OPORTO TAVERN Pub of Canterbury

DOVER KENT ARCHIVES

Sort file:- Canterbury, May, 2021.

Page Updated:- Wednesday, 26 May, 2021.

PUB LIST

PUBLIC HOUSES

Paul Skelton & Rory Kehoe

Earliest 1914-

(Name from)

Oporto Tavern

Latest 1970s

12 St. Peter's Street

Canterbury

Above postcard, 1914, kindly sent by Rory Kehoe.

Above photo, 1922, kindly sent by Rory Kehoe. Operating as Welby's.

Above photo, 1923, kindly sent by Rory Kehoe. Operating as Welby's.

Above photo, circa 1936. Kindly sent by Rory Kehoe.

Above photo, 1955, kindly sent by Rory Kehoe.

Inside the pub circa 1955. Kindly sent by Rory Kehoe.

Above drawing (from a magazine) of what I imagine was originally a colour postcard, in the style of the Spy cartoons/caricatures. Mine Host was William Francis White, who was licensee from the mid-1930s to the mid-1950s. A well-respected landlord, he was usually referred to as Uncle Billy.

Above photo, 1960, kindly sent by Tim Timpson.

Above photograph taken by Edward Wilmot 1965.

Above photo, date unknown, kindly sent by Garth Wyver.

Above photo taken 19 May, 1961.

The premises as of July 2009 was taken by "The Merchant Chandler." Picture taken from Google maps 2009.

Above photo, date unknown by Darkstar.

Above photo, kindly taken and sent by Rory Kehoe, September 2017.

From an email received 16 June 2012

The "Oporto Tavern" was a small, quite dark pub with the bar full of small tables, some were in the form of barrels and casks - all dark and old wood. The pub had a selection of good wines and ports, as its name might suggest. It was something of an upmarket pub in its day. I was last there about 40 years ago; it is certainly not there now.

Stuart Eaton.

The building shown above was erected in 1815 but closed in 1969.

According to Edward Wilmot's book "Inns of Canterbury" published 1988, the "Oporto Tavern" was formerly titled the "Dog's Head in a Pot," and can be traced back to as early as 1676. He also mentions a document, date circa 1945 that gives the description of clientele at the pub as being "Younger types, ladies and visitors."

I am informed by Garth Wyver that the cellar had two sets of stairs going up, one of which went up into the street before it was raised to its present level.

Oporto House, 12, St. Peter's St. For many years, these premises were used by Welby & Co., Wine and Spirits Merchants. In 1895 an advertisement for Welby's claimed "...from the date of its foundation, fully a century ago, this business has supplied the people of the City of Canterbury with the purest wines, beers, ales and stouts..."

Advert 1880, kindly sent by Rory Kehoe.

Welby's was taken over by George Parr just after WW1 and by 1930 the building had become the "Oporto Tavern," with a much altered frontage. In the 1980/90s Oporto House was home to a retro artefacts shop, which in a nod to the building's history, was named Welby's Bazaar.

LICENSEE LIST

WHITE William Francis 1930s-1950s

WHITE Mrs pre 1957

ROGERS Brian Stephen 1957-58+

http://www.closedpubs.co.uk/oporto.html

If anyone should have any further information, or indeed any pictures or photographs of the above licensed premises, please email:-

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