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The following information has been taken from
http://www.cliffehistory.co.uk/pubs.html As can be seen from the records the "Nine
Elms Old Factory Canal Tavern Beer House" and the "Masons
Arms" this establishment was located on a nearby site. Interestingly
the "Canal Tavern" was also given the nickname, ‘The Shant', the same as
the "Masons Arms"
had previously. The first records show that it was owned by a Mr. Alfred
Brown, who also was licensee of the "Black
Bull" in the centre of Cliffe village and the licensee being one Mr.
George Brown. Mr. Alfred Brown's stepson, Frederick Goord, took over
from George Brown from 1880 until 1887. The "Canal Tavern" was not
only a beer house but stocked a variety of provisions to supply its
clientele from Cliffe Fort, the cement & whitening factories and the
many ships that were moored in and along Cliffe Creek and Thames. In
April of 1881 alone there were over eighty ships moored close by giving
the tavern a good chance of trade. By 1891 the licensee was a Mr.
Henry Tomlin who lived there with his wife Mary and their three
children: Lillian, Mabel and James (James being the only one to be born
at Cliffe). His stay appears to be short lived as by 1894 he was
residing in Chatham and working at another beer house. In 1863, on the
3rd September, a son was born to William Thorndike and Emma Mayhew at
the Johnson's Whiting Works cottages: which in later years became known
as Flint Cottages or Granny Callers alongside the Canal Tavern when the
licensee was Isaac Thompson. The boy in question was one William John
Thorndike who was to become, in later years, the licensee of various
public houses including the "Canal Tavern," the "White
Horse" in Upper Stoke and the "Six
Bells." It was in 1894 that the "Canal Tavern," now licensed by Mr.
John Thorndike, obtained a full licence enabling it to sell all
intoxicating liqueurs. John Thorndike went onto running the "Six
Bells" public house in the village by 1901 where he stayed until his
untimely death a few years later. In 1901 the "Canal Tavern's"
licensee was a Mr. John George Jennings who ran the beer house together
with his wife Emily. They too lived there with their three children and
Albert, their eldest child, was later to go on to work in the bar trade
with his father at the "Cricketers Inn" in Orrington a few years later.
It was on 10 December 1902 that 48 year old Mr. George Stephen Else took
over the running of the "Canal Tavern" and stayed to at least 1912
together with his wife Ellen and young son Donald. George and Ellen once
lived at 2, Nine Elms Factory Cottage when George worked as an engine
fitter. |
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