Time really does fly between the opportunities I get to leave the house and go to the pub. Went through Sandgate the other night and noticed The Providence was closed. I remember it being up for sale, the long term landlord John Latchford was retiring or something, could no longer make a go of the pub. The sale seems to have happened in September 2013, so eighteen months ago!
The Providence was bought by Billy Nutt with all sorts of showbiz connections, oh yes he was going to bring his friends from Eastenders down, as also claimed by another pub operator in the area. Billy Nutt did indeed deliver though, or at least formalise the arrangement, I remember seeing an evening with "Charlie from Eastenders" advertised.
Billy Nutt has now been jailed for indecently assaulting a four year old boy1. None of his showbiz friends were available to keep the bar open.
I wonder if it will recover? It's always struggled in comparisons with The Ship just a few doors down...
This is part of my site The FG that I built in a fury of excitement when we first came to Folkestone in approximately 2004. I had been a frequent visitor for a while previous to that so I am technically one of those DFLs you get nowadays. The site was updated more frequently with a gig calendar and voting for favourite places and things, and I know it was a handy resource for those who were moving to the area. Now I've moved out of Folkestone again (though only a couple of miles) it doesn't get as much love as it used to. Ironic really as The town is now becoming the exciting place we knew it was just about to. My name is not Gerald by the way, the name comes from a pretend newspaper in an episode of Brasseye or something, the Portsmouth Gerald, + how there is a local newspaper here called the Folkestone Herald. Puns like this are GRATE aren't they? Do contact me if you have anything to offer, email anythign @ this domain, or try @folkestone or @pauly on the twitter.