King's Arms, Chatham

The King’s Arms was a riverside public house at 18 Medway Street (formerly Holborn Lane)^[1] in Chatham, Kent.^[2]

By the early 19th century, King's Arms stood adjacent to the Holborn Wharf (Hard) on the River Medway,^[3][4] in the town’s old commercial district near Sun Pier.^[5][6] The 17th-century inn served local dockyard and mill workers, being immediately beside Chatham Town Mills (a large water-powered corn mill on Medway Street) and within sight of Holborn Wharf.^[7] (Town Mills, alternately called Hookers Mill^[8] or Wingent & Kimmins Mill, was an electric/steam flour mill on Medway Street until its demolition in the late 20th century.^[9]

Although no brewery tie is recorded and the pub does not appear in major brewery-ownership lists—confirming its role as an independent local tavern—the Licensing Records of 1872 show that the premises held a Full Licence and were owned by the Trustees of Watts Charity in Rochester.^[10] Those same records note that the original building had recently burned down, with the licence subsequently transferred to the adjoining property.^[11] Moreover, archival material at the Medway Archives and Local Studies Centre traces the pub’s history back to at least 1760 as part of the Watts Charity MSS (1579–1972).^[12] Nearby, Richard Watts’s Charity lands are shown on an 1860 plan of Holborn Lane, although it remains unclear whether the charity ever held direct title to the pub structure itself. For context, nearby buildings in the Holborn Lane area today, such as the former Argos building, are owned by the Richard Watts Charity.^[13][14]

Historical directories and census records list successive licensees. In 1840 Pigot’s Directory names Benjamin Braddy as landlord of the King’s Arms at Holborn Wharf. By 1858 the licensee was Thomas Marshment, and from 1862 through 1874 Thomas Cameron is recorded as landlord. Census and directory entries show John Ballard running the pub in the 1880s–1890s.^[15] At the 1901 census the occupier was Daniel H. Barnard (aged 41) with wife Alice and staff; he appears in the 1903 Post Office Directory. By 1911 the licensee was George Edwin Foreman (aged 49) with wife Elizabeth,^[16] and he is listed in the 1913 and 1922 directories. Elizabeth Foreman is still named in the 1930 directory, and Charles Hattersley is listed as licensee in 1938. A 1950 trade journal (Black Eagle Journal)^[17] names W. J. A. Punter as licensee at that date.^[18] In the early 1960s the pub’s licensee was Harold George Thomas Wells. He is mentioned in The London Gazette (a public insolvency notice) as “WELLS, Harold George Thomas, Kings Arms, Medway Street, Chatham (Licensed Victualler…)” on 23 Nov 1962.^[19] A later Gazette entry (1965) confirms Wells in the same capacity . By 1970 the landlord was Henry Asa Oxford (79 High Street, Rochester), described as “late of The King’s Arms, Medway Street, Chatham, as a Licensed Victualler”.^[20] (Oxford’s notice is also a London Gazette insolvency entry.) After the early 1970s there is no clear public record of further licensees. The pub reportedly closed in the late 20th century. A KentOnline report notes: “In the 1990s, the pub closed when the building was damaged in a fire, and remained in a ruined state until it was demolished in 2002.^[21]

The King’s Arms figured in one of Chatham’s worst mid-19th century tragedies. On 28 July 1840, a boat carrying sixteen sailors (from a merchant ship) capsized at Holborn Wharf near the pub. Nine men swam ashore or were rescued, but seven drowned in the Medway. The victims and survivors were carried into the King’s Arms, where makeshift first aid was rendered.^[22] An inquest on the recovered bodies was held at the pub, which concluded the deaths were “accidental”.^[23] Days later, the pub’s landlord Benjamin Braddy^[15] (who had been “in bad health”) died – a coroner’s report noted that the “melancholy catastrophe” of the drownings had hastened his demise.^[24]

John Field was a 70-year-old man from Chatham who died by suicide in July 1860. Known locally by the nickname "God Save the Queen," Field had recently discharged himself from the Medway Union Workhouse and struggled to find employment. On the morning of July 19, 1860, he was seen sitting near the New Stairs by the River Medway.^[25] Witnesses reported that he bid farewell to nearby children before deliberately entering the river, where he drowned. His body was recovered shortly thereafter. An inquest into his death was held the following day at the King's Arms public house in Chatham, presided over by Coroner T. Hills, Esq. The jury returned a verdict of "Temporary Insanity," citing his recent hardships and expressed reluctance to return to the workhouse as contributing factors.^[26]

In its final decades the King’s Arms fell on hard times. The building was reportedly damaged by fire in the 1990s and left derelict.^[27] The Kent Online “lost pubs” feature notes that after the 1840 tragedy the pub “held a dark history” and that in the 1990s it was “ravaged by a fire”, closing the business. By the late 1990s the empty inn remained a ruin; scaffolding and bricked‑up windows can be seen in photographs from that era. STG Building Control hold a record of a demolition application (ref DEM/02/0020/M) for The Kings Arms Public House, Chatham, Kent, ME4 4HA, received on 3 December 2002.^[28] By that point the structure was beyond salvage, and it was duly demolished on 3 December 2002, leaving an empty overgrown lot.^[29] (Contemporary plans and maps show no trace of the old building after 2003.) No specific contractor or firm is named in the public record for the demolition; it appears to have been a routine clearance by Medway Council prior to site redevelopment.^[30]

In the 21st century the former pub site became part of the Chatham Waterfront regeneration. The vacant land at 18 Medway Street was incorporated into a new mixed-use development. By 2020 work began to turn the site (together with adjacent car parks) into modern housing. Kent Online reports that “in 2020, the empty land finally received some attention” as part of the waterfront development, with an apartment block expected by 2023.^[31] The development is known as Sterlet Wharf – a riverside apartment complex along Medway Street.^[32] (Sterlet Wharf is one of several new waterfront projects listed in Chatham’s redevelopment plans .) Today no trace of the King’s Arms remains: the former pub site is occupied by new flats, and any physical link to the tavern has been erased.

• Chatham, Kent
• Chatham Waterfront
• River Medway
• Richard Watts Charities
• List of pubs in Kent
• List of pubs in the United Kingdom