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The Earl Grey

Bear Incident File No. 001

Location35 Old High Street, Folkestone
Approx. incident dateEarly 1980s street incident; separate late-October 1998 account
Barred statusBARRED, FORGIVEN, BARRED AGAIN
File note. Two recollections and an unlabelled tape box give different times for the same sequence.

ARCHIVE PHOTOGRAPHS

Earl Grey in 1978
Above photograph kindly supplied to Dover-Kent by Jan Pedersen, 1978.
Earl Grey in 1989
Above photo, 17 October 1989, by Jim Ashby.
Earl Grey circa 1992
Above postcard, circa 1992, sent to Dover-Kent by Rory Kehoe.
Later view of the Earl Grey
Above photo, date unknown, by Steve Schmid.
Earl Grey pub sign in 1975
Above inn sign, 1975; source credit Roger Pester / Inn Sign Society.

Historical Background

The Earl Grey stood at 35 Old High Street. Dover-Kent records the name from 1836, while Warren Press gives a working span of 1837 to 2009. It was remembered as a Shepherd Neame house near the top of the narrow street and had a single room narrowing towards the rear. The building later passed to other use.

Record note: Dover-Kent Folkestone list; Warren Press, Folkestone Pubs; address corroborated by Pubs Galore. The one-year opening discrepancy is retained.

Early 1980s: Old High Street Incident

The Bear outside the Earl Grey pub opposite Millets on Folkestone's Old High Street in the early 1980s
Old High Street, early 1980s. The Bear outside the Earl Grey, with Millets opposite. A raised hand at the doorway indicates that the appearance is not proceeding indoors.

The Bear reached the Earl Grey wearing the wooden hoop and still prepared to perform. The doorway photograph records the response: a hand raised from inside the pub, the Bear leaning back into the street, and no visible invitation to enter.

The incident is filed with his early-1980s Old High Street appearances. It sits beside the Folkestone Carnival record, where being recognised in public was more easily mistaken for being welcome at the next stop.

The refusal was followed by a backwards departure towards Millets. The second photograph finds the Bear beneath the inflatable boats, with clothing, bags and camping equipment around him. The pub doorway remains on the other side of the street.

Disposition: Entry refused. The appearance concluded in the Millets pavement display.

The Bear collapsed beneath inflatable boats outside Millets, partly covered by bags and camping equipment, opposite the Earl Grey
Second view, moments afterwards. The Bear has come to rest beneath the boats outside Millets. Camping equipment occupies the remaining pavement.

Late October 1998: The Booked Entertainment

At approximately 9.14 p.m. the Bear entered carrying a folded music stand and announced that he was “the Earl’s booked entertainment.” No Earl, booking or sheet music was produced. He commenced Widecombe Fair before the landlord had completed the sentence “Who are you?”

The first performance lasted nine verses, three of which appeared to concern a bus replacement service. When asked to stop, the Bear bowed, thanked the room for “insisting,” and began an encore. He was removed without force, looking wounded but remaining available for applause.

Disposition

Barred that evening; forgiven at Christmas after sending a card addressed to “Management & Admirers”; barred again on Boxing Day for bringing his own interval bell.

CCTV / Lost Tape Note

A VHS cassette marked EG — BAR — DO NOT TAPE OVER was reportedly kept beneath the till. It was later found to contain the final eleven minutes of Bergerac and a blurred sleeve. Its evidential value is negligible.

« Return to index | File status: disputed recollections.