Above postcard, circa 1920. Kindly sent by Graham Butterworth.

Above photo kindly sent by Janet Bambra showing the pub in the mid 1950s.

Cricketer Inn circa 1980 photo by Barry Smith

Photo above and below by Paul Skelton 8th Sept 2007

Left old dilapidated sign as seen 2007 and right as seen Oct 2009.

Cricketer's sign August 1991.

Above with thanks from Brian Curtis www.innsignsociety.com

From an email received 17 Jan 2011.

I was born in the "Cricketer's Hotel" in 1944.

My father Jonas M Bambra was the licensee there from 1940 until 1966. After his time as licensee he went back into the building trade as a plasterer for a small Folkestone company and died a year later (April 1967). I remember meeting his successor, Jack Moseley, while visiting the pub prior to taking up the tenancy.

I left England for good in August 1968, just over a year after my father's death and now live in new Zealand.

Incidentally, the previous licensee, Arthur Humphrey, was my grandfather (my mother's step-father – he had spent some years on the staff of the Duke of York's Royal Military School up past the castle before taking on the pub – my parents would visit them at the "Cricketers," cycling through the night from Sidcup/Bexley area for weekends! So when my father, always called Joe, took over the tenancy, they were well known by the regular customers.

My mother (Claudine - always known as Claudie or Mrs. B) was very proud of her “ladies' darts team”. I think I am probably the young girl standing at the end of the left hand table in the 1950 photo – I quite often used to be a spectator at these socials while my mother helped run the bar they would set up on trestle tables. My bedroom was down a very short flight of internal stairs and I learnt from a young age to sleep through the sound of the dance bands!

Photograph above showing Claudie and Joe Bambra 1962.

My mother would occasionally cater for “cricket teas” after a Saturday game and occasionally catered for weddings.

With five bedrooms in the adjoining house, we would often take in boarders from the Wiggins Teape paper mill at Buckland – either trainee managers (the Buckland Mill trained a lot of staff for their other mills in the UK, management staff being transferred to the Buckland Mill from other parts of the country - on two occasions that I recall the wife and children stayed with us – until they arranged their own homes.

When Wiggins Teape sent staff to run a new paper mill being set up in Australia in the mid 1950s, these men also boarded with us for a number of weeks. Once we had five – three in one room (double bed plus single bed) and two sharing another room! – post-war and heading en-route to a new land of opportunity they did not complain! They lived as family members and enjoyed socialising “behind the bar” in the evenings.

Until the early 1960s our garden extended to No. 1 St Andrews Terrace. Part of this was used as a bowling green until the early 1950s. The brewery sold off that land in very early 1960s and the pair of semi-detached houses was built. I remember seeing people play bowls when I was very young – probably 1947.

The advent of television with its New Year's Eve programmes, made a drastic reduction to our trade – on one New Year's Eve in early 1960s we had less than 10 customers – in previous years N.Y. eves were very boisterous! Still, it's good to see (from their website) that the Cricketers (it was called the "Cricketers Hotel" when I lived there) has survived and seems to be thriving when I see from websites that many other Dover pubs have closed. Life, society and interests change over generations.

The photo above shows the rear of the pub in January 1958. The large lettering Cricketers Hotel could be seen by train passengers on the railway line behind the pub (which was still called the “Cricketers Hotel” when our family left in 1966). It was taken from the old “bowling green” (now the rear of the neighbouring semi-detached houses). Public access to the upstairs function room was via the wooden staircase. The ladies/toilet was accessed from outside only, beneath the staircase (small window can be seen). To access their toilet, men had to walk along the front footpath then down the driveway as the toilet was located in the rear corner of the house!). The veranda roof had a bench seat beneath overlooking a sealed outside seating area. The fence to the left of the fruit trees kept the public from our huge private garden area which included a vast vegetable garden, large chicken run, fruit trees and currant bushes.

As a child I was told that while the pub was around 100 years old, the adjoining house was originally a farm house and was about 300 years old. Because of the house layout (including two staircases!), I've often suspected some rooms were added at the time the pub itself was built on.

Your site says "Upstairs there were 6 letting bedrooms and the building was known as "The Cricketers Hotel". In the upstairs function room you can still see the gas pipes used for lighting the six rooms."

This rather interests me – I'd never heard this so it must have been before my grandparents' tenancy – in 1940s, 50s and 60s there were two large gas light fittings this shape: ┴ suspended from the ceiling in the centre of the room with an upward facing nozzle at each end (I once saw a man lift his very small child up to swing on one!) so they were probably about 7 or 8 feet off the ground). I think there were some small fittings on at least a couple of the walls, and I'm sure one “standard size” fireplace on the rear, long wall at the house end, but with the location and size of the windows I can't see how it could have been divided into six rooms unless it was by partitions giving only a semblance of privacy. The half flight of stairs down into the house led into one of the “private” bedrooms.

Perhaps at that time the only access was in fact from the house which had 5 upstairs rooms plus a bathroom/toilet which was above the men's toilet in the rear (River end) of the house – this has always struck me as rather a strange layout – perhaps that was another (6th) bedroom at the time of adding the pub on (it's in what I always felt was the older part of the house). Probably any original toilet facilities for the old house would have been in the rear, attached “outbuilding” (seen in the photo above). There was no plumbing in this function room in the Bambra tenancy (to 1966). So where might “toilet facilities” for these guests have been located? Perhaps buckets at end of 19th century?? There was a header tank (to supply the radiator system which would, I suspect, have been installed many years after the room was built) at the Buckland end and if the radiator system boiled dry my father had to carry buckets of water all the way from the house kitchen, via the bedroom, to fill this header tank. There was only a cold water supply into the bar until at least the mid 1950s, hot water being brought in from the house kitchen in a large bucket to wash the glasses – there was a copper sink with draining surface either side, beneath the counter. Glasses and plates were lowered from the function room down to the bar in the dumb waiter (which we called the lift) for washing. In the mid to late 1950s a small hot water cylinder was installed beneath one of the draining benches (possibly to satisfy some new hygiene regulations??).

Janet Bambra

New Zealand

FURTHER RECOLLECTIONS FROM MY EARLY LIFE AT THE CRICKETERS.

Lockable garages in two shed-type buildings were located at the bottom of the driveway (at the Crabble Road end of the property). These were rented out. The right hand building also contained two stables each with two stalls. In the years between (about) 1957 and mid 1960s, one of these stables was rented out to Fred Hammond who had a horse-drawn greengrocery round in River and Crabble. He also rented one of the garages for the cart. Water for the horse and for washing of cars had to be hauled from the river using a bucket and rope. While writing this in January 2011, I was intrigued to see on Google Maps that the stable building was still there and still had the lean-to chicken shed attached inside the garden! This chicken house continued down the rear wall of the stable/garage building with another chicken house attached further towards the river. There were fruit trees within the chicken enclosure.

A tiny cottage standing on the other side of our driveway was owned by the brewery until at least 1966. With two bedrooms, an outside toilet and no bathroom, it housed one of the delivery men, his wife and son (and two large horse chestnut trees inside the front wall) this building has now been very much enlarged. The brick cottage on the opposite corner was, until at least 1966, a public toilet for the cricket ground!

When my grandparents took over the pub in 1929 the pub was divided into three separate bars each with its own entrance door and separated by high, wood partitions. According to my mother, at that time the lower half of the windows were covered by wooden screens on the inside. These were replaced by curtains which gave privacy while letting the light through. Each entrance door from the footpath opened into a “box” enclosure about 2m (7 feet) high with a self closing “push” door opening into the bar. This would keep wind and rain out of the bar. The large public bar was created by removing the partition at the Dover end. The small bar at the River end, the Saloon Bar, attracted more sedate customers. While the bench seating on some walls in the public bar was flat, varnished timber, the bench seating against the saloon bar walls was padded and covered in black “leatherette” and the chairs were more comfortable. The door from just inside the front garden gate opened directly into the Saloon Bar. I don't know how the main bars were named before the partition was removed. The counter was continuous and served both bars. A hinged portion of the counter at each end could be lowered at busy times (supported by a low door) and this would totally enclose the serving area. I don't remember there ever being a “picture” hanging sign outside.

Spittoons were still in use in the pubic bar until at least 1928 – I remember my mother telling me “he got rid of them when he took over” but cannot remember whether “he” was my grandfather or my father. I don't recall any mention of sawdust!

The back of the bar was mirrored with glass shelves where Cigarettes and tobacco were stacked, also spirit glasses, wine glasses (used for spirits with soft drink mixers.) Wine was not sold. Beer glasses, bottled beers and soft drinks were stored on open shelves beneath the bar counter. No bar fridges then!

There was a small fireplace behind the bar, next to the dumb waiter with a wide shelf and enormous, ornately framed Victorian mirror on the wall above (a similar mirror was in the saloon bar). A central heating system heated the bar (and possibly the upstairs function room) driven by a coke-fired boiler located in what was called the “smoke-room” leading off from the saloon bar (this room would have been where “gentlemen” from the saloon bar would go to smoke in earlier years). The header tank for the system was in the upstairs function room and if the coke boiler was allowed to overheat the water would evaporate via the header tank. It then had to be topped up quickly with cold water carried in buckets from the house kitchen (the only place a bucket would fit beneath a tap). The central heating system may well have been installed at the time the pub and function room were built.

Behind the bar, there was a disused box with hinged numbers visible through the glass font. My mother told me these were originally connected to push buttons in the bedrooms (I recall a disused bell-push in one of the private bedrooms). However, if there were originally “lodging rooms” in what is now the function room, they may have been connected to them.

The toilet facilities were fairly spartan though they might have been considered “state of the art” at the start of 20th century!! Proper toilet paper was not provided as it was always stolen so squares of newspaper strung onto string were hung on the wall! The ladies toilet had an interior light and a hand basin with a cold tap set into a marble shelf but I never saw soap or towel – same reason I guess. The men's toilet, located in the far corner of the house and down the side driveway only had an outside light above the entrance. There was no automatic flushing system and it would be mopped out and disinfectant used each morning!

Until about 1950 bowls was played on part of the large lawn (which is now the rear gardens of the semi-detached houses next door - the brewery having sold that land in about 1959). With no more bowls and my father tired of mowing it, we kept geese there for a few years until a fox killed them all and left the bodies up on the railway embankment.

The outside seating area (with imitation wrought iron and marble topped tables) with bushes and trees on two sides, was accessed through a gate in the front fence, in the same place as the present gate (though it was not signposted at all!) and was very popular in summer with family groups. The large private garden was visible but fenced off by a wooden snow fence. Until the mid 60s large numbers of people walked past the house at Sunday tea time, returning from an afternoon walk to River, and many stopped for drinks in the outside area. Imagine how nice it would have been in the war years with two hours daylight saving!

There were two dartboards in the public bar (I don't believe the darts club operated much after the mid 1950s) and in the mid 1950s a bar billiards table was installed in the centre of the public bar. Cribbage and dominos were played. There was a piano in the public bar and in the very early 1950s my mother had a piano accordion which she sometimes played in the bar. For “entertainment” a radio (and later a radiogram with 78 rpm records) was behind the bar. I don't remember hearing of any “organised” live music being played in the bars.

The old gaslight fittings were still in place on the pub walls while we lived there. I saw them used once, during a power cut (possibly in mid 1950s). Once your eyes adjusted, the light wasn't too bad.

A very popular “News of the World weekly draw” operated - customers would pay to draw a disc from a bag. Each disc had a letter on it (X, Y, Z were all on one disc) and their name was recorded alongside their letter in a book. The first letter of the large headline of the News of the World Sunday paper determined the winner, who I think received most of the money as a prize (some of the money may have gone into the Christmas club fund but it all went back to the customers one way or another). If the headline started with a number then the XYZ disc was the winner.

A Christmas Club operated – on “club night” customers paid money to my mother who recorded it in a book. A week or so before Christmas the money was returned to each customer in an envelope (plus a little interest I think) and at Christmas the bars would be hung with old-style paper chains and other decorations.

My mother always made and iced a Christmas cake for a Christmas raffle plus a home-made Christmas pudding (her grandmother's recipe).

Potato crisps (unsalted, but with a waxed paper screw of salt in every bag) and little packets of salted peanuts were for sale. In the 1960s more pre-packaged items became available such as tiger nuts and cracker biscuits with cheese filling. Home-made pickled eggs were very popular and sandwiches could be made on request at lunch times by my mother. Fillings were cheese or whatever else might be in the family fridge! We also sold little boxes of “Koray” pain killer tablets (our doctor hadn't even heard of these!) and later sold bars of chocolate.

The weekly beer deliveries (after the morning session had closed) were put into the stone-lined cellar via a small pair of double doors and trapdoor just before the porch of the house. Wooden barrels of various sizes were slid down a concave wooden ladder which had steel runners, steadied by special hooks on ropes (no metal kegs in those days). Crates of bottles went in the same way. The draymen (as the men were called – a hang over from the much earlier days of horse-drawn drays) were then entertained in the saloon bar by my father and given free beer for an hour or so!

Up to the 1950s, a “casual” woman helper sometimes worked in the bar in the evenings (probably Saturdays) and assisted at socials, weddings etc. (which my mother would cater for) in the function room but with trade slowing down in the 1960s my parents managed on their own with occasional help from me and my brother if we were home. I don't think we had any wedding receptions after 1960. While the pub opened at 6 pm (except Sundays), the regular customers did not usually come in until 7.30 or 8 pm.

Only two types of draught beer were sold – “beer” and “bitter”. It was in un-pressurised wooden barrels and pumped from the barrels in the cellar using the old hand pumps which were fixed on the counter. Other types (brown ale, light ale, stout and Guinness) were sold in bottles which contained slightly more than half a pint – for these we used “bottle glasses” which did not have to be a legal measure. Lager became very popular in later years particularly as “lager & lime” - with an added dash of lime cordial. Schweppes Bitter Lemon, introduced in 1957 quickly became a favourite with the ladies, (it was seen as a more sophisticated soft drink) as did Babycham.

Occasionally a coach load of people would arrive unannounced in the early evening. Reinforcements (my mother and perhaps my brother or myself when we were old enough) would be called for by a push-button electric bell which rang in the house. Pandemonium for half an hour then back to normal (waiting for the regulars to come in).

During World War 2, a large number of soldiers were stationed in the area and formed a very large portion of the pub's trade. They were stationed at the large house which stood behind a high wall and double gates on the opposite river bank (called “Called” Crabble Conference House when I lived there), and also at “Toop's Farm” which was on the left corner of Lower Road and Crabble Lane (the farm land then extended on the right side of Crabble Lane at least to what is now Deanwood Road with the cows being walked down to the farm for milking – a great attraction on our way home from River School in the 1950s!). My mother told me that air raid warnings were pretty much ignored and closing times were often difficult to enforce (I believe only one shell fell half way along Crabble Avenue but no bombs). One night, with the bars bursting at the seams well after closing time and my father getting worried about losing his licence, a policeman put his head around the door, saw the situation and called across to my father “OK Landlord, keep going!”

Wartime Christmas and New Years always filled the bars to capacity – apparently one New Year's Eve someone even brought a horse into the bar – quite a feat considering the double door system!

In the war my parents had a black Labrador dog called Roger who loved spending time with the soldiers. Some of them told my mother that Roger would frequently spend nights in the guardhouse at the farm – they would sleep all night and could rely on Roger waking them up with his barking if anyone approached! He would sometimes bring large cuts of meat home in his mouth from the army cookhouse and with severe food rationing in force, my mother would scrub them and cook them!. Stolen or gifted – nobody asked!

When I was about 4, my father took me into the bar one morning to see a ferret that one of the regulars had inside his shirt! My mother was not impressed. I think he used it for hunting rabbits on the hill behind Hillside Road.

Closing time was quite rigid and people not watching the clock could be caught with a new order, when my father called time, resulting in it having to be drunk quickly. Later the licensing laws were amended (very late 1950s or early 1960s?), to provide an official 10 minutes “drinking up time” at the end of each session.

In the 1950s it was becoming difficult to get a good head on the beer and short rubber tubes with flattened metal nozzles were introduced and pushed onto the beer pump spouts. The beer was then literally squirted into the glasses to encourage a good head.

Until late 1950s/early 60s the legal measure of pint and half pint glasses and mugs were to the very top and the frothy head stood above the rim of the glass. New, larger, glasses became available with the legal measure marked on the glass about ¾ inch from the rim. At first customers thought they were being given short measure but it meant a good head could be on the beer without spillage. In the late 1950s, my father added a more personal touch by painting our regular customers' names on their usual glass.

Generally the men came in alone during the week but were sometimes accompanied by their wives at weekends. The men were always called by their first names (even by us as young children) whereas many of the wives were called Mrs……, even by my parents.

In the 1960s the occasional casual customer would complain about the warmth of the beer. Ice cubes would then be obtained from the family fridge. My father suspected these customers were visiting or returning from countries where ice-cold beer was standard.

The annual County Cricket Weeks were good for trade. When Yorkshire played Kent (1961) Fred Truman, the famous fast bowler, came into the public bar one evening with some team-mates.

Saturdays in soccer season usually brought additional trade before the match as the bus stop was then almost opposite Lower Road. Occasionally a band would play during the interval – often the Dover Sea Cadets Band In 1960 the match against Peterborough (known as “The Posh”) brought a large number of their supporters into the pub before the match. The bars were jam packed and after they left we found lots of little blue stickers saying “Up the Posh” stuck on walls, doors, windows etc.

In the 1960s, our Staffordshire bull terrier, Chum, who usually spent most of the evening with my mother behind the bar, always amused the customers at closing time. As soon a my father called his distinctive “Tye-eeeeeeeeem please!” Chum would put his head back and howl. And howl and howl! (of course, he'd actually learnt that “time please” meant supper was about to happen!)

Even in the 1960s most town pubs depended on local or regular customers and simply waited for customers to come to them. But times have a habit of changing! With so many pub closures it's good to see that the Cricketers has not only survived but has been turned into a modern pub with the ability to host different types of functions and boasting several sporting teams. As my much loved home until I was 22, I have many fond memories of it 40+ years on.

Janet Bambra

New Zealand

29 January 2011