Six fire engines and the height vehicle were in attendance at a blaze at the former Chilton Tavern pub in Ramsgate last night (October 9).
Fire crews were called in at 9.03pm after residents heard a loud ‘explosion.’ Kent Police were also at the scene.
A Kent Fire & Rescue Service spokesperson said: “Kent Fire and Rescue Service was called to Pegwell Road in Ramsgate to reports of a fire in a derelict pub.
“Six fire engines and height vehicle attended, and crews fought the fire with hose reel jets, main jets and water from hydrants. Kent Police also attended.
“There were no reported injuries and the cause is not yet known.”
Crews did not finish at the scene until 1.02am.
A Kent Police spokesperson said: “Kent Police was called by Kent Fire and Rescue Service at around 9.20pm to a building alight in Pegwell Road, Ramsgate. Officers attended the scene and closed the road while fire crews extinguished the blaze. Enquiries are underway into the cause of the fire.”
Ramsgate firefighters also attended a blaze at the play park next to the fire station in Newington Road last night.
The Chilton Tavern stopped trading several years ago. In 2018 a planning application to convert the site into three homes was refused.
A lovely old pub! : (
All pubs are lovely if you are addicted to alcohol.
I’m pretty much teetotal, but I enjoy the atmosphere of old pubs (particularly in the days of smoking, despite the fact that I’ve never smoked!).
Peter, you are a confused bundle of contradictions.
Thank you.
Call me pessimistic but the “application to convert was refused”. Could that be in any way relevant? Just thinking back to the mysterious fires in Thanet some years ago. Who owns the site I wonder?
The name Godden springs to mind.
Good question
Yes I’m guessing the planning application to convert the site into homes will get the go ahead now 🙂
But was it kosher?
More Thanet ‘buy and burn’. Unscrupulous property developers should be punished for this. Further refusal of planning permission and an order to rebuild as was. The insurance company should also be wary. The building should have been adequately protected and the gas turned off.
Probably no insurance in place other than public liability, the building was a liability for the developer and it’s s loss will be of no significance. The remains will be demolished and planning will go through eventually it’s just a game. As to whether it was deliberate for business purposes, one of the local firebugs or a genuine accident , we’ll never know. So long as no one got hurt , other than the the cost of the fire services response it hardly matters. As a pub it was obviously no longer a viable business and change is/was due.
There are a few that like to “Buy and Burn” in the area.
One in Ramsgate in particular!
Can’t mention the name but has had a his hands in a few buildings in the area mysteriously go up in flames!
An act of Godden!
Could one of the buildings in Ramsgate be the Panorama site? Still a mystery.
I am intrigued by “his barbers on Queen Street”. How is that relevant?
I’m not talking Godden!
Hes long gone, but others follow suit.
The new Godden has been involved in a few unfortunate incidents for buildings
Anyway two boys got arrested for Pleasurama but that’s all that was said.
Rotunda
Mr Bs
Pleasurama
Plus many other things that Godden was involved with went up in smoke.
How did he get fire and theft insurance lol
Do you know this for certain? If so, I suggest you contact the police.
I agree with you entirely, Peter.
Any bets on the Winter Gardens going the same way?
Sadly, I wouldn’t like to bet against it.
I foresee a lot more events like this, as rising costs drive pubs and so on out of business.
the same old story , buy and burn is the perfect description of what goes on around here ,and we never see a successful prosecution, and the list keeps going up , i also feel the same fate awaits the gardens
Lovely old pub with lots of old history, I use to like a pint 🍺 or 2 in there years ago, planning refused then 🔥 very suspicious, remember the old southwood tavern pub ? That was exactly the same
A lot of pubs are closing because they are no longer viable. The cost of living crisis will accelerate the process.
People are not going to pubs because they are too costly. It is definitely an end of an era.
Being nostalgic will not bring them back. Whether they are simply boarded up for years or are burned down mysteriously makes no difference. Then there are all those old boozers converted to Asian eateries. You see them all over Kent.
So what does it matter is someone uses an accelerant and a box of Swan Vestas? You can’t avoid the inevitable.
I know many pubs that are still very busy (even in more out of the way places like Sarre and Westbere), but they tend to be known mainly for their food.
The Westbere Butts pub near Canterbury has long been an Asian restaurant … for years, in fact. The sole pub in Acol has been closed for years.
Pubs known mainly for their food are not pubs in the traditional sense.
The times they are achanging, as Bob Dillon once put it.
Actually the former Westbere Butts has been demolished, and housing is currently being built on the site. You clearly need to get out more.
I have not been to Canterbury for years, preferring Amazon Prime for my shopping.
We get the bus quite often, mainly to go walking in the Westbere/Fordwich//Broad Oak area (all 3 still have great pubs!).
Was my local from 1971. Great memories for me and many others now destroyed. I cannot believe it was an accident. I hope those who caused this are brought to justice and serve a very long sentence, although in reality it’s not going to happen, and whatever sentence they get, we will pay for their stay inside. So in all fairness they get food, heating, bed, TV’s etc etc all for nothing, and the tax payers pay for it. Fair ain’t it ???
Bring back the birch, eh? A damned good thrashing should learn ’em.
No. That’s to good for them.
There’s some nice stocks outside Monkton church!
In that case Peter let’s do it properly. A life for a life, an eye for an eye, a hand for a hand, and if you set fire to a building, your building is burnt down. I know this is wrong in a civilised community but there have been so many comments, by many different people, on this website saying the law, and the courts are to soft. Surely, enough is enough.