New lives for two harbour stations on the Kent coast

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PLANS to turn Dover’s Old Harbour Station into a live music and theatre venue have been given the go ahead.

Last August, the plans were submitted to Dover District Council by local man and lessee Stuart Cameron to convert the Elizabeth Street premises into an entertainment venue, with temporary staging and a licensed bar.

Dover’s Old Harbour Station will now become a public venue again after 90 years. HAWKFLIGHT1066/CREATIVE COMMONS

The station was built in 1861 by the London, Chatham & Dover Railway with a marshalling yard separated from the main line alongside by various buildings, and opened on November 1 that year.

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Designed by Gilbert Scott Snr, it has Turkish arches and originally had a tall clock tower. This elaborate Italianate styling was to cock a snook at the South Eastern & Chatham Railway which, through digging all the tunnels from Folkestone, had run out of money to make its 1844 Dover Town station look fancy. In 1902, in order to allow access to the new Prince of Wales Pier, a moveable platform on wheels was introduced to trains.

Since the Harbour station was closed by the Southern Railway on July 10, 1927, it has seen many uses, including several years as a bonded warehouse when many of the windows were bricked up.

Read more in Issue 226 of HR – out now!

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