Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Hotel’s history of helping those in need
The arrival of more than 100 Afghan refugees at the Abbots Barton Hotel is just the latest episode in the fascinating history of the New Dover Road building.
It was originally known as Westfield House and dates back to 1830.
In the early 1900s it was the family home of Major Francis Bennett-goldney, a big character in Canterbury’s past.
He served as mayor from 1906-11, was elected as the Independent Unionist Member of Parliament for Canterbury at the general election of December 1910 and was the honorary curator of the city’s Royal Museum and Art Gallery.
In the years leading up to the First World War he had repeatedly warned of the threat posed by Germany and remained staunch in his views in the face of criticism.
When the conflict broke out he made Abbot’s Barton House - as it was then known available to the Voluntary Aid Detachment as a hospital for wounded troops.
According to The Times, he was also active in aiding refugees during the early days of the war - and so would likely warmly welcome the hotel’s current use.
Major Bennett-goldney died in July 1918 in a US hospital in Brest after sustaining injuries in a car accident.
He is commemorated in Westminster Hall and in the House of Commons chamber - as well as in a book of remembrance in Parliament.
Yet it would emerge after his death that he was in fact a chronic thief, according to The Times.
His home was reportedly filled with stolen items - including from the city’s museum and library.
After the war the major’s family sold up and the Abbots Barton became a hotel.
According to one report online, this occurred in 1927.
However, the dover-kent. com website says it was in 1949 when the licence from the Royal Fountain Hotel in St Margaret’s Street - destroyed in the 1942 Baedeker Raids - was transferred by the council’s licensing committee.
In the early 2000s it was taken over by the San Guiseppe family, who are members of the Best Western group of independent hoteliers and still own the hotel to this day.