19
DOVER KENT ARCHIVES

Page Updated:- Saturday, 16 March, 2024.

PUB LIST PUBLIC HOUSES Paul Skelton

Earliest 1916

Daylight Inn

Open 2020+

Station Square

Petts Wood

01689 877402

https://www.thedaylightinn.co.uk/

https://whatpub.com/daylight-inn

Daylight Inn 1923

Above photo, circa 1923, kindly sent by Rory Kehoe.

Daylight Inn 1930

Above postcard 1930.

Daylight Inn 1941

Above photo 1941. Creative Commons Licence.

Daylight Inn 1941

Above photo 1941. Creative Commons Licence.

Daylight 1952

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

Daylight Inn

Above photo date unknown. Creative Commons Licence.

Above postcard, 1950, kindly sent by Rory Kehoe.

Daylight 1953

Above postcard 1953, kindly supplied by Rory Kehoe.

Daylight Inn 1955

Above postcard 1955, kindly supplied by Rory Kehoe.

Daylight 1962

Above postcard, circa 1962, kindly sent by Rory Kehoe.

Daylight 1980

Above postcard, circa 1980, kindly sent by Rory Kehoe.

Daylight Inn ledger

Charrington's ledger. Creative Commons Licence.

Daylight Inn sign 1985

Above sign 1985.

With thanks from Roger Pester www.innsignsociety.com

Daylight Inn sign 1990Daylight Inn sign 1993

Above sign left 1990, sign right 1993.

With thanks from Brian Curtis www.innsignsociety.com.

Daylight Inn 2010

Above photo 2010 by Mike Quinn Creative Commons Licence.

 

From an Email received 28 October 2022.

Daylight Inn, Petts Wood.

It transpires that a chap called William Willett, who was a builder in the Edwardian era, came up with the idea of introducing British Summer Time (also known as Daylight Saving Time) as early as 1907.

Mr Willett was a keen outdoorsman and it was not lost on him, that by using Greenwich Mean Time all year round, people were still fast asleep at sunrise (c.3am) but still keen to party at sunset, which was as early as 9pm, even on midsummer's day (21st June).

Willett wrote and privately published a pamphlet entitled "The Waste of Daylight" as a way of persuading people to get up earlier, by putting the country's clocks forward. He postulated that this would make better use of daylight, improve people's health and thus make them happier. All this, Willett said, would save the UK £2.5 million: an absolute fortune in Edwardian days! As at 2022, this would be around £200 million!

Willett suggested that UK clocks should be advanced by 4 x 20 minutes in April and reversed the same way during September. However, this idea was rejected in parliament and the "Daylight Saving Bill" was thrown out, when it was introduced in 1909.

William Willett 1910Mr Willett was, however, made of stern stuff and didn't let this minor setback deter him. He spent the remainder of his life putting his argument forward and did what he could to try and convince people that adopting Daylight Saving Time was a good idea. The turning point was the outbreak WW1 in August 1914. Due to the need for the warring countries to be as efficient as possible, Germany adopted DST on 30th April 1916, followed by the UK on 21st May, with most of the rest of Europe following suit soon afterwards. Hurrah for William Willett then? Sadly not, as he had died of influenza in 1915 at the age of just 58.

William Willett wasn't the first person to point out that it might be better to utilise daylight hours more efficiently. In 1784, the renowned polymath, Benjamin Franklin, penned a slightly satirical letter to Le Journal de Paris, pointing out that poor people were sleeping through hours of good daylight, yet burning expensive candles in the evening.

During WW2, British clocks were not put back at the end of DST which meant that we had, in effect, Double Summer Time from 1941 onwards. This maximised the potential for using all available daylight hours in England and Wales but the Scots were neither impressed, nor very happy! Clocks were brought back to GMT in the autumn of 1945 but only two years later, as a result of critical fuel shortages, clocks were advanced twice in the spring. They were returned to GMT in the autumn. This was the last time that Britain operated Double Summer Time, although there have been occasional calls for it to be re-introduced but presumably, these have not been from north of the Tweed!

William Willett died at home in Bromley on 4th March 1915. His effort, to make more efficient use of daylight hours, is commemorated, in nearby Petts Wood, by a sundial, which is permanently set to Daylight Saving Time.

Also in Petts Wood, the 1920s "Brewers' Tudor" Daylight Inn was named in honour of William Willett and just round the corner there is a street called Willett Way. Creativity clearly being in the blood, William Willett is the great-great-grandfather of Coldplay's lead singer Chris Martin.

The photo of William Willett is circa 1910.

Cheers.

Rory Kehoe.

 

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