From the Dover Mercury, 7 January 2016.

Driving ban.

A Dover man has admitted drink-driving. Paul Fitch, 44, of Cox Hill, Dover, drove a Hyundai Getz on the A2, Dover, on December 4 when he gave a breath test of 83 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35 micrograms.

At Folkestone Magistrates’ Court on Monday, December 21, he was banned for 21 months, fined £150 with £150 criminal courts charge, £85 costs and a £20 victim surcharge.

From the Dover Mercury, 28 January 2016.

Drink-driver’s ban and jail sentence.

A drink-driver received a suspended sentence after officers stopped him on Whitfield Hill before Christmas.

Lee Hathaway, 41, of Malvern Meadow, Temple Ewell, was caught without a licence, insurance and under the influence on December 17. He did not stop his car when required.

On January 11, he was sentenced to 150 days in jail, suspended for 12 months, at Folkestone Magistrates’ Court.

He has been banned from driving for 36 months and has to pay £85 costs and an £80 victim surcharge.

From the Dover Mercury, 25 February, 2016.

Drink-driver's two-year ban.

A Dover man has been banned from driving for two years after officers discovered he was over the limit on Christmas eve.

Adam Wetherell, of The Linces, drove a Volkswagen Passat in Sandwich Road, Dover, on December 24, 2015, and gave a breath test of 102 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35 microgrammes.

The 22-year-old admitted drink-driving at Folkestone Magistrates' Court on Wednesday, February 17.

Magistrates banned Wetherell from driving for 24 months and ordered him to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work in the next 12 months. He must also pay £85 costs and a £60 victim surcharge.

From the Dover Mercury, 5 May 2016.

Drink-driver behind bars.

A Dover man has been jailed after he was caught driving without insurance and after he had already been disqualified.

Airidas Urbonavicius, 33, of Archers Court Road, Dover, drove a Mercedes E300 on the A2, near Canterbury, on December 10, 2015.

He pleaded guilty to driving while disqualified and driving without insurance and was sentenced on Wednesday last week at Folkestone Magistrates' Court. Magistrates sentenced Urbonavicius to 12 weeks in prison and banned him from driving for 407 days. He must also pay an £80 victim surcharge.

From the Dover Mercury, 5 May, 2016.

Drink-drive ban.

A 40-year-old man has been banned from driving for 18 months for drink-driving. Leon John Wells, of Crabble Avenue in Dover, gave a breath test of 61 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35. Wells admitted drink driving at Folkestone Magistrates' Court.

From the Dover Mercury, 12 May, 2016.

Funeral of ale festival organizer.

The funeral of a much-loved real ale festival organiser was held on Tuesday (May 10).

Dave Green, 82, of Wyndham Road, Dover, organised the White Cliffs Winter Ales Festivals for the past 20 years.

He was well known for his love of real ale and was involved in the Dover, Deal and Sandwich branch of Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA).

On Monday, April 25, he died of heart failure but his health had deteriorated after suffering a stroke 10 years ago.

Dave worked alongside his brother Peter “Jim” Green, 74, who is the health and safety officer for the festival, which has been held at Dover Town Hall for 23 years.

He was also a member of the Royal Cinque Ports Yacht Club and the Merchant Navy Association.

The former harbour pilot was married in 1954 to Eileen, who died of cancer 20 years later. They had one son Mike, who lives in Maidstone.

His brother Jim said: “He was very friendly. He knew his own mind and once he made his mind up that was it.

“He ran the festival the way he thought it should be run.”

He started his working life aged just 14 as a carpenter for a building firm before going on to work on the ferries in Dover as an assistance steward.

For three years, he was also a coal miner at Snowdown Colliery.

He then worked on the British Rail ferries as a seaman, and then at Dover Motor Boat Company as a harbour pilot before he retired in 1987.

His early retirement came after he broke both his legs. He had fallen onto a pile of steel and brick.

In his retirement, he found work crewing a yacht at the Royal Cinque Ports Yacht Club and got involved with CAMRA. Retired electrician Jim, of Beaufroy Road, will continue his brother’s work running the ale festival.

Dave’s funeral was held at Barham Crematorium on Tuesday and friends and family were asked to make donations to the Merchant Navy Association.

From the Dover Mercury, 14 July, 2016.

IN BRIEF.

Alcohol thief is locked up.

A rum thief has been imprisoned for 28 days in a young offenders! institute.

Kye Dunn, 18, was sentenced on Monday, July 4, at Folkestone Magistrates' Court. He pleaded guilty to shoplifting and also possession of cannabis.

On June 4, Dunn, of Clarendon Street, stole two bottles of alcohol from a shop in Castle Street. On June 24, he had a quantity of cannabis in his possession in Dover.

As well as serving time in the young offenders' institute, he must also pay a £115 victim surcharge.
 

From the Dover Mercury, 14 July, 2016.

Driver banned.

A Dover man has pleaded guilty to drink-driving and been banned from driving for 24 months.

Mitchell Kingsnorth, 22, of Brookfield Avenue, was sentenced on
Wednesday, June 29, at Folkestone Magistrates' Court.

On June 12, he drove a Seat Ibiza in Townwall Street, Dover, and gave a breath test of 102 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35. Magistrates also ordered Kingsnorth to carry out 160 hours of unpaid work in the next 12 months.

He must pay £85 costs and an £85 victim surcharge.

From the Dover Mercury, 11 August, 2016.

Drink-driver gets 18-month ban.

A 30-year-old drink-driver from Dover has been banned for 18 months.

Sicelo Nkumbulo Mda, of Albert Road, Dover, drove a Vauxhall Astra in Folkestone Road on July 16, and gave a breath test of 76 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35 microgrammes.

He admitted drink-driving at Folkestone Magistrates’ Court, last Wednesday.

Magistrates banned Mda from driving for 18 months. He must also pay a £575 fine, £85 costs and a £58 victim surcharge.

His disqualification can be reduced by 139 days if, by 16 July 2017, he satisfactorily completes an approved course.

From the Dover Mercury, 11 August 2016. By Andrew Sargent.

Wives stepped into publicans’ shoes.

In late Victorian times women were not often found drinking beer in Deal’s public houses and beerhouses. But many spent long hours on the other side of the bar, managing the house and its sometimes unruly customers in the absence of their husbands.

This was particularly the case when the publican was also a boatman at sea or busy on the beach, or when he plied a second trade as a carpenter or decorator and left his wife, and perhaps a daughter or two, to serve the beer and keep order.

The magistrates did not usually grant licences to women in their own right. But there was a major exception to the rule. If a married male publican died in harness his widow was almost always allowed to take on the licence.

Some women then attempted to keep the business going under their own steam but came to grief - like Emma Gunner, who ran the "Brickmaker’s Arms" off-licence on Mill Road after her husband died but was prosecuted several times for serving on the premises and called it a day.

But there were many examples of women who remained in charge for many years and enjoyed success and a very good reputation.

Alice Allen, for example, ran the "Royal Hotel" after her husband died in 1871 until her own death seven years later. Charlotte Donoghue, another widow, ran the "Royal Exchange" and when she died her daughter took over.

Probably the two most renowned women licensees were Susannah Marsh of the "Admiral Keppel" and Amelia Kemp of the "Yarmouth Packet."

Susannah ran the "Admiral Keppel" in Upper Deal between 1864, when her husband James died, and 1902. For many years she hosted lavish annual dinners to celebrate the election of the (entirely unofficial) “Mayor of Upper Deal”.

Amelia Kemp had been married to the landlord of the "Crown," which then stood north of the "Royal Hotel."

Her husband was a violent drunkard, and in 1874 her daughter very bravely enlisted the help of the magistrates. Perhaps in sympathy, her husband having quit the scene, they allowed Amelia to take the licence of another Beach Street house, the "Yarmouth Packet."

This was an inspired decision. “Mrs Kemp’s Yarmouth Packet” became a celebrated North Deal establishment, particularly favoured by Trinity House pilots in need of lodgings.

A second category of lodgers who stayed at the "Yarmouth Packet" were French labourers employed at the nearby canning factories.

Amelia took good care of them, and nursed them in times of illness. In 1907, after the death of one of the workers, the Mercury reported that she had sent a wreath and organised a subscription for his family.

Amelia remained in charge until 1908. The "Yarmouth Packet." closed on December 31, 1919 but the "Admiral Keppel," now renamed the "Farrier," still serves the people of Upper Deal.

■ Taken from Andrew Sargent’s Drinking in Deal: Beer, Pubs and Temperance in an East Kent Town 1830-1914 (BooksEast, 2016)

From the Dover Mercury, 18 August, 2016.

Driver banned.

Khaled Sami Sahlah was sentenced at Folkestone Magistrates' Court after he admitted drink-driving.

On Saturday, July 23 the 31-year-old of Auden Way, Dover, was stopped in Walton Manor Close, Folkestone, and gave a breath test of 82 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath.

The legal limit is 35 microgrammes.

Magistrates banned Sahlah from for 22 months and gave him a six week curfew to remain at home between 10pm and 7am daily.

He must also pay £85 costs and an £85 victim surcharge.

Disqualification can he reduced by 168 days if, by 23 October 2017, he completes a course approved by the Secretary of State, the cost of which will not exceed £250.

From the Dover Mercury, 1 September, 2016.

Driver banned.

A drink-driver has been banned from getting behind the wheel for 18 months after failing to stop when he crashed into another car. Daniel Kowalski, 40, was sentenced on Wednesday, August 17, at Folkestone Magistrates' Court.

He pleaded guilty to drink-driving and failing to stop.

On May 8, Kowalski of Lambton Road, Dover, drove a Chrysler in Coombe Valley Road, Dover, and gave a blood test of 95 milligrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood. The legal limit is 80 milligrammes.

He also failed to stop after a road accident where damage was caused to another vehicle. As well as the ban, Kowalski must carry out 150 hours of unpaid work in the next year. He must also pay £85 costs and an £85 victim surcharge.

From the Dover Mercury, 6 October, 2016.

Drink driver's ban and fine.

A drink driver has been issued with a 20-month ban after he was caught behind the wheel on the Sandwich bypass.

Tibor Jano, 31, of London Road, Dover, pleaded guilty to driving a Volkswagen Passat while over the limit, and with no insurance, on September 3.

He gave a breath test of 84 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35 microgrammes.

He must also pay a £200 fine, £85 costs and a £30 victim surcharge.

From the Dover Mercury 6 October 2016. By Sam Lennon.

Street drinkers targeted in crackdown.

Police have seized alcohol and issued 42 warnings in a crackdown on street drinking in Dover town centre this summer.

The operation, from June to September, was launched to respond to reports of anti-social behaviour, alcohol-related crime and other problems related to street drinking in the area.

Dover is covered by a designated public places order which controls the consumption of alcohol in public places and gives police the power to seize and destroy alcohol.

Anyone who fails to surrender their alcohol, or consumes it after being warned, faces prosecution.

This summer a total of 42 people were issued with warnings not to consume alcohol and their drinks were confiscated.

Seven people were summonsed to court for failing to comply with this and fined a combined total of £695 plus ordered to pay additional court costs.

Another two people have received court summonses and their cases are ongoing.

Insp Guy Thompson said: “Like other towns, during the summer it is not unusual to see increases in reports of incidents as the weather is warmer.

“We recognise that street drinking can be associated with reports of disorder and it is not acceptable, so officers have been working to reinforce that message by seizing alcohol when necessary and reporting those who breach the designated drinking zone.

“Officers also helped to signpost those who were sleeping rough towards support services to ensure they were aware of the help they could be entitled to.

“Reminders were given to those who were seen begging that it is illegal.

“I would ask if people do encounter any incidents of anti-social behaviour, to report it as the information is important when bringing prosecutions to court.

“We will continue to deal proportionately with those who are causing anti-social behaviour.”

Warnings issued to 42 people in town centre operation during the summer.

From the Dover Mercury, 10 November, 2016.

Pub history in the spotlight.

Addelam History Research Group will host an illustrated talk by author Andrew Sargent.

The talk about drinking in Victorian Deal is entitled A Town Full of Pubs.

It takes place on Saturday November 12 at 2.15pm at the Astor Theatre, Deal.

Tickets cost £5 on the door or from the Astor Theatre beforehand.

Mr Sargent will be signing a copy of his book, Drinking in Deal, in the bar afterwards.

From the Dover Mercury, 10 December, 2016.

Drink-driver's two-year ban.

A 63-year-old woman has been banned from driving for two years after being caught more than double the drink-drive limit.

Mary Bonnage, of Mill Lane in Dover was stopped by police on the A2, Bridge, on November 6.

She gave a breath test of 94 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath when the legal limit is 35.

On Monday, November 23 Bonnage was also ordered to do 80 hours of unpaid work in the next 12 months at Canterbury Magistrates’ Court.

She must also pay a £150 criminal courts charge, £85 costs and a £60 victim surcharge.