The Glass House team celebrate victory in the tug-of-war contest, left


Villagers pull their weight at fete


GREY skies and strong winds failed to keep people away from Mereworth’s an- nual fete in the QEII Field. Bargain hunters scrambled to get first pick of the curios and bric-a-brac on


sale, and the cake stallwas surrounded by eager customers all afternoon. Children enjoyed the coconut shy, bouncy castle, teacup rides, face-painting


andmany other activities,while therewere four deserving winners of the pho- tographic cat competition. In themain arena, men fought for the honour of winning the Queen’s Head


Cupinthetug-of-war competition (above). Thetournament includedteams from the Mereworth Cricket Club, Hugh Lowe Farm and The Queen’s Head itself. It was won by The Glass House team (right), with the Half Pints very close run- ners-up.


Kent honour a


for fruit farmer FARMER and fruit grower Mar- ion Regan, of Mereworth, is among six peo- ple who have been newly ap- pointed


Deputy Lieu- tenant of Kent. After school


in Maidstone, she studied botany at Oxford University, then horticulture in the United States, before join- ing the family farming business in 1987, becoming managing director in 1996. A former chairman and cur-


rent director of Berry Gardens Growers, she is also a trustee of the East Malling Trust for Hor- ticultural Research and a for- mer trustee of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.


Store in the pink AISLES and checkouts were decorated in pink at Sains- bury’s Aylesford branch to launch its support for the Mid Kent Breast Cancer Research Appeal. The store, off Mills Road, has chosen the organisation as its charity of the year.


A STRIP club in East Peckham has been forced to close follow- ing opposition from residents. The Harp Inn, in Hale Street,


had been run as a sexual enter- tainment venue for six years, but failed to get its licence re- newed after Tonbridge and Malling Council adopted new legislation, allowing it to place greater weight on the views of local residents. Forty-three people objected to


the renewal, saying the strip clubwas out of place “in a quiet village” andmight attract an un- desirable clientele. The only venue of its type in Tonbridge and Malling, the


6 Malling Licence review after pub fight


A WESTMalling gastro pub has had its licence restricted after a brawl in which two off-duty po- lice officers were injured. The Farmhouse in the High


Street must now employ li- censed door staff on certain evenings. It must also keep its doors andwindows closed to re- duce the potential disturbance when live or recorded music, in- cluding karaoke, is played The licence previously ran


from 8am to midnight, with no restrictions on when people could be admitted, but now en- trance to the pub must be re- fused after 11pm and use of the garden is banned after that time. Tonbridge and Malling Coun-


cil’s licensing panel imposed the conditions following an ap- plication by the police for a re- view of the premises licence. This followed an incident during a private party at the pub in May, after which two West Malling men, aged 22 and 20, were arrested on suspicion of grievous bodily harm and are due to appear in court this month. After hearing from the police and The Farmhouse’s solicitor,


Harp provided adult shows with exotic dancers. The borough could only op-


pose a licence based on preven- tion of crime, public disorder, or public nuisance and the pro- tection of children and public safety. However, the Govern- ment introduced legislation in 2009, which the council adopted, giving itwider powers over applications. The licence was refused be-


cause the panel said the nature of a sexual venue was inappro- priate in the residential area of East Peckham. Manager Graham Ward said the pub could not attract


the panel agreed to modify the licence. Now two Security Industry Authority-licensed door staff must man the entrance on Fri- day nights throughout the year and on Saturday nights from May to October. CCTV must be fitted to a stan-


dard agreed by the police, and a member of staff must be present during trading hours who is able to download images at the request of officers. The venue is part of the Elite


Pubs group, which also runs several pubs in Kent and Sus- sex, including the Dirty Habit at Hollingbourne. Two off-duty officers attend-


ing a private function were in- jured in an altercation. They were not from the Kent force. A spokesman for The Farm


house said: “We haven’t had any incidents like that since we opened eight years ago.We have a very capable team of staff and we ensure that they are trained and hold personal licences. On that day, our staff did the best they could. “We have been working closely


with the police and licensing teams and have done everything we can tomake sure this kind of incident doesn’t happen again. We are a family pub and people come here to have a lovely meal and a lovely time.”


Police plea after High Street brawl TWOgroups ofmen were involved in a fight inWest Malling High Street. No onewas seriously injured but several men ran off when police arrived and officers are now asking for help tracing them. A Kent Police spokesman said: “Kent Police was called to a re-


port of a disturbance involving two groups of males in West Malling High Street at 10:40pm on Friday, June 21. “Nomajor injuries have been reported, but officers are continu-


ing to attempt to trace several individuals who left the scene when police attended. Other people who were in the area at the time have been spoken to and local CCTV has been reviewed.” Anyone with information can contact PC ChloeWest at Kent Po- lice, quoting incident number YY/12229/13.


Strip club closes after residents protest


enough custom in any other way, and the village would now have another derelict building with no chance of re-opening. The village already has an-


other abandoned pub – the Rose and Crown. Faced with falling trade, the


Harp’s owner, Lee Swainsbury, introduced raunchy entertain- ment in 2007, but decided to bring the curtain down for the last time on June 30. A message on the manage-


ment’s website said: “We have had great fun at the Harp. We thank our loyal and generous customers but have to say unfor- tunately it is the end of an era.”


Visit Downs Mail’s website — downsmail.co.uk


Appeal is over A CHURCH’s one-off Christmas appeal for clothing for the homeless in Maidstone turned out to be just too successful. On several occasions since January, large black bags of clothing have been left in the porch at the Church of St John the Baptist, Wateringbury, and this causes problems. The church was very pleased


with the response at Christmas and thanked everyone for their support, said an item in Rostrum magazine, stressing it does not collect clothing throughout the year and suggesting unwanted items are donated to charity shops or placed in recycling bins at supermarkets.


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