From the Chatham, Rochester and Gillingham News, 10 February, 1939.

NEW HOTEL FOR CHATHAM.

Building to Cost £11,000 to be Erected on the Davis Estate'

PROVISIONAL LICENCE GRANTED AT BREWSTER SESSIONS.

Chatham Magistrates, at the annual licensing sessions of the North Aylesford Division on Monday, granted a provisional licence for respect of premises to be built on the Davis Estate, Maidstone-road, Chatham.

The new premises are to be known as "The Airport Hotel." They are expected to cost £11,000, and will take about eighteen months to be erected.

Making the application on behalf of Davis Estates, Ltd., Mr. M V. Mackey (solicitor) said that the firm had built and developed a number of estates in various parts of the country, and had always set aside ground for the erection of licensed premises.

The estate at Maidstone-road covered an area of 70 acres, and it was proposed to erect a total of 823 houses. Of these 142 were now erected and occupied; 12 were in course of erection; and it was intended to build a further 205 during the next year. The nearest licensed premises to the estate were The "Huntsman" and The "Old George" on the one side, and The "Bridgewood Cottage" on the other.

Mr. Mackey pointed out that Messrs. Short Brothers had planned extensive works at their premises at the Aerodrome. Two thousand men were now employed there, and it was estimated that that number would be doubled during the next two or three months.

He submitted a petition, containing 304 signatures obtained on the Estate, asking for licensed premises.

Superintendent F. Hickmott, while not opposing the application, pointed out to the Magistrates that the number of licensed premises in proportion to the population was higher in Chatham than in Gillingham.

The Rev. Violet Hedger (Minister at the Zion Baptist Church, Chatham, and at Bluebell Mission Church) opposed the application, pointing out that the local authority had not yet seen fit to erect a school on the Estate. If the children could go into the town for school, she asked, could not the fully-grown men go as far as The "Huntsman" or The "Old George" for a drink?

The Magistrates granted the application.