From the Dover Express, 14 January 2010.

DRUNK ARRESTED

POLICE in London Road, Dover, arrested a 53-year-old man from Dover last Wednesday evening for being drunk and disorderly. He was detained in custody for more than 12 hours and was then issued with an £80 fixed penalty notice.

From the Dover Express, 1 April 2010.

BOOZE TAX SHOCK

Tax increases on alcohol in last week's Budget are a death knell for community pubs, the Campaign for Real Ale has warned.

Landlords were dismayed by the two-per-cent rise in beer duty and a 10 per-cent-above-inflation hike on tax on cider - saying the measures will do nothing to combat problem drinking.

COULD BUDGET MEAN LAST ORDERS FOR PUBS?

Landlords fear tax increase will drive away custom.

Report by Rhys Griffiths.

TAX increases on alcohol announced in last week's Budget are a "death knell" for community pubs, the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) has warned.

Landlords across Dover district reacted with dismay at the news of a two per cent rise in beer duty and a 10 per cent above inflation hike in tax on cider - saying the measures will do nothing to combat problem drinking.

The price punters pay for their pint at the bar is likely to rise as a result of the moves, which CAMRA fears could lead to further pub closures.

Richard Munden, who has run The Chequer Inn in Ash for the last 18 months, told the Express a small business like his will have no option but to pass on the increase to customers.

The 29-year-old, who has been in the trade for three years, said: "Unfortunately, beer prices are going to have to go up.

"We are a small village pub and we can't afford to take these losses. The suppliers will pass it on to us and the bottom line is it goes to the customer's pocket.

"I personally believe binge drinking has nothing to do with pubs, that comes from the cheap alcohol from supermarkets.

"Richard said the pub trade is tough, but his business is managing to keep its head above water at present.

Campaigners argue the government is targeting responsible drinkers in an attempt to tackle anti-social behaviour by a small minority, a battle they say will not be won in this way.

Peter Garstin has been the landlord of Blakes of Dover in Castle Street for almost five years and he says in that time the government has done nothing but harm the pub trade.

He said: "It seems every action the government takes to try and curb misuse of alcohol does nothing to curb the sale of cheap booze but does everything to disadvantage controlled venues where people can come and have a drink under the watchful eye of a landlord.

"The problems we have are due to supermarkets using alcohol as a loss-leader. The government should make it illegal to sell below cost."

In recent years numerous pubs across the Dover district have closed their doors for good.

This has been blamed on factors from tax increases, to the smoking ban and the competition from the big supermarket retailers.

Speaking shortly after the Budget was announced, CAMRA chief executive Mike Benner said: "CAMRA is totally at a loss in understanding how a government that recognises the community value of pubs can impose such consistently draconian beer duty increases.

"Today's duty increase has stamped down on the survival hopes of community pubs across the UK."

POLITICIANS AIR VIEWS ON THE COUNTRY'S FINANCES

DOVER and Deal MP Gwyn Prosser praised the Chancellor's Budget, announced in the House of Commons last week, and warned Tory plans could jeopardise the economic recovery.

He said: "Labour's commitment to halve the deficit and protect frontline services is the safest way to secure the economic recovery and avoid choking it off with deep cuts and layoffs - which is what the Tories and the Liberal Democrats would do.

"Our reaction to the global downturn was the right one and it's led to a return to economic growth, falling unemployment figures and a rising stock market.

The Tories were wrong to oppose our recovery plans and they are wrong to oppose the sensible and practical measures contained in our Budget."

Conservative candidate Charlie Elphicke criticised the Budget, arguing it will not solve Britain's debt problems.

He said: "Britain has run out of money. The government's response? To "halve the deficit". That means they mean to borrow another £734 billion over the next six years, some £30,000 more government debt for each household here.

"The country simply cannot afford it. You cannot afford it. It is wrong to mortgage our children's futures in this way."

LAST ORDERS

Pubs which have closed:-

The Mogul, Dover: A previous pub of the year converted into offices.

The Strand, Deal: Converted into an amusement arcade.

The Butchers Arms, Ashley: Converted into a home.

The Greyhound, Sandwich: Converted into a restaurant and houses.

The Ugly Duckling, Martin Mill: Converted into a home.

BUDGET: THE KEY POINTS.

No stamp duty for first-time buyers on properties under £250,000.

A 3p rise in fuel duty to be phased in over the coming year.

Six-month work or training promise for those under 24 years old to be extended to 2012.

No plans to change VAT or income tax were announced.

A £4 rise in child tax credit for parents with young children to be introduced by 2012.

From the Dover Express, 10 June 2010.

WORLD CUP YOBS FACING PUB BAN

Hooligans warned as big screen match deal is struck

by Kathy Bailee

BOOZY football hooligans causing I trouble during the World Cup could find themselves barred from every pub in the district and saddled with an antisocial behaviour order-(Asbo).

The tough message comes as it emerged a deal has now been struck to show live football matches from the World Cup on the big screen in Market Square, starting with England's opening match against the USA on Saturday.

The U-turn means football fans will be able to watch all England's games, and all other matches broadcast by the BBC up to and including the quarter-finals.

It is hoped the semi-finals and final will also be shown on the big screen, subject to funding.

The volte-face comes after the Express broke the news of a Facebook campaign to get World Cup games broadcast from Market Square.

People are still barred from drinking alcohol outside of licensed premises around the big screen during the games. The force is drafting in extra officers to show drunken louts the red card and will be enforcing the "three strikes" scheme during the tournament season, which kicks off tomorrow.

Under the football ref-style scheme, run in partnership with Kent Police, Dover District Council, Dover Partnership Against Crime (DPAC) and local licensees, if someone commits a crime while drunk they are first issued with a yellow card warning them about their behaviour and offering alcohol abuse advice.

If another drink-related crime is committed within a 12-month period the offender receives a red card, their details are passed to DPAC and they are barred from every licensed premises in the partnership.

Committing a third offence in the one-year rolling period could see the person hauled into court and issued with an Asbo.

A Kent Police spokesman said: "Officers will be on patrol to ensure the majority of people can enjoy the World Cup in safety.

"We will intervene early if anyone is committing crime, and if they are under the influence of alcohol we will implement the three strikes scheme."

The warning to those intent on causing trouble during the summer football competition has been echoed at Kent Police headquarters.

Assistant Chief Constable Andy Adams said: "We won't tolerate the minority who risk spoiling the fun for true fans." He added: My officers won't take antisocial behaviour lightly.

"Kent Police will be providing a visible presence in town centres across the county to help the public enjoy the tournament safely."

From the Dover Express, 29 July, 2010.

TIME CALLED FOR EVER ON THE PUBS WE FONDLY REMEMBER

By Terry Sutton from WAY WE WERE

Long gone: The Hotel de Paris in the Western Docks was taken over by the Dover Harbour Board and demolished.

Veteran Express reporter TERRY SUTTON looks back on the lost pubs of Dover and tackles that old legend that the town once had a watering hole for each day of the year ...

WHEN I was a young reporter with the Dover Express, one of my favourite seIf-selected jobs was to visit a Dover pub on the night it was closing down for good.

I was nearly always accompanied by senior staffers Stan Wells and Bill Bailey.

The idea was to get that last drink before the shutters came down for the final time.

But there came a time when so many pubs were being closed for good that I had to give up the idea, defeated by town redevelopment and financial pressures on brewers and licensees.

I remember the last night of the "Hotel de Paris," some time in the 1950s, down in the Western Docks. The lease had expired and Dover Harbour Board took over the property to demolish it to create quay space.

It was the type of pub where you could always pick up a good yarn from one of the railwaymen who used to frequent the place.

I believe the licence of "Hotel de Paris" was switched to the "Royal Oak" at River.

One of the saddest last nights was at The "Trocadero" in Snargate Street, a most interesting pub. It stood at the corner of Five Post Lane (roughly where the Townwall Street-York Street roundabout is now) and only a few doors from the, then offices of the Dover Express.

The place, many years previously, was known as the "Wine Vaults" and I was told at one time had only a six-day licence because It catered for wine merchants who met there to do with business with importers and shippers.

It was a most intriguing place with little oak-panelled cubbyholes where, in those more romantic days, lovers would keep their trysts.

I remember the last night because I left a dinner jacket-only reception at Dover Town Hall to pop down for the final hours of The "Trocadero."

Madeline Gascoigne, the landlady, was so delighted I had dressed up specially for the last drinks occasion. I didn't have the heart to tell her I was a guest at a Town Hall dinner.

The existence of The "Trocadero" had been threatened for some years, as it came into a redevelopment area before the 1939-45 war but was saved until the final day in 1957 when the licence was transferred, to the "Dover Stage Hotel," itself now demolished.

Another of the haunts of Dover Express reporters was the "Prince Louis" in Chapel Lane, at the back of the newspaper's Snargate Street printing works. We could always be assured of an excellent cheap lunch there, thanks to the generosity of the landlady. Her husband was not so happy over the low amount she charged us!

The property, I believe, had once been part of a row of fishermen's cottages and the pub was once known as the "Prince Louis of Hesse" but the Hesse association was dropped because of anti-German feeling during the 1914-18 war.

The walls and ceiling of this popular pub, said to be around 300 years old, were lined with newspaper cuttings, hundreds of photographs of customers and places of interest, and horse brasses, apparently too many to dust!

It was a sad day in September 1969 when the "Prince Louis" called last orders for the final time.

Favourite meeting place for many young men, and a few of their girl friends, in the 1960s was upstairs in The "Salutation" in Biggin Street, another pub said to be about 300 years old. It was my regular hangout for many a day. And night.

Customers will remember the old "Salutation" was demolished in the mid-1960s, to make way for road Improvements, and a replacement "Salutation" was built nearby.

But that, too, closed and the site is now a building society-cum-bank.

Another old public house that was prominent in Biggin Street for many years was the "Queen's Head" (where Boots the Chemists now stands) next to Salem Church before that was also demolished.

Many will remember the effigy of a queen's head that decorated the facade of the building, opposite what was once Woolworths.

Here Mrs Mabel Pritchard kept a firm hand on the behaviour of her customers from 1933-1958 which, of course, included the Second World War years. She had taken over from George Clarett when he died in 1933.

My memories of the "Queen's Head" go back to the 1939-45 war years when my friend lived there with his aunt.

I remember creeping into the meeting room above the bars where one of Dover's Masonic lodges met. This was all very mysterious to a teenager.

From the upstairs windows of the "Queen's Head" we watched Dover's barrage balloons fall in flames, not from Luftwaffe fighters but from lightning storms.

There remains a legend that there were 365 pubs in Dover, one for every day of the year. Not true but, over the years, there have been more than 365 - just not all at the same time.

From the Dover Express, 29 July 2010.

UNUSUAL COLLECTION

TRAYS BON:- Richard Percival with his collection.

FOR about 30 years I have been collecting British brewery advertising items, ranging from old adverts to ceramic match strikers.

However, my true passion is that of collecting pre 1970 British brewery trays, and in particular trays with black backs, indicating that they are pre war.

In fact I believe I have Britain's, if not the world's, biggest collection of these with more than 1,500 trays, some dating as far back as the 1880s.

However despite the size of my collection and appearances both on radio and TV, I am still missing a number of trays, some of which could have originally been used in pubs from breweries which supplied the Dover area.

For example: Alfred Leney & Co Ltd; Phoenix Brewery of Dover, which was taken over by Fremlins Ltd in 1926 with more than 300 public houses; Flint & Co Ltd of Canterbury, which itself was taken over by Leney's in 1923; and George Beer & Co Ltd, which was taken over by Rigden & Co to form Beer & Rigden Ltd.

I feel that black-backed trays must have been produced from one of these three mentioned breweries.

Could any of your readers help me obtain a tray from any of the three mentioned breweries above?

Did anyone have a relation or friend who worked for the above breweries?

If anyone does have a tray I'd greatly appreciate a call on 01664 464883 or 07715 369540, e-mail richard.percival@hotmail.co.uk or write to:

Richard Pecival, Stoneleigh House 17 High Street, Waltham on the Wolds

Leicestershire, LE14 4AH.

From the Dover Express, 10 June 2010.

AREA'S PUB AND CLUB CRIME FIGURES REVEALED

But police say district is one of the safest in county

by Yamurai Zendera

VIOLENCE, criminal damage, theft, sexual offences and burglary were just some of the crimes that took place in the Dover district's bars and nightclubs over a 13-month period.

Figures obtained by the Express under the Freedom of Information Act show that between July 1, 2009 and July 31, 2010, 60 crimes were recorded by police.

By far the most prevalent were violence against people (32), theft offences (14) and criminal damage (7).

There were three robberies, two sexual offences and one incident of a bicycle being stolen.

Kent Police's Dover District Commander Ken Elmes said the figures represented "good news" for residents.

He said: "My reasons for saying that is that this dates over a 13-month period, particularly when you think there are over 450 pubs and nightclubs in the Dover district, and of those approximately 400 are under new licensing laws so now stay open past 11pm.

"I look at those figures and say that's good news for the community in the district. It shows we are working very hard with our partners and the licensees."

Just over 50 per cent of crimes were recorded as 'undetected', potentially pointing to the police not being able to solve a significant number of cases.

But Chief Inspector Elmes said the figures do not explain the exact situation encountered by officers.

He said: "Of the 15 that were undetected violence against the person crimes; I have not looked through those, but I can give you from my experience as to what can tend to happen.

Argument

"For example, a couple will go out for the evening, have an argument and domestic abuse takes place in those premises. Once they sober up, the victim says I don't wish to support a prosecution and doesn't wish to provide us with evidence. We're then restricted in what we can do.

"We have set up our domestic abuse forum, drop-in centre and domestic abuse workers so we are providing a greater service to victims of domestic abuse. We call it abuse rather than violence because it can be mental."

Where CCTV evidence or witnesses are available, the police will take action, even in the absence of the victim's cooperation, Chief Insp Elmes said.

People, he continued, can help themselves to reduce the theft of their belongings in bars and clubs by not leaving them unattended.

He said: "People need to be as carefully guarded with their property in licensed premises as they are in the open air.

"The Dover district is a safe district, one of the safest in Kent." Kent Police works closely with the Dover District Community Safety Partnership (DDCSP) and the Dover Partnership Against Crime (DPAC), which runs a Three Strikes scheme - where people can be served antisocial behaviour orders if they commit a trio of drink-related offences.

DDCSP chairman Nadeem Aziz said: "The Community Safety Partnership is working hard with a range of agencies to make sure the district remains a safe place to live, work and visit."

From the Dover Express, Thursday 26 August 2010.

PUB CRAWL BOOSTS SARA'S HOSPITAL FUNDRAISER

GENEROUS: Sarah Hair (right) and friends have collected cash towards her charity trek.

A FORMER Astor College girl who plans to take part in a sponsored Inca Trail Trek has been given a boost by generous Dover pub customers.

In May, the Express told of adult-care worker Sarah Hair's plans to hike 31 miles through cloud forest and high mountain passes, taking in remote Andean mountain trails and the site of the legendary lost city of the Incas, Machu Picchu.

The money raised is to be donated to Great Ormond Street Hospital.

Inspired by the care and support hospital staff have given her 10-year-old nephew James, who was born with a leg-length discrepancy, Sarah jumped at the challenge but still needs to raise the majority of the £3,000 sponsorship needed.

St Radigund's resident Sarah, 27, talked pals into donning fancy dress earlier this month to do a pub crawl of the town. Instead of downing drinks, the crew rattled a donation bucket to raise cash for the charity adventure.

Sarah raked in £236 after talking to customers at the "Prince Albert," The "Eight Bells," the "Party Bar" The "Roman Key" and "Club Karma" on August 14.

She said: "All the bars welcomed us and we took a Great Ormond Street-decorated bucket with us, which was hard to carry by the end of the night."

The bucket is now covered in signatures of people in Dover who donated."

Sarah will take part in the trail from November 13 to 22. She needs to raise her sponsorship money eight weeks before taking the flight from London to Lima, where the trek begins.

To sponsor her, go to www.justgiving.com/Sarah-Hair

From the Dover Express, Thursday 14 October 2010.

UNDERCOVER OP ON UNDERAGE DRINKERS

Police and Trading Standards check out pubs' policy

by Yamurai Zendera

KENT Police and Trading Standards carried out their first joint under cover operation on Dover district pubs last week aimed at seeing if they were serving underage drinkers.

Previous exercises had focused solely on test purchases in off-licenses.

Acting on intelligence, the authorities set about this new operation last Thursday evening starting in Dover at the "Lord Nelson" and then the "Priory."

Both pubs refused to serve the underage drinker, who was used as a "plant" by Trading Standards officers. Police Constable Carl Lidgley said: "It's not for us to start policing the pubs. It's to help with the problem of under age drinking. It's not entrapment." The task force then moved on to Walmer, where they carried out a test purchase in another pub. The pub fell foul of the law by serving the underage drinker. The night's operation was concluded with a test purchase in The "Alma" in Deal, which also refused the underage sale.

Barmaid Katie Monks said: "If I don't think they look old enough I will always ask them for ID. They should not be here if they are underage."

PC Steve Alexander said: "Those premises that we visited, we had information on. However, it works both ways. I am not judge and jury. When we had the information I contacted those premises to let them know we had the information and to be aware of the fact.

"As a result of this operation, one licensed premises is being reported for consideration to be given to instituting legal proceedings. The ones who passed, I will be contacting them to say well done."

From the Dover Express, Thursday 14 October 2010.

ROADSHOW TO INCREASE AWARENESS OF ALCOHOL

A DRIVE to help raise alcohol awareness will include a roadshow in Dover's Market Square next Tuesday.

Dover District Community Safety Partnership's Substance Misuse Sub Group has linked with Kent Fire and Rescue Service for the event, which runs from 9.30am until 4pm.

Representatives will give practical help and advice about services available in the district.

The event aims to promote sensible drinking, and is part of the Kent Drug and Alcohol. Action Team's work for National Alcohol Awareness week, which runs from October 18 to 24.

Kent Fire and Rescue Service will show a video called Stand By Your Pan, about the dangers of cooking while under the influence of alcohol.

Nadeem Aziz, Chairman of the Dover District Community Safety Partnership, said: "We are very pleased to be working with partners during Alcohol Awareness Week.

"This is part of a series of initiatives by the CSP which includes officers from Dover District Council, Kent County Council, Kent Police, Kent Fire and Rescue Service, and representatives from community groups, promoting services and initiatives aimed at reducing alcohol misuse and improving quality of life for residents."

From the Dover Express, Thursday 28 October 2010.

DRINK ARREST

POLICE on patrol in the Lower Leas Coastal Park in Folkestone have arrested a motorist on suspicion of drink driving.

Sam Horne, of Blenhiem Road, Deal, has been released on bail following his arrest on October 21.

The 24-year-old is to appear at Folkestone Magistrates' Court on Wednesday, November 10.

From the Dover Express, Thursday 18 November, 2010.

SEARCH IS ON FOR BEST LICENSEE

THE British Institute of Innkeeping (BII has launched its annual search for a publican worthy of the title BII Licensee of the Year.

The award recognises professionalism and excellence within the licensed retail trade. BII is inviting entries from licensees of pubs, bars, clubs, restaurants and hotels up and down the country.

To enter or nominate, visit http://www.bii.org/home or call Joanna Buston on 01276 417802.

From the Dover Express, Thursday 2 December, 2010.

CLUB CONCENT

A NEW social club could open in Dover Market Square if the planners at Whitfield give permission. Mr Kose of Folkestone Road, Dover seeks full planning consent to change the use of Barrett Sports at 15 Market Square into a social club.