Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
The first stop for a city pint for centuries
Many readers will have driven past this historic pub at the entrance to the city hundreds of times...
The pub at the roundabout at the top of New Dover Road is today known as the Old Gate Inn. Thousands of motorists drive past it every day - either leaving the city towards the A2, or entering Canterbury after pulling off the motorway.
But as recently as 1910 - as the picture, left, shows - horse and cart was the preferred method of transport for those coming in and out of Canterbury.
Back then the inn was simply known as The Gate. But in its first incarnation, in 1728, it was originally called the Sign of the Gate - as it was built near the toll gate. The first landlord was Richard Howard, who also collected the tolls and was a trained tallow chandler (candlemaker).
In 1781 the pub was known as the Gate Inn and became a coaching house where weary travellers could rest for a night. It was supplied by Rigden’s in the early 19th century.
Some of the miscreants to have visited the pub over the years include James Stephens, who made off with the landlord’s son’s trousers in 1855, and three soldiers who in 1860 refused to pay for their beers before going to a nearby farm and stealing a goose.
In a more recent incident, in 2014, a man from Dover broke into the pub so he could use a phone to arrange a lift home.
In the 1940s its clientele was described as “residents and road users”.
The pub changed its name to the Old Gate Inn in about 1965. Today
it is run by Vintage Inns and offers accommodation at the Inkeeper’s Lodge next door.
■ Pictures and information used with kind permission of dover-kent.com.