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From
http://baileysbeerblog.blogspot.co.uk 23 April 2014.
FAREWELL TO THE WHARF
This coming Bank Holiday weekend, a popular and well-known Tonbridge
pub will be calling “last orders” for the final time. The Wharf, in
Lyons Crescent has been sold to developers and will be converted into
yet more riverside flats.
One of the few old original buildings left along this stretch of the
River Medway, The Wharf served as a reminder of Tonbridge's industrial
past; a time when the Medway was bustling with river-borne trade,
playing an important role in the growth and development of the town.
For those not familiar with the town, Tonbridge grew up at an
important crossing over the River Medway; the importance of which can be
gauged by the impressive 12th Century castle constructed to guard this
strategic point. Back in the times when roads were poor and largely
un-surfaced, movement of heavy goods was slow and tedious. Transporting
these items by means of the river was the obvious alternative, but the
Medway itself first needed improvement to make it suitable for river
traffic. In 1740 an Act of Parliament set up the Medway Navigation
Company with the aim of making the Medway navigable from Maidstone to
Forest Row in Sussex (although the improvement works never progressed
beyond Tonbridge), and from 1740 to 1911 the Company managed the
movement of trade and goods down the river to Maidstone.
Once the river was navigable, the economy of Tonbridge improved
dramatically stimulated by trade up and down the river. The main goods
brought upstream were coal, lime and stone whilst downstream, the main
freight was timber, hops and other farm produce from the Weald. The
Medway Navigation Company's operations had a big impact on the town, and
were centred around the Medway wharf which ran for over a hundred yards
downstream from Big Bridge on the south side of the river, but our
interest lies in a warehouse on the opposite bank.
The arrival in 1842 of the South Eastern Railway in Tonbridge, led to
a steady decline in waterborne trade, and in 1911 the Medway Navigation
Company was wound up. The old warehouse buildings which fronted the
river were either converted for alternative use, or were pulled down,
but Lyons Warehouse, on the north bank of the Medway survived, and in
1981 the building was converted by Messrs Whitbread & Co into a
Beefeater Restaurant.
It was a fascinating old building; solidly built and extending over
several floors, and was a nice place for a reasonably priced meal. A
decade or so later, Whitbread converted the restaurant into one of their
Hogshead Alehouses, and for the next ten years the pub offered by far
and away the best range of beers in Tonbridge. Whilst some of the beers
were kept downstairs in the cellar, and pulled up by hand-pump, many
were dispensed from casks kept in a temperature-controlled rack behind
the bar. Like other outlets in the Hogshead chain, Lyons Wharf held
regular beer festivals, bringing even more variety to local drinkers.
With the approach of the new century, Whitbread slowly lost interest
in the chain, and then in brewing altogether; selling off its brewing
division to concentrate on running Premier Inns and Pizza Hut. The Lyons
Wharf pub also lost its way, and the arrival of Wetherspoon's in 1998,
sealed the fate of the pub as a real ale venue in Tonbridge.
The Wharf, as the pub became known, struggled on in a variety of
guises, hosting live bands, recorded music sessions, as well as
providing meeting rooms for various local clubs and societies. In recent
years it started offering a selection of reasonably-priced lunchtime
meals, and also made several attempts at bringing back a limited range
of cask beers. Its clientele though was mainly made up of younger
people, with its late night weekend license proving a popular
attraction.
All to no avail, as a report in the local newspaper confirms that The
Wharf will pull its last pint on Sunday, May 3, before being converted
into yet another block of flats. Local people are not happy at the loss
of this popular riverside pub and music venue, and have accused the
local council of turning its back on the river and lacking the vision
necessary to make something of this attractive feature of the town.
Flats and luxury apartments are springing up all over Tonbridge;
nowhere more so than along the river. However, without pubs, bars and
cafés for people to spend their leisure time in, the town is in danger
of becoming little more than a dormitory for commuters and other out of
town workers.
I won't be going along to the wake next Sunday, as not having used
The Wharf in years; I would feel somewhat of a hypocrite. I am sure
though that here will be many people present on the 3rd May, deeply
disappointed they have lost their favourite watering hole just so one
more property developer can line his pockets and our
"couldn't-care-less" local council can look forward to collecting yet
more Council Tax!
Paul Bailey. |
