Folkestone Herald 24 January 1992.

Local News.

Publicans are prepared to lose their jobs and homes rather than sign new leases they say could double their rents. Half the publicans in Fover being offered these contracts and two thirds in Shepway are rebelling, say the local branches of the Licensed Victuallers' Association.

“It's like signing a suicide pact, and I won't do it”, says Rick Abbott, who runs the Cricketers in River. He added “I have a wife and three children and we would lose our home, but we would be ruined if I signed”.

Big breweries, with more than 2,000 pubs in the country, are selling pubs or offering 20-year leases because the Monopolies and Mergers Commission is restricting how many they can have.

Alf Bentley, landlord of the Red Lion in Charlton Green, Dover, said “This is as ill-conceived as the poll tax. What use is a 20-year lease to me when I am 60? The breweries are also driving out experienced landlords and replacing them with people who were probably bakers before”.

Leslie Carpenter, of Carpenter's in The Stade, Folkestone, said “My own rent will only go up by a third, but I couldn't even manage that. I am prepared tolose my job rather than accept. It's hard enough to survive with the recession. We've just lost more customers through the Sealink redundancies”.

The L.V.A. says the increases would further damage pubs because landlords would have to put up their prices to try to survive. They say the cost of a pint is now pushing £2.

Only last week Barry Musk walked out of the pub where he had been a tenant for four years, the Red Cow, in Foord Road, Folkestone. He now manages a free house, the Imperial, in Black Bull Road. He said “Signing would have meant my rent going up from £12,000 a year to £20,000, which would have ruined me. I was lucky because I found another pub without that kind of expense”.

All four pubs are owned by Whitbread. A spokesman said the company was willing to negotiate with landlords if they could not afford new rents. “The LVA claims that rents will double, but I dispute that. Our own survey shows that overall rents have increased by just 45 percent”, he added. Whitbread says Government legislation has been put it and other brewers in a dilemma. The new Landlord and Tenant Act gives publicans security of tenure, yet the Monopolies Commission says brewers must get rid of pubs.

Folkestone Herald 8 June 1995.

Local News.

A furious bride-to-be has had to call back all her wedding invitations after a mix-up over the booking for the reception.

Bernice Scanlon went to the Harbour pub, Folkestone, at the end of April to ask about a wedding reception for 70 people in August. She claims the manager booked the date in the diary and told her to return a month later to discuss a price and pay a deposit. But when she went back at the end of May Miss Scanlon said she was told no booking had been made and there was no way the pub's restaurant could seat 70. Miss Scanlon, 22, of Cheriton Road, Folkestone, who works as a barmaid at Jolson's nightclub in Tontine Street, said “When I went the first time I asked if they could do a sit-down meal for 70 people on August 19. The manager put my name and phone number in the diary and said they would definitely be able to do it. He told me to come back for a quote, but said it would be fine and there would be no problem. He said it was going to be refurbished and the place would be beautiful for me. But when I went back I was told there was no way they could seat that many people in the restaurant and they couldn't do the reception. I thought they were joking, it was such a shock. I have sent out all the invitations and paid for everything. It's only nine weeks until I get married and I've got to start all over again. Surely they could have rung me to let me know. I have complained to the brewery's head office about it but I haven't heard anything yet”.

But Helen Waters, manageress of The Harbour, said that although the reception had been entered in the diary no definite booking was made. She said “It was a provisional booking and she was asked to come back in a month to confirm it and sort out a price. I don't know why she sent out her invitations before it had been confirmed. Andy, the manager, made a note of the date and numbers in the diary. He told her vwe were waiting for a refurbishment and she would need to come back and see us at the end of May. We haven't got 70 seats in the restaurant, and still won't have that many after the refurbishment has been done. She got very angry when I told her it hadn't been booked, but she hadn't agreed a price and had nothing in writing. I didn't know we had her phone number, but if I had I would have phoned and told her we couldn't do it. I did apologise to her when she came in”.

Bernice, whose fiancé Philip Yates, also 22, is serving in the Army at Aldershot, has now booked a reception at The Carpenters, in The Stade, Folkestone, and is sending out new invitations. She said “I've got to get all the old invitations back and have them all redone. They cost me £50, but now I'll buy cheap ones because i can't afford to spend so much again. I'm very angry indeed”.