From the http://www.kentonline.co.uk By Gazette reporter, 12 August 2016.

Former Share and Coulter pub becomes ‘fly-tippers’ paradise.’

Concerned council officials are in talks with land owners after a former pub on the outskirts of Herne Bay became a “fly-tippers’ paradise”.

Mounds of rubbish have been left outside the abandoned "Share and Coulter" pub in Owls Hatch Road, including bricks, rubble and even an abandoned van.

Anxious residents fear the building, which was sold by Shepherd Neame last October, could be set alight if it is not blocked off.

The pub was sold licensed last year.

Beltinge resident Matt Lawrence, 36, said: “I drive past the old Share and Coulter most days to work and I have noticed that fly-tipping has become progressively worse over the last few months.

"The pub itself appears to have been broken into and is completely open.

“I fear it will not be long before someone sets light to it. The building should be made secure with steel shutters and the car park cleared and blocked off.”

Mr Lawrence, an engineer surveyor, said the area around the former pub has become a “fly-tippers’ paradise”.

Rubbish at the former Share and Coulter pub.

He added: "I have also noticed children in the vicinity and with an open exposed site like this with broken glass and rubble everywhere, it will not be long before someone gets hurt unless the site is secured.

"The whole area from the car park entrance to further along the road towards Bullockstone Road has become a fly-tippers’ paradise."

"The pub itself appears to have been broken into and is completely open..." - Matt Lawrence.

City council spokesman Celia Glynn-Williams said the authority was aware of the issue.

She said: “We are aware of the fly-tipping at this location and met the owners of the land on site last week to discuss the removal of it.

“It will not be straightforward given the volume and type of rubbish there, but we are working with the landowners to try and get the matter resolved.”

Shepherd Neame spokesman Kat Tye added that the pub was sold licensed last year. She said: “After careful consideration we decided to sell the pub, and the sale was completed in October 2015.

"We are unable to comment on the new owner’s plans for the site.”

From the https://www.kentonline.co.uk By Gazette reporter,  24 March 2017.

Travellers move onto former Share and Coulter pub in Greenhill.

Council bosses have told travellers to move on after they set up camp around an abandoned pub near Herne Bay.

About 10 caravans and motorhomes moved onto the former Share and Coulter site in Greenhill last night.

The pub, which was sold by Shepherd Neame in October 2015, is a fly-tipping hotspot.

Last month, Canterbury City Council spent thousands of pounds clearing mounds of rubbish, bricks and rubble.

They installed blockades to stop people fly-tipping, but they appear to have been removed.

Now leaders at the authority have told the travellers to leave immediately.

"Officers from the council and police visited the Share and Coulter site earlier today," council spokesman Leo Whitlock said.

"They reminded those who are camped on the land that it is subject to an injunction and they must leave immediately to avoid legal action.

"We were given a commitment they would be moving on in the next couple of hours and we will be closely monitoring the situation.

"The council has spent considerable amounts of council taxpayers' money cleaning up this site and we hope it will be left in suitable condition."

Artie Lockhart is the owner of neighbouring Prospect Farm.

"I heard a bit of a kerfuffle there last night and obviously all these caravans turned up overnight," he said.

"They are not allowed to be there and there are signs from Canterbury City Council warning against anyone going onto the site.

"And yet if I tried to move so much as a wheelbarrow down there, they'd be on to me. The police really should be down here right now sorting this out."

Police spokesman Steve Knight said: "We were made aware of the presence of travellers on land off Owls Hatch Road, Herne Bay, this morning.

"No criminal offences have been reported and the landowner is aware."

From the https://www.kentonline.co.uk By Jack Dyson, 2 April 2018.

Share and Coulter pub in Owls Hatch Road, Herne Bay, subject of 'hundreds' of complaints.

Mystery continues to surround the future of a derelict pub as a councillor revealed he had been “overwhelmed” with complaints about it.

The Share and Coulter in Owls Hatch Road has remained empty since it was snapped up by an unknown bidder for £265,000 at an auction in September 2015.

Since then, it has been targeted by fly-tippers and thieves and the city council has spent thousands of pounds removing rubbish dumped outside.

Share and Coulter pub. Picture: Andy Jones.

Last month scaffolding was erected and sheets were draped over the former pub's roof in order to prevent leaks and to ready the listed building for work.

Rickie Hamilton, the director of AL Scaffolding, said: “I believe work’s being done on the timber joists at the moment and then it’ll be re-roofed.

“All of the ceiling, plasterboards and cosmetics inside are damaged, but, in terms of the infrastructure, it’s all pretty solid.

“I think the owner’s main concern is covering the roof and making it all watertight – it’d be silly to do anything but clear up inside beforehand because it’d just get damaged.”

Share and Coulter, Owls Hatch Road, Herne Bay. Picture: Gary Browne.

Mr Hamilton, 35, added that “a few of the tiles were stolen” from the roof and that the building may have been broken into because shutters have been placed on windows across the property.

He understands that the owner originally intended to convert the Share and Coulter into a nursing home but is now contemplating moving his family into it.

“I don’t think he really knows what to do with it,” Mr Hamilton continued.

“I think he saw the land, its potential and the price but hadn’t really planned what he’d do with it all.”

Greenhill Cllr David Hirst (Ind) says he has been inundated with “hundreds” of complaints at his ward surgeries from people wanting the Share and Coulter to be “returned to a respectable condition”.

“I think it's going to sit like that for a long, long time unless the council takes some enforcement action, and it doesn't like going down that avenue,” he said.

“It is quite a good site for an old people's home so perhaps the owner will come back to that idea.”

Before it was sold by Shepherd Neame in September 2015, the pub was being run by Trevor and Claire Robinson.

Former landlord Trevor Robinson. Picture: Gary Browne.

They tried to work with the new owner to reopen it and continued to live in it, but had trouble with flooding and a subsequent rat infestation.

Mr Robinson returned to the pub in April 2016, five months after moving out, to salvage some of his possessions and was “absolutely horrified” with how it looked.

“You can stand on the ground floor and look all the way up to the roof rafters,” he said.

“The ceiling had gone, the floors had all been ripped up, and every bit of copper and stainless steel had gone from the building.”