Sort file:- Canterbury, May, 2025. |
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Page Updated:- Sunday, 04 May, 2025. |
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PUB LIST | PUBLIC HOUSES | Paul Skelton & Rory Kehoe | |||||||||
Earliest 1696- |
Sign of Dover |
Latest 1913+ |
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35 Old Dover Road Canterbury
In 1696 Canterbury's billeting list for the Ridingate Ward shows the "Sign of Dover" in an application to accommodate six soldiers. In the early and middle parts of the 18th century, the "Sign of Dover" was named and renamed several times, appearing as the "Dover," "Town of Dover," "Dover Castle," the "Dover" (again!) before reverting to the "Sign of Dover. In the latter part of the 18th century the pub was part of the tied estate of William Sankey's Dane John Brewery. By the early part of the 19th century, William's son, Matthew William Sankey, had taken over running the business and appears to have been keen on aggressive expansion. Business in East Kent, amongst garrisoned troops and naval personnel was brisk but possibly due to the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 and a slowdown in the UK economy, by early 1819, Sankey's Dane John Brewery was in financial trouble. In June of that year, Sankey was declared bankrupt and therefore, it became necessary to liquidate the brewery's assets and sell off the tied house. In November 1819, the brewery that supplied the house was auctioned for sale, and was sold by William Sankey to Charles Dobbs. The Dane John Brewery was acquired by a nearby rival, a kinsman (by marriage) of William Sankey, named George Ash. Ash's Brewery would continue to brew until 1933, though it changed hands several times in the 1920s, and at the time time house was referred to as the "Town of Dover." Pigot's directories of 1828 and 1832 referred to this house as the "Dover Castle." This is indeed the same pub as the Surnames of the licensees are either Dodds or Dobbs. A 7th April 1858 document states that Thomas Greenstreet Stokes, victualler, together with his wife, Elizabeth, sold "all that messuage or tenement commonly called or known by the name or sign of the "Town of Dover" together also with the tenement or cottage adjoining thereto" to George Ash Esq., of the City of Canterbury, Brewer. George Ash (senior) died in 1867. By then the Dane John Brewery was being run by his sons, Thomas and George (junior) but by the mid-1870s, new business partners (kinsmen by marriage) had joined the board, in the form of Richard Moxon and George Collard. George Collard would go on to be an Alderman, Mayor and get knighted. 1878. Deeds show that the "Sign of Dover" was owned by Moxon, Collard and Ash's Dane John Brewery. In 1920, Ash's merged with the East Kent Brewery, Sandwich, against a background of anticipated post-WW1 trade expansion, which didn't really materialise. In 1922, possibly to raise money to help keep the company afloat, Ash's East Kent Brewery sold the "Sign of Dover" to Mrs. Ada Blunt. Five years later, Mrs. Blunt sold the premises to Dr. H. O. Preston, who converted the pub into a private residence, renaming it as number 79 Sundial House. Circa 1907. In addition to offering a telephone, the "Sign of Dover" was also a Receiving Office for Mr. A. W. Anderson's omnibuses and taxicabs. Over the road from the pub stood St. Lawrence's Mill, a black stock mill, which burned to the ground in the spring of 1873.
LICENSEE LIST DODDS Charles 1819+ DOBBS Sarah 1828-38+
STOKES Thomas Greenstreet 3/July/1840-April/58+
MAY John 1861-62+ (age 48 in 1861 SAYER Thomas 1874+
RICHARDS William 1878-81+
ROGERS William 1882+
JARVIS John 1889-91+ (age 41 in 1891 MOCKETT Jane A 1901-03+ (widow age 48 in 1901 ROGERS T 1913+
https://pubwiki.co.uk/SignofDover.shtml
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If anyone should have any further information, or indeed any pictures or photographs of the above licensed premises, please email:-
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