64 High Street

Originally tied to Maidstone brewers Mason’s, the Joiners converted to Shepherd Neame following their buyout of the brewers in the 1950s.

As is the case for most of the existing pubs in West Malling, we are fortunate to have a number of photos that document the property throughout its history. However, despite being a central location for people to meet and socialise for nearly 200 years, there is surprisingly little information about the property. The Malling Society’s booklet, Inns, Beerhouses & Their Keepers, provides a good summary of the landlords that occupied this beerhouse throughout the 19th and 20th century and is worth acquiring from the society if you would like further information about their backgrounds. The booklet rightly points out that a large number of the landlords relied on a second income in order to make ends meet with jobs listed in the census including seedsman, fruiterer and shop keeper. The seedsman in this case was George Barton who placed the following advert in the Kentish Advertiser which refers to his ‘seed establishment’ in the High Street.

TO NOBLEMEN, CLERGYMEN, AND GENTLEMEN.
GEORGE BARTON
Returns his thanks for the very liberal support he has received from them for the last 21 years in the SEED TRADE, and begs to say that he has taken the AGENCY for WEST MALLING and surrounding district, for Messrs. Stevens, Son, and Co’s celebrated BOBE and FISH MANURES, and hopes with a good article combined with moderate prices, to merit a share of patronage.
Samples may be seen and testimonials given at his stand, 24 Corn Exchange, Maidstone, or at his Seed Establishment, High Street, West Malling.
Kentish Advertiser – Monday 2 March 1868
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The need to find alternative income may go some way to explain why the only newspaper reports that we have been able to track down tend to be about landlords who have overstepped the mark when trying to increase their revenue or the usual reports of locals who have had one, or more often than not a few drinks too many. The examples below give a flavour of these articles…

AN UNREGISTERED LODGING HOUSE.
Thomas Abery, landlord of the “Joiner’s Arms,” beer house, Malling, was summoned for keeping an unregistered lodging-house on January 28th.
Mr W. S. Norton appeared in support of the information, which he explained was laid at the instance of the Malling Sanitary Authority. The summons was taken out under the 86th section of the Public Health Act, which provided that every lodging-house should be registered, and subsequent sections provided that fines should be imposed on the keeper should he fail to have it registered…
…On the night in question, the inspector visited the house about half-past six in the evening, when he saw six or seven men and a woman down stairs. One man was taking a meal, and the others were smoking. Later the same evening he again visited the house with P.C. Cordery, and they saw a number of men down stairs, others in bed up-stairs, and they also noticed several vacant beds. The Inspector then gave evidence corroborative of the above statement, and a man named Martin was also called by Mr Norton, but he said he was a weekly lodger…
…The Chairman said that defendant had been told that he must register the house. Mr Tatham (who defended) said that he did not do so, because he was of opinion that it was not a common lodging-house.
The Bench fined defendant 40s and costs.
Kentish Advertiser – Saturday 18 February 1893
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WEST MALLING – DRUNKENNESS.
Thos. Hall was summoned for being drunk and riotous, at West Malling, on the 17th of April. – Police-constable Petts stated that on the 17th April, at 8.30 p.m., he saw the defendant, who was very drunk, ejected from the Joiners’ Arms, kept by a man, named Waters. He was so drunk that he fell down to the pavement. After he was down he kept on swearing. With assistance witness got him up, and a man came up and said he would see him home. Witness went back to the Joiners’ Arms to ascertain where the defendant got the drink, and was told that he was drunk when he went there. The defendant had been a teetotaller for some time. – The Bench, taking into consideration that he had made an effort to amend, treated the case merely as one of drunkenness, and fined him £1 and 9s. costs; in default, one month’s hard labour.
Kent and Sussex Times – June 7 1879
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Confectionary and Beer

A great combination some may argue but perhaps not one that you would usually associate with complimentary businesses, but a certain A W Robinson had a different outlook and during his stint as landlord at the beginning of the 20th century, split the property in half in order to cater for two commercial outlets – a pub on one side and a tobacconist and confectionary shop on the other. Although landlords had previously sought supplementary incomes, this appears to be the first time the property was visibly split into two distinguishable businesses when seen from the High Street. A W Robison was in fact Arthur William, son of an established carpenter in the town who also lived on the High Street for some time. Although the tobacconist and confectionary shop began life in the left hand side of the property, for some reason and I suspect we will never discover why, Arthur made the decision to swap the two businesses around at some point as can be seen in the photos below.