NESTLED for centuries in its home just off the Quay, an historic Poole pub is set for a new lease of life thanks to the ascension of our new monarch.
A stone’s throw away from the Poole Quay promenade sits the more than 250-year-old King Charles Pub, named after a revolution-forced visit of an exiled French king.
Located in Thames Street, the 14th century building used to be attached to the adjacent Poole Museum before it was separated and became a public house named The New Inn in around 1770.
Its name was eventually changed to commemorate the occasion in 1830 when King Charles X of France landed at Poole Quay while fleeing the English ship Great Britain after the Second French Revolution.
Close to 200 years later and one of Poole’s oldest and most historic pubs has seen its name given a new poignancy following King Charles III’s ascension to the throne.
“Oh look, the King Charles – they’ve got that right haven’t they?” said one man as he walked by the pub before the Echo met tenant Lee Smith, who said the new-found irony of the pub’s name was not lost on his staff.
He said: “We made that connection straight away of course, it will be God Save the King now won’t it? We wondered if it would generate a bit of interest in the pub because of we are the only King Charles in the Poole and wider area I think.
“It was surprise and shock [to lose the Queen], I suppose we knew it was inevitable but what a great woman to work right to her last day virtually by welcoming the new Prime Minister. It’s a great loss.”
The pub itself has retained much of its historic design and décor, with its Tudor frontage and old interior timber beams still proudly visible. Its adjoining medieval ‘Kings' Banquet Hall’ was constructed from original oak ship beams.
When asked whether the pub would do anything special for the eventual coronation of Charles III, Lee said: “It’s early days but I’m sure we will do something. We’re still absorbing the news about the Queen of course so haven’t given much time to planning, but something will be done here for sure.”
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