Above print, 1860.

From the book "Smuggler's Broadstairs" by the late W. H. Lapthorne.

“In Union Square there stood an old inn called the "Five Tuns," which was known to the authorities as a regular rendezvous for smugglers. This old inn must have witnessed many wild nights in the days before licensing hours and one can imagine a group of twenty tough looking smugglers, drinking and singing, their boisterous voices carrying down Harbour Street, to where another group would be making merry in the "Tartar Frigate," much to the vexation of the Revenue.

In 1807 the inn was searched and after an hour the customs men found nothing. As it was a hot day, two of the officers decided to take a tankard of ale to quench their thirst. While they chatted in the morning sunshine outside the inn, one officer took the weight off his legs by sitting on the roof of the dog’s kennel, which promptly collapsed to reveal a false top holding 80lbs of tobacco.

In 1912 the inn was demolished, and the site is now occupied by a fishermen’s yard.”