MILLARS COTTAGE Pub of Gravesend

DOVER KENT ARCHIVES

Sort file:- Gravesend, October, 2022.

Page Updated:- Saturday, 08 October, 2022.

PUB LIST

PUBLIC HOUSES

Paul Skelton

Earliest 1842

Millers Cottage

Closed Nov 2018

31 Shrubbery Road

Gravesend

https://whatpub.com/millers-cottage

Above postcard dated 1931.

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

Above left, 1995, sign right, 2013.

With thanks from Brian Curtis www.innsignsociety.com.

Above photo, 2016.

The "Millers Cottage" dates back to the reign of William III (1688-1702). Built in 1695 the original building has since undergone many changes and transformations but still manages to retain much of its original charm and character.

The premises were still grinding wheat to serve its original purpose until the last Miller to occupy the cottage, one Michael Slaughter Woolett, left in 1842. It is at this time that the premises first became a public house and was registered officially as The "Millers Cottage." The Millers has been licensed to sell beers, wines, and later spirits, ever since.

From The Mercury (Hobart, Tasmania) Wed. 15th Feb 1939.

TAVERN GHOST STORY. LICENSEE HAS NO FEAR.

Mr. Jack Edmeades, a Kent footballer, recently became licensee of the Miller's Cottage, an ancient tavern standing on Windmill Hill, Gravesend, England.

Many people do not envy him, for the Miller's Cottage has the reputation of being haunted. But Mr. Edmeades and his young wife are not in the least perturbed.

Centuries ago the Miller's Cottage was the home of the miller who worked in the neighbouring windmill. History has it that he met an untimely death in the mill, and that since it was pulled down years ago his ghost stalks the Miller's Cottage.

Previous licensees say that strange noises have been heard in the building at dead of night, but investigation has failed to elucidate the mystery.

NOOKS AND CRANNIES.

Councillor H. A. Hodge, a former mayor of Gravesend, says that when he slept in the front bedroom he frequently heard a noise similar to water dripping on the floor.

"Drip-drip-drip, it went on monotonously," he told an "Evening Standard " correspondent. "When I turned the light on it stopped. Although I do not believe in 'spooks' it was certainly strange."

The Miller's Cottage contains numerous nooks and crannies, and one room has seven doors leading to it. The miller's ancient grindstone is used as a doorstop.

Mr. Edmeades' customers are already telling him, not without some exaggeration, of the weird happenings that have taken place in the Miller's Cottage.

Happily Mr. Edmeades is far from being a nervous man.

From the https://www.newsshopper.co.uk 15th November 2009.

Pub girls bare all for good cause.

Girls at the Millers Cottage in Gravesend have stripped off for a calendar to raise money for EllenorLions Hospices.

Pub girls have bared all for a nude calendar to raise money for EllenorLions Hospices. They spoke to reporter DAVID MILLS about stripping off for a good cause.

REGULARS at the Millers Cottage in Gravesend are in for a treat.

Inspired by the 2003 film Calendar Girls, the 11 girls each have their own month where they appear naked, but not all of them were so keen at first.

Landlady Glynis Kean said: “When I approached the staff about doing a Calendar Girls’ style 2010 calendar I got a mixed reaction of ‘Oh yes that will be great!’ to ‘Oh no I don’t think I could do that!’

“The less enthusiastic got over their fears once I assured them it would be tastefully done and their pride would be intact.

Staff at the pub are no strangers to fundraising.

Two years ago landlord Bob Savage was blindfolded and soaked with buckets of beans and last year Glynis’s “extremely hairy” son Ross did a sponsored wax.

Each month of the calendar has been sponsored by a different company raising a total of £1,200.

Previous fundraising events along with calendar sales so far have raised more than £4,500.

Glynis, 55, said: “This year the pressure was on myself. I was racking my brains as to what to do.

“Customers were saying I should do a bungee jump but I’m not the sort of person to do that.

“The calendar idea is a little bit saucy and risque but it’s been done for the right reasons.”

Calendars cost £5 each and can be bought by calling the pub on 01474 358354 or by dropping in.

MISS FEBRUARY

Breast cancer survivor Vivienne Mew, aged 41, is Miss February.

The mother-of-one, of Windmill Hill, Gravesend, spent three-and-a-half-years fighting her illness and went through several rounds of chemo and radiotherapy.

Viv, who now hopes to relaunch her career as a beauty therapist, has had a mastectomy and a reconstruction bringing muscle from her back round to her front.

She said of the cause she was raising money for: “It’s a matter close to my heart.

“Not everyone is as fortunate as me to come through the other side of it and still be there. I thank God every day.

“Doing this calendar has helped me get my confidence back.”

MISS NOVEMBER

Chef Lorna Clarke, who is Miss November, was only too happy to get her kit off for the camera.

The 44-year-old, of Rochester Road, Gravesend, volunteers one morning a week at EllenorLions doing mini manicures.

The charity provides care for people with life-threatening illnesses.

Mother-of-one Lorna said: “Something as simple as having their nails painted makes people in the hospice feel so much better.

“The care they receive from the volunteers there is really beneficial to them.

“If we can do anything to help even if it pays someone’s wages for a day, then that gives people the care and dignity they want.”

From the https://www.kentonline.co.uk By Chris Price, 16 May 2016.

The Millers Cottage in Gravesend put on the market.

The Millers Cottage, a two storey pub on Windmill Hill in Gravesend, has been put on the market.

The drinking hole, much-loved for its beer garden, has been under its present ownership for 11 years.

The leasehold for the building is up for sale for £42,000, with an annual rent of £24,312.

Its main bar is able to serve 50 covers, with three-bedroom management accommodation and parking for six cars.

“This is a lovely looking pub with a great feel,” said James Hughes of Christie & Co’s in Maidstone, which is handling the sale.

“The Gravesend pub market continues to be strong due to being in the London commuter zone.

“Leasehold properties like The Millers Cottage are in high demand due to the proximity of Ebbsfleet International station and also the building of Paramount Park which brings in a number of tourists from both the UK and abroad.”

Unfortunately closed in November 2018, while a new lessee is being sought, so hopefully soon to reopen again.

Latest news sent from Jason Kemsley suggests it's being converted into a residential property. So that's another one lost to use all.