![]() Trade and naval activity flourished here for centuries, although the town’s proximity to Europe also turned it into a notorious smugglers’ haunt - so much so that in 1785 the local fishing fleet was set ablaze by Royal Dragoon Guards, under orders from Westminster. Some six miles offshore is the notorious, shipwreck-laden sandbank of Godwin Sands, the upside of which is the sheltered natural anchorage it creates closer to land. “Fish,” he replies.ĭeal has always looked seawards. A few anglers are dangling rods over the side of the pier. ![]() On the seafront stands the restored Deal Timeball Tower, a Victorian maritime Greenwich Mean Time signal that still signals 1pm each day, although now more for the benefit of tradition than passing ships. Deal’s stark-looking pier stretches out above the waves, and I wander to the end to look back at the shingle beach. When I wake the next morning, France is clearly visible across the Channel. When you factor in the three towns that stud the route, the prospect of a coastal walk becomes a ripe one. As the closest stretch of coastline to mainland Europe, this has always been England’s front door, but beyond its complex past it’s also a captivating swathe of countryside. I’m staying in Deal to begin a hike along the cliffs, first walking the 12 miles to Dover before finishing eight miles further south west in Folkestone. I end up at The Rose, a little wood-panelled hotel and restaurant with vintage crockery on the tables, inventive creations on the cocktail list and flame-torched mackerel on the menu. Indie bookshops and artisan butchers glimmer among the chain stores the swell of a choir rehearsal emanates from the Astor Community Theatre. The street is half a mile long and as straight as a stick of rock. When I turn onto the high street, a headphone-wearing skateboarder curves past me walking a Boston terrier. As if to illustrate his point, four women wander out of the bar wheeling golf trollies.ĭeal has carved a fresh name for itself, just like many towns on the Kent coastline have - Margate and Whitstable, for instance, have become magnets for food- and art-lovers over recent decades. Funnily enough, the coal seam actually goes right under the pub.” Graham gestures towards the seafront, where hot June sunshine is pounding down on the Channel. If you were stupid enough to mention Maggie Thatcher, you’d be in trouble. “It was a rough town when I first started,” he tells me. It’s a Deal institution, and so is Graham. ![]() The kind of place where there’s always an excuse for another round. You know the one: flower boxes in the windows, cricket memorabilia on the walls, fairground lettering on the sign outside. He was already an experienced publican when he moved to the seaside town of Deal, where he’s now spent 42 years in charge of The Kings Head. ![]() Five million pints. That’s roughly the amount of beer Kent landlord Graham Stiles has pulled since he first stepped behind a bar. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |