Golden Cross

Thanks to the sharp eyes of readers of the Dover Mercury for the following information:

The public house was called the Golden Cross, 13 St James' Street, on the corner of Golden Cross Passage.  The shop on the opposite corner of the Passage was a grocer's, which explains the Nestles Milk advert on the wall.

A poster in Dover Museum proclaims "We were bombed and shelled out of the Golden Cross and now we have no roof, but Hitler can't stop us! (we hope)".  According to the accompanying label, the pub was damaged by bombs on 7th October, 1940.  The area was badly damaged by shellfire and the pub was eventually demolished in 1958, having never reopened.

This outlet of Charrington opened at five a.m. from 1881. Another with the sign was reported in Snargate Street in 1826. (John Tylden).

The pub and the adjoining passage got their name when, during structural alterations in 1860, a small gold cross came to light.  It has been passed down through the family and the proud possessor to-day (1991) is David Clark of Tenterden.

Bomb damage was responsible for the closure on 7 October 1940.  Further damage by March 1941 made the building so dangerous that rebuilding was called for.  That produced a decision which was to affect all the licensed premises through­out hostilities.  It was ruled that although rebuilding was out of the question the brewer should not forfeit the licence .

Post war, a compulsory purchase order was made for the site and war damaged building thereon in January 1954.  It was confirmed in May 1955.  The brewer in turn, asked for the licence to be transferred to a newly built house on the Buckland Estate and it then passed to the "Wheelwright's Arms" in 1956.

Help wanted:

We still don't know what the occasion was, who the men were or where they were going.  Can anybody help us with this one?

Information on this page taken from Smith (1991)

Thanks to Mr. David Dixon of Dover for the loan of this picture.