DOVER KENT ARCHIVES

Page Updated:- Thursday, 02 September, 2021.

PUB LIST PUBLIC HOUSES Paul Skelton

Earliest 1740

Who'd A Thought It

Open 2020+

Headcorn Road

Grafty Green

1622 858951

http://www.whodathoughtit.com/

https://whatpub.com/whod-a-thought-it

Who'd A Thought It

Above postcard, date unknown.

Who'd a thought It

Above photo, date unknown, by kind permission of Eric Hartland.

Who'd a Thought It 1952

Above photo, circa 1952, kindly sent by Rory Kehoe.

Who'd a Thought It 2014

Above photo, August 20144, kindly sent by Eric Hartland.

Who's A Thought It

Above photo date unknown, from http://www.pubsandbeer.co.uk

Who'd a thought It signWho'd A Thought It sign 2013

Above sign left, date unknown, sign right, 2013.

 

Originally a thatched house built in about 1545, this gained it's license to sell beer in 1740.

One time a Mason's tied house, but the brewery was bought out by Shepherd Neame in 1956 and the brewery was subsequently closed and the brewery demolished.

As the information is found or sent to me, including photographs, it will be shown here.

Thanks for your co-operation.

 

The Courier, 10 March, 1905.

The Who'd A Thought It, Boughton Malherbe.

Mr. Brennan also appeared for the tenant of the above house, situated at Grafty Green, Boughton Malherbe.

The police objected on the grounds that the house was not required. The population was 380, and there were three houses in the neighbourhood.

Mr. Brennan elicited the fact that the population of the whole of the Bearsted division was 19,000, and that there were only 17 cases of drunkenness last year, 5 of which were residential.

The decisions.

After a retirement of nearly three quarters of an hour, the Chairman announced the Magistrates decisions as follows:- The "Who'd A Thought It," Grafty Green, referred to quarter sessions.

 

From the https://www.kentonline.co.uk By Rebecca Tuffin, 29 October 2019.

Giant floral Shorn the sheep once stood in Maidstone town centre and now lives at Who'd A Thought It hotel.

Ever wondered what happened to the giant sheep which used to loom over shoppers in Maidstone High Street?

Originally commissioned by the borough council in the mid 1990s as the centrepiece for a flower festival, the 18-foot model became the Marmite of Maidstone.

Shorn the Sheep

Shorn the sheep was the Marmite of Maidstone.

The wire and plaster model adorned with 2,600 flowers, was known as Shorn and first stood in the centre of Jubilee Square.

It remained there on and off for five years, causing quite the stir with local people, who were continuously arguing over whether it was good or bad to have the county town represented by a sheep.

Shaun the Sheep in Jumilee Square

After the council decided not to pay for it any more, Shorn was bought by Grafty Green Garden Centre.

However, many fought for its return.

So the garden centre agreed to loan the animal structure to the town centre management initiative for four months a year, when it stood outside Chequers Bus Station.

Shorn the Sheep

Shorn when he arrived in Maidstone town centre in 2002. He is pictured with then Town Centre Manager Paul Alcock, who passed away last year. Picture: John Wardley.

This went on for at least 10 years until the contract ended and Shorn returned to his Grafty Green home.

Shaun the Sheep 2005

Above photo 2005.

When the garden centre closed in 2015, the owners were planning to scrap the sheep, but one couple swooped in to save the day.

Owner of boutique hotel Who'd A Thought It, Joe Mallett and his partner Alex Baldwin bought Shorn for the price of two charity meals at their on-site restaurant.

Mr Mallett said: "It was just sitting there left to rot away and I thought we might as well have it.

I bought it for just two charity meals but I had to transport it myself. I rented one of those machines you use to lift hay bails and stuck it under its belly but its head fell off.

"But then I found out I could lift the body off the legs, so we took it apart and put it on the truck like that."

Shorn the Sheep

Alex Baldwin, left, and her friend, Clare Robertson.

Once Shorn arrived at the hotel, also in Grafty Green, Mr Mallett considered whether to carry on the tradition of covering the sheep in flowers each summer.

The 54-year-old said: "I thought it would be a labour of love to plant it with flowers every year so instead we covered it with artificial purple grass and a gold stainless steel sign saying #Who'dAThoughtIt."

Shorn now stands in the front garden welcoming guests and has even appeared on an episode of Celebrity Hunted.

Miss Baldwin, 37, said: "It was the episode with Steph and Dom from Gogglebox. They're good friends of ours and came here to hide for a night."

The pair also ran a competition for the best picture with the giant woolly creature.

Mr Mallett, who has run the hotel for 33 years, added: "We had people climbing up almost naked with tape covering them up and another guy with full armour. The winner won a night in our hot tub room."

Well, there you go, who'd a thought Shorn would end up at Who'd A Thought It?

 

LICENSEE LIST

GRANSBURY John 1901+ (age 67 in 1901Census)

MALLETT Joe 1986-2019+

 

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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