SIR JOHN FALSTAFF Pubs of Dover

DOVER KENT ARCHIVES

PUB LIST

PUBLIC HOUSES

Barry Smith

Sir John Falstaff

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.

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 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.

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.

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 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. Sir John Falstaff Landlady Sarah Webb

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.