation as a hard but fair landlady in the process.

With more than a trace of pride she claimed the pub, which now has a 24-hour licence, has the biggest barred list in Dover and that she and her door-staff have no qualms about ejecting any troublemakers.

"The gay community come in the Britannia but there can be a lot of homophobia.

"One guy was followed into the toilets by two guys who were being abusive towards him.

"He came out and told the doorman and as soon as the two guys came out of the toilet we showed them the door."

Sarah featured in the pages of the Dover Express in December 2005 when she revealed she would be opening a private members' club at the Britannia for pole-dancing but only two revue nights have taken place since then.

Sarah became good friends with several London-based erotic dancers, including her Texas-born deputy manager Cookie, while she was working at Heathrow airport in the late-90s.

She is keen to make a new start at the Sir John Falstaff (she will be living in a flat above it). It has been given a comprehensive makeover and its name will be changed to the Second World War-themed the Finest Hour.

The name change should take place in the coming weeks, with only the design of the pub sign standing in the way.

Customers can expect a comfortable and friendly atmosphere, while anyone who causes trouble can be expect to be swiftly deposited on the pavement outside.

• Sarah was born in Leicester in 1973, where she attended Our Lady's Convent and the Delisle Catholic schools.

• She began work at 18 in security management, moving to Aylesbury aged 23.

• She began working as a contract manager at Heathrow Airport in 1997, and flitted between there and Dover between 1999 and 2001 to work for Customs and Excise.

• Sarah moved to Dover in 2001 and quit her job two years later to take over the Britannia pub.

From an email received from Paul Smith, 14 December 2009.

Futher info on GHOST

My name is Paul Smith and I was the licensee with my wife Sue and shadowed the refurbishment when it was reopened in 2003 till 2006. I converted upstairs to a 36-seater restaurant with its own working kitchen and bar, then had to close it due to excessive rent increases.

May I add Miss Webb's introduction to the little girl ghost.

I had the old cellar hatch moved and the steps that were mentioned are the old cellar steps, not a tunnel entrance as mentioned above.

I had a conversation with her in my restaurant and she asked me if the pub was haunted. I told her all about the wash room next to the men's toilets and a woman in a maids outfit that was spotted by my son. My cleaner also saw a Victorian gentleman in a purple cravat who was spotted in the corner by the bar hatch. They played games with us by hiding keys and remote controls but the items would reappear somewhere else later on. One day my son was ironing a t-shirt in the hall and he later found it in the bathroom sink. Funny but annoying, but they never caused us any harm.

Paul Smith.

From the Dover Mercury, 10 May 2007.

Pub given new lease of life.

A TOWN centre pub which has Stood empty for several months is being re-launched tonight (Thursday) as a pub and members' club, themed on Britain's military history.

The Sir John Falstaff, in Ladywell, is being renamed The "Finest Hour". It will contain First and Second World War memorabilia, and will be a home for the Dover War Memorial Project.

Behind it is Sarah Webb, landlady of The Britannia in Townwall Street, who has teamed up with the project's researchers, Maggie Stephenson-Knight and Simon Chambers.

From the Dover Express 24 May 2007.

Officially open for business: Landlady Sarah Webb speaking at Thursday's pub launch, with Cllr Roger Walkden reflected in the mirror.

Pub's opening is Finest Hour for military buffs.

A PUB opened in Dover last week with a pledge to keep the town's military history alive.

The Sir John Falstaff in Ladywell has been renamed The Finest Hour by new publican Sarah Webb, and was officially opened with a party last Thursday.

The pub will now become home to the increasingly successful Dover War Memorial Project, in which researchers Maggie Stephenson-Knight and Simon Chambers are trying to uncover the stories behind the names on the statue outside Maison Dieu House.

Speaking at the event, Cllr Roger Walkden said: "The work that Maggie and Simon have done over the last few months has been nothing short of amazing and worthwhile to so many people."

The pub will also be home to veterans' groups and will host themed events commemorating military campaigns.

I'm afraid that's about all that ever happened at this pub and I never did see any new signs change to tell of the re-naming.

The pub closed shortly after the above declaration of a new name in May 2007 and I have seen no movement since then.

10th May 2007 the pub was supposed to be renamed the "Finest Hour". To date I have no information regarding when this will happen and the pub is at present closed (20 April 2008) apparently due to structural defects.

Latest I have heard it opened again in early May 2008, a whole year after closing, although I believe the name hasn't changed as promised, and the licensees from the "Wheelwrights Arms" have taken it on, closing that pub due to electrical faults. As one fault miraculously disappears from one pub, another appears in another.