Pub illegally pulled down
An application for the proposed demolition of a pub has been refused – despite the fact it has already been torn down.
What was once a much-loved family pub, the Battle of Britain in Northfleet, is now just a hole in the ground.
More than 50 people stood outside the flattened remains last week in protest at it being illegally bulldozed in the dead of night.
Developer Caldecotte Group asked whether permission was needed for demolition – but tore it down just days later anyway without the council’s knowledge or consent.
Putnam Construction Services, contracted to carry out the work, declined to comment, as has the Brakspear Brewery owned by the applicant for the demolition J T Davies & Sons, Paul Sturgess of the Caldecotte Group and the pub’s most recent manager Phil Davies. A text message that may have saved the life of a suicidal woman failed to send because of a poor mobile signal, an inquest has been told.
Em Davis attempted to reach out to a friend, texting “call an ambulance I’m upstairs” and adding the address of the house in which she was staying.
However, the message was only found by police after the 28-yearold was discovered dead by her father at the home in Summer Hill, Harbledown.
An inquest heard the text was sitting in the phone’s outbox and had only been sent when the mobile was taken out of the property.
Dad Mark Davis found his daughter lying on a sofa with a rope around her neck.
Suicide notes to her family and expartner were nearby, along with a bag marked “hospital to go”.
Mr Davis said his daughter, who lived in Surrey, had suffered with depression since early adulthood and attempted suicide twice last year.
She was staying at a relative’s house in Canterbury after the break-up of a relationship.
Coroner Alan Blunsdon decided that, despite the notes, both the undelivered text message and “hospital to go” bag raised doubts about Miss Davis’s intentions and recorded an open verdict.
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