A couple of National Inventory pubs at Sandgate by the sea

Easter Monday, and after a weekend of digging, digging and more digging I felt the urge to escape, so I that’s what I did. The previous evening I’d been looking at pubs on CAMRA’s National Heritage list, in order to tick one off, and whilst one of them, the Earl of Clarendon at Sandgate had been on my radar for some time, the fact that there was a couple of two-star rated pubs in the same seaside town, clinched it for me.

Sandgate, which lies between the towns of Hythe and Folkestone, is classed as a village, although in my mind it’s more of a small town. I have memories of this settlement from childhood, as it lies on the route my father always took when taking the family on a drive to nearby Folkestone. Both my parents were very fond of the place, and it wasn’t unusual for us to spend an afternoon in the town. So, shopping for mum, at the stylish, but long-closed, Bobby’s department store. Dad’s role was primarily that of chauffeur, whilst for my sister and I it was a trip out, plus the chance to pick up a comic, a toy, or both in one of the local shops, and perhaps even an ice cream

As mentioned above, it had been in my mind for some time to make a return visit to the Earl of Clarendon, as the last time I set foot in the pub must have been back in the early 1980’s, but how to get to Sandgate by public transport, was the issue. I checked on Google to see which, if any buses ran to the village from either of Folkestone’s rail stations, only to discover it was just over 1.5 miles on foot from Folkestone West. I also noticed on the way, that the route passed the Ship Inn, Sandgate’s other pub with an interior of national, historic interest. It would therefore be possible to visit both National Inventory pubs in an afternoon.

I arrived at Tonbridge station in sufficient time, not just to buy my ticket, but also to purchase that all important train coffee. By general consensus amongst my friends and I, FCB Coffee, with its opening into the station booking hall, serves by far the best coffee in town. The company also has outlets at eight other stations, primarily in London and the South East, so keep an eye out for these when travelling by train.

The train wasn’t crowded, and I had a pleasant and uneventful journey down to Folkestone. I don’t think I have ever used the town’s west station before, as the central station is far more convenient for the town centre, and the Leas Cliff Hall. The latter was the venue for many visiting rock groups during my teenage years, including Fleetwood Mac, Uriah Heep, Caravan, Groundhogs and many other early 1970’s acts that appealed to sixth form school boys. We passed through a heavy shower on the journey along from Ashford, but the rain had stopped by the time the train reached Folkestone.

I was relying on Google maps to navigate my way down to the Sandgate seafront, although I had taken the precaution of writing down the names of the roads. I don’t like trying to follow Google on my phone, as the display likes to re-orientate itself, whereas I prefer to have the screen oriented in the direction of travel. Despite this initial confusion, I soon reached the main A259 Folkestone road. Looking later, at the map, I discovered there is a private road that cuts through parkland surrounding the headquarters of the SAGA Group. This is the organisation that looks after the interests of the over-50’s, and the group is still one of the largest employers in the area, as well as a major benefactor.

It wasn’t much further to the Earl of Clarendon, but would the pub be open? The Clarendon’s website was down the night before, but whilst checking my phone on the train journey down from Tonbridge, I noticed to my horror that the pub doesn’t open until 4pm on Mondays. There was no mention of this on What Pub so, not wanting to turn back I plodded steadily on, keeping my fingers crossed that on Bank Holiday Monday, the pub would open at Midday. Fortunately, it did, although I only found this out after fact checking with a couple, I met just a few blocks away from the pub.

My last visit to the Earl of Clarendon had back in the early 1980’s, when it was a Shepherd Neame tied house. Shep’s used to run a “Passport Scheme” back in then, as a means of encouraging drinkers to visit as many of their pubs as possible. With a different, and unique stamp for every pub, the idea was to buy a pint, and then get your cardboard, passport-style booklet stamped. Prizes ranging from “T” shirts, ties, sweat shirts and even an ornate pottery tankard were awarded, depending on the number of stamps in ones’ passport, and hence the number of Shepherd Neame pubs visited.

I still remember visiting the Clarendon with the previous Mrs Bailey, after cycling to Sandgate from my parent’s bungalow, which was in the small village of Brook, a few miles outside Ashford. We had been staying there, house-sitting whilst my parents were on holiday, enjoying one of their numerous caravan trips. Walking up the steep, and narrow cobbled street leading to the pub, was a reminder of that visit, and having to push our bikes up what seemed like the side of a mountain, eagerly awaiting a cooling and refreshing pint of Master Brew – back in the day when Shep’s were still producing decent beer.

The Earl of Clarendon was originally built as a hotel and provided refreshment to troops stationed in the area at the nearby Shorncliffe Camp, as it is on a path between the barracks and the sea. It belonged to several different breweries over time, starting out with local brewers Mackeson of Hythe, Whitbread and then Shepherd Neame, before becoming today’s free house. The pub was empty when I arrived, although both front doors were open. The landlord was sitting at one of the side tables reading the paper, when I bowled in. I noticed there were two cask ales on the bank of unusual-looking, hand pulls, one from the local Romney Marsh Brewery and the other from Parkway Brewing Co. I remember trying one of their beers at the well-known Bell in Bath, but this time I decided to stick with the local beer and go for a pint of the 4.5% Marsh IPA.

The beer was excellent, and mine host told me it was a newish brew from Romney Marsh. I told him that we rarely see beers from that that brewery in West Kent, and this led us on to discussing other beers. He said that he particularly misses Old Dairy (so do I), and he blamed their demise on Brexit, and the amount of red tape now necessary to export goods to the European Union. I replied that leaving the EU was supposed to reduce unnecessary form filling, where in fact we all know the opposite was true.

A whole discussion then ensued, mainly revolving around him having to sell his property in France – the one him and his wife had spent the past 20 years restoring. I shan’t say anymore, otherwise certain people will wade in and say, “There he goes again, banging on about Brexit!” Regrettably, the hard facts speak for themselves, as my company, and our many customers within the EU, know only too well, much more of course than the Daily Mail, a publication the landlord was particularly scathing about.

I asked the licensee if I could have a wander about and take a few photos, so following a nod of approval, you can see for yourselves the plain, but rather attractive interior of the pub. Shortly afterwards, a couple and their grown-up son came in, although it was disappointing to see that there wasn’t a cask drinker amongst them. Guinness and Peroni seemed the drinks of choice, so wanting to do my bit for cask, I ordered another pint of Marsh IPA.

Whilst enjoying it, I was working out in my mind, the time to the next pub (10 minutes), plus the timings of trains back to Tonbridge, and having done so, I drank up, thanked the landlord for his time and wished him well with his property sale. I then headed down to the seafront and walked along the promenade to the Famous Ship Inn. According to What Pub, this narrow corner pub extends from the High Street to the beach, with the middle part forming the original alehouse dating from 1798. The restaurant with sea views and upstairs deck for drinkers were added in 2010. If I’m honest, I found the place rather underwhelming and failed to see why the Ship had secured its listing on the National Inventory.

Apparently, the historic interior interest here is the front bar, which is claimed to have been refitted in 1948. This would have been unusual in the immediate aftermath of the second world war, when there was a severe shortage of building materials. The walls have full-height panelling, together with a panelled ceiling, a horizontally boarded counter, fixed seating, a gently curved concave fire surround and an array of seats and tables made out of old casks. I can remember lots of pubs receiving similar treatment, later than the late 40’s, I grant you, but still nothing special in my book.

The front bar was rather crowded, so I didn’t manage any photos, and instead, headed for the large room to the left of the narrow corridor, where the walls were also panelled, although this time painted green. On the way through, I’d picked up a half of Dark Star, Hophead which was in fine form. The pub itself seemed pleasant enough and seemed popular with family groups, but I was thinking it a shame that the Providence Inne, just across the way, looked more interesting. “A pub, the way we think a pub should be,” according to the website – well, don’t you think it should be open, then?

It was time to go, so I navigated my way back to Folkestone West. Needless to say, the toilets were locked – don’t they think that people might want to use them on a bank holiday afternoon? I had a 10-minute wait for my train, although there was a Javelin HST due imminently. For the uninitiated, the Javelins operate as normal South Eastern trains until they reach Ashford. They then switch onto the high-speed rail line HS1, towards the capital, stopping only at Ebbsfleet and Stratford (both stations with the suffix “International”, even though no Eurostar services have stopped there, since the before the pandemic!)

The toilet was of greater concern to me, but fortunately it was open, there was no queue, and it was relatively clean. I arrived at Ashford, in time to change platforms, and grab an expensive cup of coffee (Starbucks), before my train back to Tonbridge pulled in.  So one excellent pub, which brought back a few memories, plus one not so memorable. However, speaking of memories, my walk along the seafront, at Sandgate, certainly brought back a few happy ones, from childhood.