SIX BELLS Pub of Northfleet

DOVER KENT ARCHIVES

Sort file:- Northfleet, November, 2025.

Page Updated:- Friday, 07 November, 2025.

PUB LIST

PUBLIC HOUSES

Paul Skelton

Earliest 1710

Six Bells

Open 2025+

26 Old Perry Street

Northfleet

01474 567309

http://www.thesixbells.info/

https://whatpub.com/six-bells

Above photo, 1920, kindly sent by Rory Kehoe.

Above photo, date unknown. Kindly supplied by John Hopperton.

Above postcard a coloured version of the above.

Above photo, date unknown.

Above photo 1987, by Denis Llewellyn.

Above photo, date unknown.

Above photo, date unknown. Kindly supplied by John Hopperton.

Above photo 2010.

Above bar 2010.

Above photo 2010.

Above photo, 2021, by Roger S.

Above photo, 2025.

This was a tied "Fleet Brewery" pub in 1865 when the brewery was put up for auction.

Maidstone Journal and Kentish Advertiser, Saturday 26 June 1858.

Fruit.

In the plantation ground adjoining the "Six Bells Inn."

The auctioneer particularly invites the attention of Market Gardeners and Fruit Growers to the above sale; the Fruit being most promising and abundant; is situated in a locality easy of access and within a short distance of Gravesend and Northfleet Railway Stations.

May be viewed on application to Mr. Upton, "Six bells Inn," where further particulars may be known; and of the Auctioneers, Dartford.

Gravesend Reporter, North Kent and South Essex Advertiser, Saturday 9 August 1873.

A Boy Drowned in a Well.

On Thursday last an inquest was held at the "Six Bells," Perry Street, before T. Hills, Esq., coroner for the County, on the body of Robert Dalton.

Emily Dalton, wife of Henry Dalton, labourer, Northfleet, said the deceased was her son and was 8 years of age. They lived in Esther place and there was a well in the yard, which was in common to all the neighbours. On Monday she and her husband went to work the child going to school. Deceased came out at about 11:30 to light a fire. Between 12 and 1 o'clock at noon she was fetched home, and on arriving there she saw some people who had just got a child out of a well, who she discovered was the deceased. He was quite dead then. She found the fire lighted and the kettle on the fire, and therefore the deceased had no occasion to go to the well. About a week ago the deceased and another boy drew a bucket of water from the well for which they were chastised, and cautioned not to do it again. The kettle that she found on the fire was filled by deceased's elder brother before he went to work.

John Homewood, wheelwright, Northfleet, said at about 12:30 on Monday, he was in his workshop at work when a little boy came crying, and said his brother was down the well. Witness immediately started off for the place and looked down the well. He could not see the deceased but heard his voice, who said "Pull me up." Witness told him to hold onto the bucket, and witness held the handle tight and sent for help. While help was coming, he felt the deceased leave go the bucket, and he never saw or felt any more of deceased till he was got up by means of a hook. When witness first got to the well there were only three or four small boys there, all the people living near being out at work. He could not say how deceased got down the well.

Dr. John E. Crook, of Northfleet, said he was sent for on Monday at about 1 o'clock, and went to see the deceased directly. He found the deceased in such a state that it was difficult to say whether he was alive or dead. Witness used every means to recover him but without success. There were some very slight bruises about him, and he must have died from suffocation from drowning.

The jury returned a verdict in accordance with the doctor's evidence.

Gravesend Reporter, North Kent and South Essex Advertiser, Saturday 17 February 1883.

Northfleet. Charges Withdrawn.

At the Petty Sessions held at Rochester on Tuesday last before T. H. Baker, Esq. in the chair), W. S. masters, Esq. and the rev. R. Whiston, George Gould, landlord of the "Six Bells" public house, Northfleet, was summoned by William Whiffin for striking him on the head with a pint pot on the 3rd February, at defendant's house. Mr. Smith, of Rochester, appeared for the complainant and mr. George Clinch, of Gravesend, for the defendant, but the case was withdrawn, as was a cross-summons taken out by Gould against Whiffin for an assault at the same time and place.

William Whiffin and Charles Whitehill were also summoned by George Gould fro refusing to quit licensed premises, but this charge was also withdrawn.

Chatham News, Friday 21 April 1939.

Alterations to licensed premises.

The Chatham Bench, on Monday, approved of alterations to the "Six Bells," Northfleet.

Local knowledge, further pictures, and licensee information would be appreciated.

I will be adding the historical information when I find or are sent it, but this project is a very big one, and I do not know when or where the information will come from.

All emails are answered.

From the https://www.kentlive.news

The most brutal TripAdvisor comebacks from Kent pub and restaurant managers.

Customers leave some harsh reviews but owners have hit back at their comments and in some cases the responses are ruthless.

TripAdvisor is the first port of call for many of us when deciding where to eat.

Finding out how well rated a restaurant or pub is and what sort of reviews it has can help make up your mind.

Some unhappy customers leave extremely harsh responses - so it's understandable that owners are keen to respond to the criticism and put the record straight.

Many owners take a considered approach, copy and pasting a standard reply, apologising if the service was below par and inviting them to send a proper email across.

Others aren't quite so measured and prefer to fire back from the hip.

Take a look below at some of the stronger responses from Kent venues.

One disgruntled customer slapped the pub with a one star rating after enduring a "total disaster from start to finish."

The general manager was disappointed to hear about the bad experience but set about straightening up the facts.

Watch out for the zinger in the closing line.

Reviewed 9 July 2019. Meopham u3a

Total disaster from start to finish, prebooked for 20+ people, preordered, Nothing prepared for us, no sensible seating arrangement, moved the group 3 times then 2 of our members had to eat alone in another bar, nobody gave a damm, food was poor, waited 40 mins for prepaid coffee - left without it tired of waiting, manager wouldn't speak to us before we left therefore unable to complain in person as he was - RESTING !!!!!

DO NOT GO NEAR THIS PLACE IT IS RUBBISH

SixBellsN, General Manager at The Six Bells, responded to this review.

Responded 26 August 2019.

I'm sorry to hear that your experience at The Six Bells was unsatisfactory but I would like to correct you on a few of the issues stated here. The issue seems to have arisen from a miscommunication between one member of your party and the rest of the group. There was in fact an area set out for you as requested however one member of the party stated she didn't want to sit in that area (the only area big enough to accommodate a big group) so we tried our best to set up a new area last minute. I like to think I can think on the fly however moving brick and mortar are beyond my capabilities.

We also had all pre ordered food prepared for you as promised however we're advised that there would be late comers, again by the same member of your group. We therefore held your orders, all precooked and ready to go for you even though it severely disrupted the service of other paying customers, so that you could all eat together. After waiting I was informed that the group wished to eat without the others and your group never wanted to wait.

After all this had happened we had a backlog of customers and it was unfair to make wait any longer. It was for this reason you may have had to wait to speak to management and the very idea that anyone would use the excuse that the manager was "resting" is almost laughable. I can categorically deny that any member of staff would have told you that.

Members of your group use this venue regularly and would concur there has never been any issue before. I would recommend that for a more pleasurable experience U3A need to look at changing their membership rather then their venues.

From the https://www.kentonline.co.uk By Alex Langridge, 5 November 2025.

Landlord of The Six Bells pub in Northfleet takes action against staff member for neo-Nazi bingo sign.

Pub bosses have been forced to deny they are neo-Nazis after a rogue member of staff hid codes linked to right-wing extremism in a chalkboard sign promoting a bingo event.

Landlord of The Six Bells, in Northfleet, Dan Pike, told KentOnline he was first made aware that an in-house advertisement had been tampered with at 1am yesterday (November 4).

He received an email informing him the sign for its ‘Bingo and Boogie’ event on Saturday (November 8) contained numerical codes used by neo-Nazis and was being shared widely online.

The chalkboard, which had been written by another member of staff, included drawings of three balls with the numbers 88, 18 and 14.

The digits are linked with neo-Nazis, with 88 standing for Heil Hitler, 18 for Adolf Hitler and 14 being the shorthand for a white supremacist slogan, Fourteen Words in reference to slogans originated by the convicted American terrorist David Eden Lane.

Dan was unaware of the connotations and said it did not ring any alarm bells, especially with 88 being the number for the iconic bingo call Two Fat Ladies, so the email caught him off guard.

He added: “My first concern was that we might be targeted in some way, as it was such an extreme thing. I was worried about my staff’s safety.

“They could not have chosen something further from the truth. I do not blame those who are sharing it, as they do not know me or the pub.”

The sign had numbers associated with neo-Nazis.

He explained he immediately rubbed the sign out and spoke to the staff member, who “admitted full responsibility” and now no longer works at the public house in Old Perry Street, near Cygnets Leisure Centre.

Dan, who has run the boozer for 10 years, has also published a statement on social media to reassure his customers he has taken the incident “very seriously”.

It read: “Many of you know me well and know this pub well, and I would not even need to tell you that these are absolutely not viewpoints that I hold.

“Having this tarnish on myself and my business is sickening and was just as bad for my staff.

“A plucky rabble of mothers, teachers and musical theatre performers suddenly being linked to something so damaging and contradictory to their beliefs has been terrifying for us all.

“These types of insidious and threatening messages and viewpoints are not welcome anywhere, let alone in my pub, and unless dealt with quickly, can grow and grow.

One of the most hurtful things about this whole experience was the comments that suggested that we must be what they say we are because of where we are from.

“Some believe Gravesend to be a hotbed of hate, but I cannot see how that is anything but further from the truth. And I think we should all endeavour to prove to them how wrong they are.”

Dan said he also wanted to personally thank people for the support he has received through this from staff, customers and friends and family.

“My business is likely damaged irreparably through this, as seen through a flurry of negative reviews that accumulated whilst dealing with this issue and may well continue long after,” he added.

“There are people who simply just do not know us, who we are, what we represent and probably do not really care; to them I am their enemy, and your support despite that risk is so humbling it literally brings me to tears.

“Finally, I want to apologise. I am certainly no Nazi, but make no mistake, I am fully aware that this happened on my watch, and there is a culpability to that.

“I could have and should have done better. There are times I showed incompetence and times I showed weakness leading up to this happening.

“Lessons have been learned. I will do better.”

It is understood the police have been made aware of the incident who KentOnline have approached for comment.

LICENSEE LIST

UPTON George 1851-58 (age 44 in 1851)