DOVER KENT ARCHIVES

Sort file:- Rochester, June, 2024.

Page Updated:- Monday, 17 June, 2024.

PUB LIST PUBLIC HOUSES Paul Skelton

Earliest 1860-

Vinyard

Closed 2002

35 Maidstone Road / Sevenoaks VineyardKelly's 1903

Rochester

Vineyard 1903

Above photo, March 1903 showing the original building. The current one is located on the corner to the left of the picture.

Vineyard 1911

Above postcard, circa 1911, kindly sent by Rory Kehoe.

Vineyard 1937

Above photo 1937.

Vineyard

Photos taken on 19 February, 2009 from http://www.flickr.com by Dave Dunmall.

Vineyard 2014

Above photo 2014.

Vineyard 2022

Above Google image, October 2022.

 

I am informed by local Leonard Dorman that around about 1956 Leonard Blanchflower was still the licensee and had the nick-name "Thanking You" as every time a transaction was made across the counter he would say "Thanking You."

Now closed and turned into a Chinese Restaurant. In December 2002 Marco Schiroli was fatally stabbed just outside the pub.

 

South Eastern Gazette, 4 September, 1860.

Renewal of Licenses.

A few of the licensed victuallers were cautioned by the Mayor as to the manner in which they had conducted their houses, and informed that unless better conduct was kept, their licenses would in all probability be forfeited.

The court proceeded to hear applications for new licenses to sell spirits. Mr. T. Hills applied on behalf of Mr. T. Harman, of the "Vineyard" beerhouse, Maidstone-road, which was granted.

 

From www.Kentonline.co.uk Wednesday, 4 February, 2004. By Ann price

New Year's Eve killer gets life.

Paul VineA FORMER Kent doorman, 37-year-old Paul Brown, is today starting a life sentence after being convicted of murder.

A deafening shout of “Yea” went up as a jury of seven men and five women reached their unanimous verdict at Maidstone Crown Court.

Marco Schiroli died from a single stab wound to the chest inflicted by Brown on New Year's Eve, 2002.

Brown, who claimed he never saw the need to carry any kind of weapon, plunged a knife into Mr Schiroli's heart and into his back during a brief but violent struggle outside the Vineyard wine bar in Rochester.

Marco SchiroliAt the time of his death, Mr Schiroli was 29 years old and lived with his mother in Rochester. Though unemployed, he was training as a fork lift driver.

Sentencing Brown, Judge Andrew Patience, QC, told him: “You have been found guilty by a unanimous verdict of the jury of the wilful murder of Marco Schiroli and it is a verdict with which, if I may say so respectfully, I entirely agree.

“It is quite clear that you left the Vineyard public house deliberately set upon confrontation.”

The judge said it was not clear when he had acquired the knife but he had used it deliberately, with two clean, swift stab wounds, as a result of which Mr Schiroli lost his life, causing misery to his family that would probably last forever.

The judge added: “You are a dangerous man. The public deserve long protection from you.”

Earlier Judge Patience made reference to a letter he had seen, written by the mother of the victim. He said: “It is a moving and very sad letter. This is a lady who had lost her husband some years ago, who is now devastated by the loss of her son.”

During the trial, the jury heard how Paul Brown and his friends fled in a Jaguar as Mr Schiroli lay dying in the street. The paths of the two men had crossed before, as prosecutor Stephen Hockman, QC, told the court.

But it might be thought that Mr Schiroli did nothing to provoke or justify what Brown did that night. “He was a young man who enjoyed a drink and who from time to time smoked cannabis,” said Mr Hockman.

“It is accepted that during the course of the day he had had a certain amount to drink and indeed from analysis after his death, he was somewhat inebriated.

“However, and you may think that important, there is no evidence that he behaved aggressively or unpleasantly towards anybody.”

Brown, who on that day had been moving from his flat in New Road, Chatham, to a new address in John Street, Rochester, had worked as a bouncer at some licensed premises both in the Rochester area and in Maidstone.

“It would seem that it was in that capacity that Brown came across his victim, but it is not clear whether they knew one another by name,” said Mr Hockman.

“What is clear, however, is that Brown knew Mr Schiroli by sight, because he had dealings with him previously, on at least two occasions.

“He regarded Mr Schiroli as someone who, at the very least, was in his eyes prone to misbehaviour - whether Mr Schiroli had in truth done anything whatsoever to justify that does not matter.

“You may think it is a reasonable inference that Brown took the view Mr Schiroli needed to be shown the error of his ways, or to be taught a lesson of some kind.”

On any view, Brown had a knife on New Year's Eve 2002, and he used it to inflict the most terrible lesson upon his victim.

Mr Schiroli, as the court heard, had spent that evening with a friend, Dean Mills, and they had visited several pubs in Rochester before approaching the vicinity of the Vineyard.

As they walked past, Mr Mills tapped on the window of the Vineyard - where Brown and two associates were having a drink - and within moments the three men rushed into the street.

As Mr Mills told the jury in his evidence: “As I got closer to the window I tapped on it twice, reasonably hard.

“Marco said: ‘What did you do that for?' I said I was mucking about.”

But as the two friends continued on their way up Maidstone Road, the door of the Vineyard opened suddenly and three males rushed out.

“I turned to Marco and said, ‘Oh, here we go'. I thought it was a confrontation situation.”

Mr Mills was himself knocked to the ground and could not see clearly what happened to Marco.

“The next thing I knew about Marco was when I heard someone say ‘run'. I saw feet running on the opposite side of the cars and that's when I found my feet and went to Marco to see what had happened to him. I found Marco there, dying.”

By this time none of the three men were still at the scene. They had disappeared in a Jaguar saloon. Brown eventually fled to Spain and was arrested six months later.

 

From http://news.bbc.co.uk 4 February, 2004

Club bouncer jailed for stabbing.

Paul Brown was arrested in Spain after police travelled to the country.

A former bouncer has been jailed for life for the murder of a man outside a pub on New Year's Eve 2002.

Marco Schiroli died from a single stab wound to the chest after being attacked by Paul Melvin John Brown.

Maidstone Crown Court heard Brown stabbed Mr Schiroli in the heart during a struggle outside the Vineyard pub in Rochester.

Brown, 37, had been arrested in Spain after officers from the Kent force travelled to the Costa Del Sol.

'My rock'

Judge Andrew Patience QC told Brown: "It is quite clear that you left the Vineyard public house deliberately set upon confrontation."

A statement by Mr Schiroli's mother, Pam Schiroli, read outside court said: "To me, Marco was a good son.

"He was caring and considerate and was always trying to make my life that little bit easier. I have lost my son - my rock.

Marco Schiroli died outside the Vineyard pub in Rochester.

"The events of that evening have ruined many lives, not just my own.

"My hopes and dreams for Marco died with him that night along with his hopes for a family of his own and a brighter future."

Mr Schiroli, from Copperfield Road, Rochester, was 29 when he died in the confrontation with Brown, who had pleaded not guilty to murder.

A spokeswoman for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said new technology had allowed an important witness to give evidence live from Hong Kong.

She said it was the first time a television live-link had been used in this way by the CPS in Kent.

 

LICENSEE LIST

HERBERT John Molloy 1862-91+

JOLLEY John 1891+ (age 51 in 1891Census)

JOLLEY Sarah Mrs 1903+ Kelly's 1903

HANNAH W 1911

SIMMONS Sarah 1911-22+

FERGUSON Stewart 1930+

BRANCHFLOWER Sidney W 1938-56+

LEBRETON Laurie & Smiler ???? Next pub licensee had

BOWDITCH Vincent & Pam 1965-75 (dec'd 1977)

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

http://www.closedpubs.co.uk/vineyard.html

 

Kelly's 1903From the Kelly's Directory 1903

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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