Cambridge Arms
42 Dover Road, Walmer

Walmer's "Cambridge Arms" was built in the mid-1800s and still in business today.

The pub was named after the first Duke, a son of George III, who visited Walmer Castle in 1839 as guest of the Lord Warden, the Duke of Wellington. In 1971, brewery owners Bass Charrington re-modelled the public house. The interior was decorated with Royal Marines relics and items of historic interest and the pub's name changed to the "Drum Major".

This was shortlived and the pub reverted to being the "Cambridge Arms" again.

Granville Arms
Cambridge Road, Walmer

Dating from 1874 and closed in 2011, becoming a private residence. It is said the pub took its name from Earl Granville, a Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports.

No further information available.

Green Berry
23 Canada Road, Walmer

This is another pub that has changed its name over the years.

It was originally called the "Royal Arms" (from 1874 until after 1913).

The name was subsequently changed to the "Green Beret" in honour of the Royal Marines. Their barracks were nearby and the name signified the colour of their head-gear.

Following bombing of the barracks by the Provisional IRA on 22 September 1989, it was later decided to change the name of the pub to "The Green Berry", primarily to reduce property insurance costs.

Lifeboat
16 The Strand, Walmer

Previously called the "True Briton", this pub was renamed "The Lifeboat" in September 1976 but closed in 2008.

Among those present at the re-naming ceremony for the historic lifeboatmen's pub were round-the-world yachtsman Sir Alec Rose.

Also attending was Sir Norman Tailyour, Captain of Deal Castle and patron of the Downs and Goodwin Sands branch of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.

The pub had been used by generations of Walmer lifeboatmen, and often survivors had been taken into the bars to be given refreshment and dry clothes, so the new Lifeboat" name was seen as particularly apt.

Lord Clyde
61 The Strand, Walmer

More details are needed for this pub which remains open for business.

The photograph from 1900 is, to date, the earliest information available.

Lord Nelson
50 The Strand, Walmer

Incorporating the "Trafalgar Restaurant", the "Lord Nelson" is the oldest pub in Walmer.

Queens Head Hotel
37 The Strand, Walmer

This building is thought to have served as a hotel from 1847 to 1914 (or later). It is now home to the Royal Marines Social Club which serves real ale and is open for CAMRA members.

Stag Hotel
7 The Strand, Walmer

The earliest known record for this pub is for licensee Henry Snelling, listed in Bagshaw's Directory for 1847.

The pub remains open today.

Admiral Owen
The Strand, Walmer

Apart from the name, there are no known details.

Alma Tavern
25 The Strand, Walmer

From limited records, it would seem this pub was in business in 1874 until 1938 or later.

Bricklayers Arms
Dover Road, Walmer

Records from 1874 and 1882 suggest that this pub used to be opposite the gates of the Royal Marines Barracks . If correct that would put it very close to today's "Cambridge Arms" and could be the same premises.

Dolphin
Gladstone Road, Walmer

No longer standing and replaced by terraced houses at 97-105 Gladstone Road on the junction with North Barrack Road.

A Mr and Mrs Edward Minter are recorded as living at The Dolphin, Walmer in February 1917. Presumably they were the landlords having previously been recorded in the 1911 census as Edward and Lucy Minter and licensed victuallers of "The Shakespeare", Ramsgate. Other records suggest the pub was in business between 1874 and 1970 and was originally called "The Good Woman".

Duke of Wellington
Walmer Road (* renamed The Strand in the 1840's)

Found in Pigot's directory of 1828 and 1832, but not to be mistaken for the "Duke of York" also in Walmer Road, as both of these are found in the same directory and with different licensees.

Research by A J Langridge in 1977 mentions that this pub closed in 1971.

Duke of York
Walmer Road (* renamed The Strand in the 1840's)

This pub was sold for £370 along with another 11 public houses in neighbouring villages in 1826.

The building also appears in Pigot's Directory for 1828. This also lists the "Duke of Wellington" pub in Walmer Road, naming different licensees.

Kings Head
Walmer Road (* renamed The Strand in the 1840's)

To date, the earliest known reference to this pub is its sale along with another 11 public houses in neighbouring villages in 1826 for the sum of £425.

Pigot's Directory of 1840 refers to this pub in addition to listing another "Kings Head" and also a "Kings Arms", both in Deal. Nothing more is known after 1840.

Life Boat
Campbell Road, Walmer

The Deal History Society say this pub existed in 1878 but there's no other information apart from limited records up to 1899.

Today, the building in Campbell Road is two cottages.

The renaming of "The True Briton" on The Strand to "The Lifeboat" in 1976 revived the name.

Lord Warden Hotel
3 North Barrack Road, Walmer

The earliest known reference to a Lord Warden Inn is on a reprint of an 1873 Ordnance Survey Map. The same map also shows the "Rising Sun" to be not far away on the same road. Later records suggest the pub was still operating in 1938.

Military Tavern
Canada Road, Walmer

One record cites the pub in 1874. Currently there is no other information.

Rising Sun
North Barrack Road, Walmer

It is said that Noel Coward, when living at St. Margaret's, was a "regular" at this former pub in North Barrack Road.

Early records suggest the pub existed in 1874 and 1882.

Royal Standard
Walmer Road (* renamed The Strand in the 1840's)

Several early records confirm the existence of this pub. The Kentish Gazette for Friday 5 February 1813 has an account of "A Main of Cocks and Stags to be fought at the Royal Standard, Walmer Road, on Wednesday 10 February for Five Guineas a battle between the gentlemen of Dover and the gentlemen of Walmer Road... ".

Pigot's Directories for 1828 and 1840 list it at Walmer Road. And Melville's Directory of 1858 has a listing but merely giving the address as Lower Walmer.

Sir Colin Campbell
36 Campbell Road, Walmer

Records from 1862 and 1938 refer to the existence of this pub.

Cinque Port
Volunteer
287 Dover Road,
Upper Walmer

Originally simply called the "Volunteer", this pub is known to date from 1874 and changed name some time before 1882 to be called the "Cinque Port Volunteer."

It closed some time after 1913 and is now a private house known as "Cinque Port House".

There's room for a bit of confusion about the pub's name - as Pigot's Directory of 1840 lists a "Cinque Port Arms" in Walmer. It seems likely that it was the same building.

Drum Inn
203 Dover Road,
Upper Walmer

Very possibly the earliest pub in Walmer, the Drum Inn on the Dover Road is thought to have been built in 1541. It was demolished in 1970.

Locally the road is often referred to as Drum Hill, a name thought to derive from use of a drum each morning to summon military masons building Henry VIII's castles to work.

Following the Great Storm of 26-27 November 1703, the inn provided a refuge for a number of survivors from vessels lost on the Goodwin Sands.

Despite major changes to some of its architecture, a pink-painted house on the Dover Road at Upper Walmer provides enough clues to reveal its former role as a local pub with records confirming its existence between 1882 and 1934.

A former licensed country house hotel at the junction of Walmer Castle Road and St Clare Road.

The role of the building as the former Queen Adelaide pub is recalled in today's private dwelling of Adelaide House at 22 Church Street.

The photograph of the pub in 1902 shows a delivery horse and cart operated by Christopher Terry and Co.

Records so far found suggest the pub was operating in 1847 and possibly after 1913.

There is some doubt about whether this building on the Dover Road between Church Street and Gothic Close was ever a pub.

Whilst there is a popular belief that it was an old coaching inn, one researcher into the pubs of Walmer and Deal, Steve Glover, has not been able to find any evidence to support this. He says the building was definitely called the "Rattling Cat" on the 1948 land registry but was called "St Clairs Cottage" around 1800. A plaque on the front suggests it was built in 1703.

The house is not short of other claims to a dramatic past. It is said that it served as a staging post for smuggling with, reputedly, the remains of old tunnels linking the beach and the old parish church and secret hiding places underneath the building itself. Steve Glover says there are three Gothic arches in the basement that might be entrances to blocked up tunnels.

Railway Hotel
85 Station Road,
Upper Walmer

Once part of the Thompson and Sons local brewery chain, "The Railway" is, today, owned by Faversham-based brewers Shepherd Neame.

Earliest records suggest that the pub was in business in 1882 and it remains open today serving the local community around Walmer rail station.

Thompson Bell
335 Dover Road,
Upper Walmer

Originally the "George and Dragon" and possibly dating from 1828, this Upper Walmer pub was renamed the "Thompson Bell" after its owners, Thompson's Brewery of Walmer closed in 1981.

The bell from the Brewery was removed when the brewing stopped in 1974 and relocated at the public house.

Wellesley House in Walmer Castle Road is just off the Dover Road and its architecture is strongly suggestive of a former use as a pub.

Endeavour
Dover Road, Walmer

Research by historian A J Langridge in 1977 mentions the "Endeavour" in Dover Road but unfortunately there's no further information.