Thanet Times, Tuesday 11 August, 1964.

Harold Bennett of "Royal Standard."

A Ramsgate licensee, who has deep family roots in the town, is Mr. Harold Bennett, of the "Royal Standard" public house, Albion Hill. Both Mr. Bennett's parents used to live in Ramsgate, as well as his grandparents.

Hanging proudly on a saloon bar wall is a permanent memento of his grandfather's work are two realistic watercolour paintings of the harbour.

Mr. Bennett, although now looking on Ramsgate as his home town, is not a Ramsgate man by birth. He was born at Dartford. Following an accident at a large petrol refinery at the the Isle of Grain, where he worked as a unit operator, Mr. Bennett took over the "Royal Standard" 6 years ago. Remembering on his first day when he came to see the house, Mr. Bennett said:- "It was a wonderful day. The sun was shining and the view of the harbour from the house seem to be worth £1 a week on its own.

His view from that day have altered little.

A married man with two sons, his family, as well as himself, have wholeheartedly entered into the spirit of the town and its life.

This month Mr. Bennett, with three other men will be representing Ramsgate in the Inter Cities Tournament of the European Federation of Sea Anglers in Denmark.

Angling is Mr. Bennett's one and only hobby. "I just don't get time to do anything else," he explained.

His wife Eileen, and two sons, John and Alan, have also entered into the public life of Ramsgate.

Mrs. Bennett, 4 years ago, was one of the founding members of the Better Ramsgate Group. She is still a member of the group, which has become one of the prominent organisations in the town.

Alan and John both play instruments with beat groups in Ramsgate. Alan plays with the Oysters and John with the Alpine group.

East Kent Times and Mail, Friday 18 January 1974.

Life in a Belgian Prison - Ramsgate Publicans Ordeal.

Four of the darts team in a Ramsgate pub will think twice before they join the next day trip abroad. The last time they went they didn't come back for 2 months.

And back home this week, Billy Budd, landlord of the "Royal Standard," spoke about the extended trip locked up in a Belgium jail.

It all began last November when a stag party of 27 from the pub set out for a day in Ostend and never got further than the Belgian docks.

After a drinking bout on board the Dover ferry trouble flared between the party and the Belgian crew.

The captain radioed for the riot police and it ended up with a pitched battle when the boat docked. Two were injured, four of the trippers packed off to jail and the remainder of the party sent home to Britain in disgrace on the next boat.

Billy Budd, who claims he was an innocent victim, was locked up and also serving a prison term with pub regulars Len Stockley, Chris Twyman and Richard Gutridge.

"It was a dreadful experience in what I can only describe as a continental Colditz-type jail", said Mr. Budd yesterday.

"It was exactly like the pictures you see in the television series. The building in Bruges is due for demolition and was extremely cold and damp.

"We were often frozen and kept in solitary confinement except for half an hour's exercise each day. Christmas was just like any other day which we filled by trying to keep warm with blankets wrapped around us.

"We were cooped up in tiny cells and the food was absolutely disgusting. Our only consolation was that we were allowed visitors and twice my wife made the trip to see me.

"She was marvellous in the way she kept the pub running, helped by our barmaid and customers."

But their biggest criticism was the Belgium judicial system. The four men say they still don't know what the charges against them were.

"We were taken to Court, but they refused to translate the charges," said Mr. Budd. The British Consul gave us a list of lawyers, but we were only allowed to see one once."