Doctor's To The Left, Butcher To The Right.

A Memory of Eastry.

The (Roman) road going down to Buttsole and then to Dover or Deal and Updown Cricket field to the left, was sometimes blocked by farmworkers guiding their sheep from one pasture to another through the village centre. The shop on the right is quite significant because it used to belong to Mr Penn who ran the butcher's. There was a big cold-room at the rear. Mr Penn was the devoted leader of the local British Legion and we can imagine how many people from east Kent got involved in WWII. Then, in about 1964, the most amazing thing happened. A Pakistani took over the premises and Eastry was amazed to have its first brown-skinned foreigner, a coloured gentleman called Ali who turned it into a florist's and became very popular, I believe. Further down the road is the next pub which also indicates its and Eastry's purpose, the Coach and Horses. Many people went down this road on the early shift to the coal mines at Tilmanstone and Betteshanger. By about 1970 they were on their way to being closed. Not many miners had a long life enough to see 70. To the left of the photographer was the doctor's.