Folkestone Herald 31 December 1966.

Local News.

A start is to be made in March on the development of a public house and shops on the Golden Valley estate by D. and G. Mills, the Hythe building contractors. The amenities will serve the vast housing estate which is being built there. The public house will be let by the Martello Housing Society, for whom it is being built.

Folkestone Herald 11 February 1967.

Local News.

People who are to live in the 1,000 new houses to be built in the Golden Valley Estate area of Folkestone before the end of next year, will have their own inn.

At Folkestone Licensing Sessions on Wednesday, an application for a provisional licence was granted by the justices to Mackeson’s Brewery for a public house on the estate. The public house, it was said, would be ready for opening next January.

Folkestone Herald 13 April 1968.

Local News.

Folkestone police are investigating a spate of vandalism in the Folkestone area which occurred over the weekend. On the Golden Valley estate windows at a public house which is being built were smashed.

A senior police officer at Folkestone said this week: "Attention is being given to the matter. Officers have been made extremely mindful of the situation”.

Folkestone Herald 20 April 1968.

Local News.

The brewing of the last 70 barrels of beer at Mackeson’s brewery, at Hythe, started on Thursday. Once the brew has been completed and the 20,160 pints of beer bottled, the brewing and bottling sections of the brewery will be closed down - after 300 years. About 50 employees are being made redundant by the closures. Present to watch the start of the last brew were all the surviving head brewers who have worked with the company, with the exception of one, who was ill. The valve to start the brew was opened by Mr. W.C. Lasman, an assistant director of Whitbread’s and formerly the group’s head brewer.

Immediately after the brewing there was a second ceremony - some miles away, to mark the opening of a new public house, the Golden Arrow at the Golden Valley Estate, Sandgate. The inn has been named after the crack British Rail boat train, and the first pint was pulled by Mr. W.T. Webb, British Rail's assistant marine catering manager. First licensee of the Golden Arrow is Mr. Gordon Jones, who will be assisted by his wife. They come from Looe, in Cornwall.

Folkestone Herald 24 May 1985.

Local News.

Kind-hearted darts players raised more than £200 to help sick children on Sunday. Regulars at the Golden Arrow pub in Folkestone held a 12 hour marathon to get funds for the Les Evans Holiday Fund, a charity which gives a dream holiday in Disneyland for courageous ill children.

Folkestone Herald 24 July 1987.

Local News.

A pool team captain who had been playing an away match in a pub smashed its window when he was thrown out, a court heard.

Jonathon Rowlands, 22, of Roman Way, Cheriton, went to play pool in a pub he had earlier been banned from, the prosecution said. But when he was asked to leave he refuse, and the landlord of the Golden Arrow pub in Folkestone had to physically eject him. Furious, Rowland threw his pool cue through the pub's window and caused more than £50 damage, Magistrates at Folkestone were told.

Mr. Michael Howard, prosecuting, said Rowlands had carried on drinking despite numerous attempts to get him to leave by the landlady of the pub. Shortly after last orders, the landlord, Mr. Colin St. Laurent returned home and again asked the defendant to leave, the court heard. Mr. Howard said “Eventually Mr. St. Laurent forcibly removed the defendant. The defendant picked up the pool cue and hurled it towards Mr. St. Laurent, who was in the process of shutting the door”. “The cue smashed the window”, he said.

Defending solicitor, Mr. Barry Keating, said the defendant did not dispute the charge of criminal damage, but wanted to outline the circumstances leading up to it. He said “It seems Mr. Rowlands was barred for the pathetic reason of holding a pint of beer over the pool table. The reason why he had gone to the pub on the second occasion with his friends from the pool team was to make peace with the landlord and drink with his friends who attend the pub regularly”. Mr. Keating said his client claimed Mr. St. Laurent had immediately grabbed him on entering the pub and pushed him out of the doors. “This caused Rowlands to fall over a wall. Obviously he felt irked since he had only been drinking in the pub”. This really is a storm in a tea cup. Mr. Rowlands is simply hot-headed at times”, he added.

Rowlands, who was previously convicted of two previous offences, including leaving a restaurant without paying, was ordered to pay £42 costs and £50.71 for the window.

Folkestone Herald 22 January 1988.

Local News.

An armed robber, who stormed into a pub just before closing time, held regulars at gunpoint, threatening to kill them. The masked man shouted at darts players in the Golden Arrow pub, Golden Valley, “I'm not joking, I'm deadly serious”. But he panicked when he saw brave landlord Colin St. Laurent dive for the telephone to alert police. As the raider backed off he was followed by Colin's wife, Sue. Immediately he turned the gun on her. Sue, a smartly-dressed blonde, said “I expected a bullet in my back. I thought I was going to die”. The man then ran off into the distance.

The hold-up happened just before 11 p.m. at the pub in Enbrook Road. Only the darts players were still on the premises.

“It was absolutely petrifying. It only lasted about 30 seconds, but it seemed more like a lifetime”, said 40-year-old Colin. “At first I wondered what all the commotion was about, then I rang for the police”, he went on.

As the masked man walked into the public bar, he threatened customers and ordered them to stand together at one end of the bar. He levelled the gun at the darts players, who thought he was getting ready to fire. Then a cartridge “shot out” to the ground. It was later found to be an imitation gun.

It's not the kind of thing you expect to happen in a local pub. I've certainly had no trouble in here before”, Colin told the Herald.

The pub is situated in the middle of the Golden Valley housing estate.

A man was being questioned as the Herald went to press on Wednesday lunchtime.

Folkestone Herald 29 January 1988.

Local News.

An Irishman is due to appear in court today charged with causing an affray and carrying an imitation gun. Michael Patrick O'Hare has spent the previous eight days in custody. He was remanded by Magistrates at Folkestone last Thursday.