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High Street
St. Margaret's at Cliffe
01304 853404
http://www.thesmugglers-inn.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/smugglers.inn.77
https://whatpub.com/smugglers
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All photos above by Paul Skelton 10 November 2007.
The garden of the Smugglers used to be where the skittles was played.
Unfortunately no sign of the alley any longer. |
I (Paul Skelton) can remember playing Skittles on this alley quite a few times
when the pub was called the "Carriers Arms",
and it always looked as if the alley was running up hill. I also believe I drank
one of the last pints of Fremlins Tusker at this pub, although brewed by
Whitbred at the time, it did taste very distinctive. I would also like to add
that the team I was playing skittles for at the time recorded a record loss in
the 1980's of being beaten by 98 skittles. I hasten to add our main team,
including myself, were on holiday at the time and half the team reserves and
friends kindly stepped
into our shoes, so I wasn't playing that fateful match.
This is little about the history of the Smugglers Public House written by the
author their Web Site, who lived opposite the Pub for 35 years in another house
associated with the art of Smuggling.
The village of St. Margaret's-at-Cliffe Nr Dover, Kent is oozing with history,
both back to the Norman days, where less than50 yards, from the Smugglers,
stands one of the best examples of Norman churches, dating back to the year
1000AD. In addition to the Norman and Saxon links to St. Margaret's-at-Cliffe,
the village was a centre of operations in the dark days of smuggling. In those
days, circa 1700-1800AD, it involved huge quantities of illicit booze, mainly
rum being smuggled, with St. Margaret's-at-Cliffe being at the centre for
importation and distribution. Because of the village ties and, indeed this
property, the Pub was renamed from it's previously known name of the Carriers
Arms, to what it is known today, The Smugglers.
The Carriers Arms, as it was known before the Smugglers, had the typical two
drinking areas, as most of the pre 1980's Public Houses did. As you enter the
Smugglers, on the right was, the Private Bar. This was small and reserved for
the 'Upper Class'. Although this area is now part of the main bar area, it can
still be seen where the original dividing walls and entrance door were.
Carrying straight on, as you enter, another door allowed you access to the main
Public Area bar, where the likes of most of the villagers, used to socialize and
enjoy a pint.
Recent internal refurbishment over the past years, have seen several additional
features added to the Smugglers.
Centre of the bar serving area, the traditional square or rectangular shaped bar
was replaced with an oval bar, which is constructed in the shape of a 'large
beer barrel'.
The restaurant, area itself, has been added by the present owners, which is
light, airy and comfortable, in which to enjoy a relaxing meal from the
extensive menu.
The garden area used to be the home to a skittles ally. The Smugglers skittle
team, along with their dart teams, used to be a team to be reckoned with in
years past, before they were disbanded. A selection of memorabilia photos and
trophies are still displayed just outside of the restaurant area.
The garden has now been turned into partially the restaurant and also an outside
seating area, where meals can also be served. The garden area can be covered if
the weather turns cooler or inclement and can of course be the venue for
weddings or other functions.
The Smugglers at St. Margaret's-at-Cliffe has recently applied and obtained a
licence to enable weddings or civil ceremonies to be held on our premises.
Above information kindly reproduced from their web site at the following
location:-
http://www.thesmugglers-inn.co.uk
I am informed that May 2014 the pub was for sale with a freehold of £825,000.
December 2015 the for sale sign has been removed.
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From the
http://www.dover-express.co.uk By Phil Hayes. 13 August, 2015.
Smugglers Inn fire:
Crews fight flames in St Margaret's pub kitchen.
FIRE crews spent two hours battling a kitchen blaze at a pub in St
Margaret's last night.
The firefighters were called to the "Smugglers Inn" in High Street at 11pm
on Wednesday, August 12.
The crews used breathing apparatus, two hose reel jets, the fog spike
and a thermal imaging camera to douse the fire in the first floor.
They left the scene at 1.11am this morning (Thursday, August 13).
The cause is not known at this stage.
There are no reported injuries and the extent of the damage is not
currently known.
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From the Dover Mercury, 20 August, 2015.
Pub kitchen back open after fire.
The "Smugglers" in St Margaret’s will begin serving food again on Friday,
August 28
following the kitchen’s closure due to a fire. The kitchen was forced to close for refurbishment after a blaze last week. Firefighters were called to the establishment in the High Street at
11.30pm on
Wednesday, August 12 after staff who were locking up discovered the fire. Owner Peter Killin said: “There were staff here who were just locking up
when they
noticed the smell. “They called the fire service straight away.” Three appliances attended. Crew manager Adrian Hawkins said: “It was a fire in the ventilation
ducting in the kitchen. There was a build-up of fat and it caught alight. We sent our breathing
apparatus crew in
there to put it out.” The firefighters left the scene around 1pm. Mr Killin added: “It was quite minor but the smoke got everywhere. “Every one of the firefighters gave immaculate service. “They were very quick to respond and were very helpful. “I take my hat off to them.” The pub’s bar was not affected by the fire, and remained open throughout
the period the
kitchen was closed. |
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From the Dover Express, 29 April 2021. By Harry Higginson.
'We just can't afford to open'
KENT pubs have been in the spotlight following the easing of national
lockdown restrictions.
The public have raced back to their local boozer for a pint in the sun,
with pub gardens now allowed to re-open.
Luckily the weather has held over the last two weeks, and headlines have
abounded about people queuing up for midnight pints and braving chilly
conditions for a chance to relax with their friends.
In the midst of all of this, you could be forgiven for forgetting that
not all pubs have actually been able to reopen - even those which do in
fact have beer gardens.
One such pub is The Smugglers Inn, in St Margaret’s, just a few miles
from Dover.
The Smugglers Inn pub garden and, right, Peter Killin.
Peter Killin and his wife have struggled to justify re-opening in April
after having spent fully six months of the last year closed.
He said: "We had seventeen weeks
where we were able to trade before the second lockdown, and there were
obviously restrictions... however, the trading was good and we managed
to get in to a very good position as a result of that.
"When it came to the second lock-down, which we could see coming really,
we’ve now been shut for
nearly six months, and it's just gone on, and on, and on.
"The problem for us re-opening our pub garden is that it isn't overly
large, customers have to pass through the pub to get to the garden, and
quite frankly it would just be throwing good money after bad.
"From our point of view as an independent pub, we just can’t afford to
lose anything.
"We’ve been lucky for the pubs that have opened that we’ve not seen
rain, but if the winds change and it rains or gets too cold at night,
you're finished.”
For pubs like Peter’s, to remain was a difficult choice - one that
getting wrong could risk the future of the business itself. But in his
words: "It just was not viable." Though chain-backed pubs, such as those owned by Shepherd Neame, are more able to
incur some losses to get open again, that simply isn’t the case for
independent outlets like The Smugglers Inn.
Even with the prospect of being able to re-open on May 17, when indoor
dining is slowly reintroduced, there is still huge financial risk at
play. Some pubs may not have the capital to get their businesses open again.
"There was supposed to be a restart grant from Dover council,” Peter
said, “But we still haven't seen it. We were supposed to have it by
April - it’s now the 23rd, and we just haven’t seen it.”
The Smugglers Inn could have taken a grant payment over the summer from
the government, but chose not to as it was doing well, but has since
been left adrift as the unpredictable landscape of a Covid-stricken UK
shifted.
Even now that it looks like we are finally moving out of the cycle of
lockdowns and re-openings, there are still huge hurdles to clear.
Peter said: "We need finance to reopen - it will cost around £10,000 to
15,000 just to restock, because every bit of stock we’ve got is now out
of date.’’
Amidst all the springtime pints with friends we'll no doubt enjoy over
the coming weeks, it is incredibly important to remember just how fine a
knife-edge this industry exists on, and that re-opening doesn’t mean
that all is well just yet. |
LICENSEE LIST
KILLIN Peter 1996-2021+
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