Signs that old pubs won’t be forgotten

In last week’s Remember When I featured three inn signs of some of the town’s long lost pub portfolio that has somewhat diminished even further over the decades.

At one time, it was almost as if there was a ‘local’ around every corner for those in search of a swift half or a short, or as a social point to meet friends.

I have been astounded over the years by the number of emails sent from by what I can only describe as thrilled readers, when featuring images of old Ashford, and last week’s feature was no exception.

You can almost detect the emotion in some of the emails with some saying that they never imagined that such pictures would exist after all these years, thinking that scenes of these once familiar landmarks had faded into infinity.

That’s why it is so important to me to keep such memories alive and why I am always in search of imagery of our vastly changed town.

I have recently acquired some pictures which are very rare and never been seen before, depicting the town between 1864 and 1895. These are some of the earliest known pictures of the town. I will shortly be digitising these so that they can be featured over the coming months.

So, due to popular demand this week’s Remember When features three more inn signs of the town’s long lost pubs. Thanks again are due to Edwin Bartlett, from Ashford, for donating these images.

Do you have any photographs or slides that you would be willing to lend me, to be scanned and featured in the Express?

Write to me, Steve Salter, Kentish Express Remember When, Unit 4, Park Mall Shopping Centre, Ashford, TN24 8RY, email me at rememberwhen_kmash@ hotmail.co.uk or follow me on Twitter @SteveKMAshford

You can also leave a phone message for me with brief details by calling 01233 623232.