Whitstable's Steam Packet
Issue: 7 Date 5th June 2023
A copy free feature of a brief history of the public house on the South Quay of Whitstable Harbour, illustrated in photographs and old postcards
From a Public House serving passengers, sailors, dock workers and railway staff at Whitstable Harbour, a Customs and Excise Office, Harbour Masters Flat, Social Amenity, Whitstable & District Angling Society HQ and a Commercial Radio Station
The original 'Steam Packet' on Harbour Street, leading to Tankerton Road
* Gorrell Reservoir to the right
The SE & CR (South Eastern & Charham Railway) railway link between Canterbury and Whitstable known as the 'Crab and Winkle' opened in 1830 taking seafood from the new harbour
Last remnant of the 'Crab & Winkle' line, gates at the harbour (29th June 2015)
England's first railway to convey passengers and container transport in steam, it boasted the first railway tunnel and first to issue season tickets
By the early 1950's it became uneconomical and closed on 1st December 1952, opening briefly to provide aid following the catastrophic flood of the eastern coast in February 1953
Last remnant of the 'Crab & Winkle' line, gates at the harbour (29th June 2015)
'Steam Packet' built in 1836 destroyed by fire
Marmion Road now Cromwell Road (1890's)
Gorrell Reservoir (1903)
Once named Marmion Road was the Northern section of Cromwell Road
Gorrell Reservoir (1903)
The 'Steam Packet' right of centre
Gorrell Reservoir (1903)
Return view towards the sluice gates feeding the reservoir
'Steam Packet'
Burnt down and totally destroyed by fire from a faulty stove in the early hours of Sunday 19th October 1913
Cromwell Road looking at the boarded up plot of the old 'Steam Packet'
Louisa (Louie) standing, daughters, Winnie, Vera and Joan with Richard Stephens
Winnie and Vera
The girls probably assisted in the pub
Reservoir Road in the 1950's floods (1953)
'Steam Packet' from the North Quay (1962)
Gathering actually at *The Guinea (Kent Messenger Friday 18th August 1967)
Back Row: Looks like Geoff Wells Radio 390 Chef?, Cyril Kennedy, Think Dave Barker?, Don Witts early Radio City Radio Engineer, Unknown?
Front: Radio 390 Secretary Mavis Bailey, John Hatt aka Chris Stuart, John Aston, Roger Thomas, Ian Scoones, Artist and friend of John Hatt, John Glendinning Radio Engineer Radio 390
See picture by Ian Scoones in Seatribe
Showing beheading photographs of Prime Minister Harold Wilson in protest at the Labour Governments introduction of the Marine Offences Act of 1967 which closed Offshore (Pirate) Radio Stations operating off the coast of the UK when it became law on 14th August 1967
* The Guinea was built in 1861 with money raised from smuggled gold
Whitstable was supply harbour, first to Radio Sutch later Radio City with Fred Downs using the Harvesters 1 & II, (F121, F122) from May 1964
Followed by Radio Invicta, later KING then Radio 390 with Vic Davis & Bryan Tyrrell using 'Mullard' (F19) from June 1964
Harvester II landing a Parachute Mine
See Fisherman Fred's unwanted catch report with Chris Kennedy!
All change ...
Reference CCA-UD-WT/O/P/ES/69/361 the 'Steam Packet', Harbour Street, Whitstable, change of use of ground floor only from club to dockers welfare amenity block (1969)
Whitstable and District Angling Society Emblem
In 1986 Whitstable and District Angling Society with Chairman Roland Joint leased the 'Steam Packet' Harbour Street, Whitstable, Kent, CT5 1AB from the Harbour Board (Canterbury City Council)
When the Red Sand Maunsell Sea Fort Southern Gun Tower lost its fendering in 2008, Red Sands Radio came ashore to broadcast from the old Steam Packet from 2009-2014
The 'Steam Packet' (07.01 on 2nd August 2014)
Building in use by Whitstable & District Angling Society with above the Red Sands Radio Studios
With the threat of the buildings closure Red Sands Radio looked at relocating elsewhere at the Harbour
Vattenfall generously offered their building on the West Quay but 'red tape' thwarted the plan
Subsequently, the Red Sands Radio model was tried in Greenwich and ultimately we were rewarded a full term Ofcom Commercial Radio Licence as Maritime Radio
The 'Steam Packet' (Whitstable Times 3rd February 2016)
Two years passed before the Angling Society pulled out, subsequently still under threat of demolition the building has been leased to Michael Marsh for preserving seafood for the Harbour Garden Cafe (2019-2024)
Ancestral Research by Margaret Lewis, images courtesy of the Jerry Pitcher Collection, Douglas West, Garth Wyver and Red Sands Radio