DOVER KENT ARCHIVES

Page Updated:- Friday, 14 June, 2024.

PUB LIST PUBLIC HOUSES Paul Skelton

Earliest 1787

Imperial Arms

Open 2020+

Chislehurst Hill

Chislehurst

020 3605 7899

https://whatpub.com/imperial-arms

Imperial Arms 1900

Above postcard, circa 1900, kindly sent by Rory Kehoe.

Imperial Arms 2012

Photo taken 3 September 2012 from http://www.flickr.com by Siâni D.

Imperial Arms 2019

Above photo circa 2019.

Imperial Ar,ms regulars 2019

Above photo 2019.

Imperial Arms Bistro room 2024

Above photo taken inside the bistro room 2024.

 

The pub can be traced back to 1787 and has 2 bars. The Library Bar and the Catherine Bar, named after the Mistress of Napoleon III who stayed here when he was exiled to Chislehurst in 1870. The Bistro is housed in the Original Coach House in the grounds of the walled Garden.

 

East London Observer, Saturday 25 January 1879.

A popular divorce case.

A verdict on letters.

In the Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division of the High Court of Justice, on Wednesday, before the right Hon. the President and Common Juries the case of Clements v. Clements and Monk was heard.

Mr. Talfourd Salter Q.C. and Mr. Searle appeared for the petitioner; Dr. Spinks, Q.C., and Mr. Pritchard for the respondent; the co-respondent in person.

The petitioner, an innkeeper, married the respondent at St. Peter's Church, Poplar, in November, 1872. In 1874 he became landlord of the "Imperial Arms Tavern" at Chislehurst, and lived with respondent until the early part of 1878, when he removed to a private house in the hope of weaning her from habits of intemperance which she had contracted. The change was at first beneficial to her, but after a time she relapsed, and the petitioner, who had carefully kept all stimulants from her, broke open her box in the expectation of finding some clue to the means by which she succeeded in gratifying her passion. He failed to find such a clue, but discovered, instead, concealed at the bottom of the box, a bundle of letters addressed to her by the co-respondent, a young sergeant of police, who was stationed at Chislehurst until the autumn of 1876. The letters satisfied him that a guilty intimacy had subsided between her and the co-respondent, and is therefore filed a petition for divorce on the ground of adultery. The respondent and co-respondent filed answers in denial of the charge, but admitted that a clandestine correspondence had passed between them. Their letters, especially those of the co-respondent, who seemed to have great fluency in composition, were of a highly sentimental kind, and those of the latter are abounded in expression of passionate love and prayers, generally "Dieu vous garde," (God bless you) for the respondent's welfare. They also assured her of his fidelity, and that she had no reason to be jealous of a supposed rival, named "A," whom he admitted meeting on a particular occasion, adding, however. "The theme of our conversation was a denunciation of Ritualistic practices in the Church of England," and they likewise pointed to clandestine meetings between him and a the respondent. Both denied on oath that their intimacy had been of a criminal character, but the co-respondent admitted that he had entertained for the respondent of feeling warmer than regard, the feeling arising out of sympathy for her because of alleged harshness on the part of her husband towards her.

The President, in summing up the case to the jury, told them that there was no evidence on which they will be justified in finding the respondent and co-responding guilty of adultery, unless they could draw the inference from the letters which passed between them. The letters showed that the respondent permitted the co-respondent to address her in the warmest terms of passion, and that she returned the passion, but they also contained internal evidence from which a jury would be warranted in coming to the conclusion that, however imprudent and criminal in sense the writers had been, they had not been guilty of the misconduct imputed to then.

The jury, after deliberating for some time, found a verdict in favour of the petitioner, and the Court pronounced a decree nisi.

 

From the https://www.newsshopper.co.uk By Liam McInerney, 18th March 2019.

Tributes and memorial walk for Imperial Arms pub regular Dennis Wills.

Dozens of Chislehurst locals have paid a memorable tribute to one of the most loved personalities in the area.

Dennis Wills, 88, died hours after watching Bromley FC play at Wembley in the FA Trophy final last May.

Most folk in Chislehurst knew Dennis for his simple loves of people, beer, betting and football.

On Saturday friends and family of Dennis, who would have been 89 on St Patrick's Day, held a memorial walk around Chislehurst's various pubs.

His old mates at his favourite boozer, the Imperial Arms Pub, known as The Impy, organised the tribute.

Long-time friend Simon Little, 63, said it was a "great success".

The pair first met in 1970 at The Impy when Simon was just 15 and Dennis, 40, was part of the pub’s famed darts team.

Speaking about his friend, Simon said: "Although diminutive in stature and having lived a tough life, he was a larger than life personality who always had a cheery smile and cheeky remark for everyone."

He was known for being particularly small, and someone who always ordered the same thing, a half pint of bitter.

Dennis used to go around the different pubs in Chislehurst every day to tell anecdotes of days gone by.

A framed photo of Dennis now sits behind the bar of The Imperial Arms.

The weekend walk started with a few friends going to The Chestnut café where Dennis always went for breakfast before visiting Corals to place a bet in his memory.

Everyone then gathered at The Gordon Arms pub before visits to Queens Head, Sydney Arms, Bulls Head, The Crown, Tigers Head, Ramblers, The Bickley and The Imperial Arms.

"The whole event took us about six hours, and we believe that Dennis would thoroughly have enjoyed the day should he have been still with us," Simon, who gave a eulogy at his friend’s funeral, said.

Landlord Alan Weeks told News Shopper he has been in charge for seven years and that Dennis was a daily visitor.

"He would come down the hill about quarter to three with his little baseball hat and trousers that were a little bit short," Alan laughed.

"He would push the door quite hard, look around and see who was in and then sit in his usual place for his half pint."

Alan added: "He was a legend. He was someone everyone knew, and he would go to about four or five pubs every day."

Dennis was believed to have celebrated his 21st birthday at The Impy, with a glass display cabinet getting smashed during the party antics.

Eventually he became passionate about cooking and looked after apprentices for 20 years at the Coed Bel hostel in Lubbock Road.

The Bulls Head pub offered its own tribute to Dennis by displaying a picture tribute.

The walk is now being considered as an annual event.

 

LICENSEE LIST

LUTLEY James 1874

CLEMENTS John 1874-93+

ROYALL Henry H 1901-30+ (age 40 in 1911Census) Kelly's 1903

HEARN G 1938+

WEEKS Alan 2012-19+

https://pubwiki.co.uk/ImperialArms.shtml

 

Kelly's 1903From the Kelly's Directory 1903

CensusCensus

 

If anyone should have any further information, or indeed any pictures or photographs of the above licensed premises, please email:-

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