DOVER KENT ARCHIVES

Sort file:- Gravesend, August, 2021.

Page Updated:- Tuesday, 03 August, 2021.

PUB LIST PUBLIC HOUSES Paul Skelton

Earliest 1837

Terrace Tavern

Latest Aug 2010

46 The Terrace

Gravesend

Terrace Tavern

Above photo, date unknown, kindly sent by Debi Birkin.

Terrace Tavern

Above photo showing the pub in August 2008.

Terrace Tavern 2012

Photos taken on 17 May, 2012 from http://www.flickr.com by emdjt24.

 

Burials St Peter & St Paul, Milton next Gravesend. 1846-1864.

12 Dec 1851 Ann Gardner, Terrace Hotel, Milton aged 51.

12 Feb 1863 Thomas Gardner, The Terrace Hotel aged 32.

8 Dec 1864 James Gardner, Terrace Hotel aged 67.

 

Kentish Gazette, 11 February 1851.

Margate. Accident on the River.

A melancholy casualty, which appears to have befallen two young men, the one Jamie Gardner a river pilot, son of Mr. Gardner, of the "Terrace Pier Hotel," Gravesend the other, a young man, name Sweetman, is more than matter of conjecture.

It appears that a capsized boat, painted "Countess of Darnley," and a sou' wester marked "James Gardner," were picked up in the Princes Channel, near this port. The master of a brig states that on Thursday, he was boarded by two men answering the description of the missing individuals, and that shortly after they left his vessel, a squall accompanied by heavy rain came on. The master of the lugger, who picked up the boat, reports it's finding at half-past eleven, or about an hour after it's leaving the brig. The boat is stated to have been unfit to encounter such broken water as is ordinarily found below the Lower Hope, and the loss of the unfortunate adventurers is but too painfully believed by their bereaved parents, who have offered rewards for the recovery of the bodies.

 

Maidstone Journal and Kentish Advertiser, Monday 27 August 1866.

Public House Case.

Mr. William Williams, landlord of the "Terrace Hotel" was summoned by Police-constable Harris, charged with the allowing his house to be open on the morning of Sunday, 13th inst., during the hours of Divine service. Mr. E. Wates appeared for the defendant, and admitted the case, but urged that the persons served were passengers arriving in the Alexandra. The Bench ordered the defendant to pay a fine of 1s., and 6s. 6d. costs.

 

Maidstone Journal and Kentish Advertiser, Monday 8 January 1872.

William Hooper, a seaman, was charged with being drunk and using obscene and disgusting language, at the "Terrace Hotel." Mr. William George Hooper, son of the landlady of the hotel, but not related to prisoner, deposed that on Wednesday afternoon, between 2 and 3 o'clock, prisoner came into the house and said he wanted a pint of half and half for Mrs. Winn, a neighbour; in consequences of his being drunk, and previously begging before the bar, witness refused to serve him, when he commenced abusing witness and his mother, using the most filthy and disgusting language, which was contained when he was ejected from the house, and witness gave him into custody.

Prisoner, who pleaded drunkenness, was fined 5s. and costs, or 7 days.

 

From the www.GravesendReporter.co.uk 4 August 2010.

A 300-YEAR-OLD pub once frequented by legendary entertainer Tommy Steele is to close as the shocking demise of the borough's pub trade continues. The Terrace Tavern, The Terrace, Gravesend, is among almost 30 pubs in the area covered by the Gravesend and Darent Valley Branch of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) to close since 2007.

Recent figures reveal more than 10 per cent of boozers have been axed over a three year period.

Tommy Steele OBE (then Hicks) stumbled across the pub during a brief spell in the Merchant Navy, where he was based at the Gravesend Sea School as a teenager.

Landlady Sharon Taylor, 37, said: "I never came in to this to make money, most people don't these days but I had to say enough was enough. You can't go on losing money. The overheads are just too high. When the bills came in it was quite frankly scary and just too expensive to run.

"My time here has been completely fantastic. I will miss it so much, I came for the lifestyle which I love but I will leave with nothing.

"The pub has such a fascinating history, the regulars talk about the characters that used the pub, even Tommy Steele popped in before he was famous and had a drink and laugh with regulars."

The mother-of-three will quit the Grade II listed pub on September 1, exactly a year after she took over the helm.

Due to the wooden built frame of the pub it costs about £6,000 to heat from November to February, weakly electricity bills of £250, other running costs and decline of the traditional river industry have rendered the pub no longer viable.

Owners Enterprise Inn decided to sell after she announced plans to leave. It is thought the new owner will apply for permission to turn the premises in to a bed and breakfast.

Tommy Steele, 73, was once dubbed Britain's Elvis Presley, and had a series of hits including the Number 1 'Singing the Blues'. The star also appeared in the hit film musical, Half a Sixpence, which was made in Folkestone.

He forged an exemplary West End career and is planning to tour the country again in the lead role of Scrooge next month,

John Meadowcroft, 74, is secretary of the Gravesend Sea School Association and says the actor and singer writes to him after joining the association five years ago.

He said: "I didn't know Tommy at the time as we were a class apart, but certainly some of the Sea School boys would cover their uniforms and pop in for a drink or two.

"The Terrace was a proper rivermens' pub. If you were associated with the river in anyway its likely you would be in there at some stage."

Historian Tony Larkin said the demise of the pub trade in the borough was "devastating".

He said: "It's a crying shame the amount of pub closures. At one time Gravesend had more one pub per every 187 people, now that figure is more like one pub per 1,400 people. Back then it was a completely different social world.

"The ships are where a lot of our entertainers learned their trade. They went off to sea and to keep people entertained they would sing and play music.

"In the '60s a lot of famous faces would have came and played at the Co-op Hall round the corner, you would have a drink before in the Terrace Tavern and move on to the dance halls."

CAMRA figures show there were 279 pubs in north Kent in 1980, a figure which now stands at 205, with 27 pubs shutting their doors since 2007.

Recent closures this year include Market Tavern, formerly the Chase, New Inn, and the Terrace Tavern, Gravesend. The Prince Albert, Northfleet, The Colyer Arms, Southfleet, Windmill, Dartford, and Birchwood in Swanley are also boarded up.

On Sunday August 29 The Terrace Tavern is to hold a special closing down event for anyone associated with the river.

Watermen, tug workers, and rowers past and present are all welcome from 7pm. Please notify staff of your attendance in advance.

 

The pub was closed in 2012. I do not know whether it has reopened.

 

Former Terrace Tavern 2016

Above photo, April 2016, kindly sent by Ian Goodrick, who informs me that it is now operating as a shop on the ground floor with upstairs looking occupied.

 

LICENSEE LIST

GARDNER James 1855-Dec/64 (dec'd age 67)

WILLIAMS William 1866+

HOOPER William George 1872+

HOOPER Elizabeth Mrs 1874+

BROWN Peter Edmund 1878+81+ (age 55 in 1881Census)

JONES Morris 1882+

VECK George Daniel 1883+

PARKER William 1891+

WHIFFEN David Joel 1903+ Kelly's 1903

HOOPER Thomas Albert 1913-22+

HOLLAND William 1930-38+

TAYLOR Sharon 2010-Aug/2010

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

 

Kelly's 1903From the Kelly's Directory 1903

 

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