the fab four – folkestone harbour 10 year anniversary

The Fab Four – Folkelife takes a moment to celebrate four traders who have been at Folkestone Harbour since 2015.  As they mark 10 years of trading, and we wanted to know what those first moments were like.  The Fab Four are: Simon and Jess from The Lighthouse Champagne Bar, and since 2022, The Tasting Rooms;  Bernie and Emma with the Big Greek Bus, which has now grown into Cavells Mediterranean Lounge; Alison Abbott started with Go Dutch, moules and frites, and Dutch pancakes – poffertjes and now has Shesells Seashells; and lastly Mark Babbins with Sole Kitchen, then adding on Harbour Coffee, The Fish Shack and Sailbox.

the lighthouse champagne bar

Simon Robinson: “We came down to the Arm with our other hat on.  My wife, Jessica, and I run a graphics business and do a lot of signage for events.  We work up in London a lot, but have always been based in Folkestone.  Anyway, we came down here to do some of the signage and wanted to know what was going on.  There were about 6 pop-up businesses here and were there any more spaces going?  Jess and I were particularly interested in the Lighthouse but Diane Dever (the curator at the time) said that there was no way we’d get in there.  The place was derelict, and there wasn’t the money to spend on getting it ready to be open for the first season.  I suggested that we spend our own money on it, would that be ok?  Now, the Lighthouse is a listed building, so any plans for tidying it up and doing anything with it have to go to the Listings people for permissions.”

the perfect idea

“Everyone thought we were mad.  Even Sir Roger thought we were mad.  Our idea was to put a Champagne Bar in here, and naturally everyone assumed that it would be all sparkly and posh and not for ‘normal’ people.  Well, that wasn’t our idea at all.  What we wanted to do was to make this space accessible, and use the original glazed bricks in here, and enjoy this space as it is.  If you can imagine you’ve been shipwrecked, and you’ve been abandoned here in this lighthouse and all you have are a few friends and loads of bottles of champagne… Well, you’re going to have a good time aren’t you?  You might not be wearing your best clothes; they could have been damaged in getting to this place of safety. But you are going to have a good time with the champagne, because that was a scary moment, so let’s just enjoy being alive!”

work starts

“Well, when the Listings people heard that was our plan, they said that we had to protect the glazed bricks that line the walls and make sure none of the original interior was damaged with any decoration we were going to use.  We reassured them that we wanted to use these glazed bricks, and wanted the original decor to be on show, and that is what swung it for us. I can remember Diane walking up here with a letter in her hand for Jess and I, and with a wry smile, said we had permission. That came through about 2 or 3 weeks into the first season and we started to clean up the inside so we could create our plan.

“To start with we had an outside bar, and because there wasn’t any electricity or anything, we’d use whatever we could to get ice and the booze up here – wheelbarrows, trolleys, anything with wheels basically.”

sold out in an hour

“We opened up here, not really expecting anyone to come along, and we’d sold out within an hour!  So, off we went to restock and that’s pretty much how it’s been.  It’s a place that’s not glitzy, but it is special, and has a very loyal set of customers that have supported us over the past 10 years. 

“After those heady 10 weeks of the first season it was full steam ahead to get the inside ready for 2016.  Our idea, which translated into our name for the decor – Shipwreck Chic.  The wood is weather-worn, and the copper lining of the bar comes from the bottom of the wreck to build the bar. It’s important to keep the integrity of the Lighthouse.  This is a wonderful structure.  It’s been here for a hundred years, and we want it to be here for hundreds more.”

Read more about The Lighthouse and The Tasting Rooms from team Simon and Jess.

the big greek bus

Everyone can picture the Big Greek Bus on the Harbour Arm until it succumbed to the brutal, seaside elements and had to be towed off in 2024.  Bernie and Emma turned up with the Bus when it could still move in 2014.

Bernie: “We had heard about what was happening down here and had our bus, which we used at live events.  Everyone says they remember me banging at the gates to be let in, and it’s true.  We wanted to be involved in what was going on here as it was exciting.  Our previous experience had been running a restaurant in town, but we’d got the bus in 2014 and had gone to events to serve our Greek food at music festivals and so on.  It just seemed like the right place for us to be, so we asked if we could come.”

“I can remember seeing Diane and Denice Dever coming down and seeing their faces drop as they saw the size of our double-decker bus.  At first, we were going to be by the Folkestone sign, but we realised that we didn’t fit there.  So we chose the widest part of the Arm, and parked at an angle, and (apart from the end of the first season) never left.”

running on generators

“That first summer, we were running on generators, and we were a little naïve about the size of the kitchen. By the second season, we realised the kitchen we had wasn’t going to be sufficient to serve everyone.  We ended up changing the kitchen three times as we grew in popularity over the years. 

“The site grew and grew, and with that there were opportunities for other members of the family.  Emma likes ice cream and cakes, so taking on Bubbles and Cones seemed natural.  Hannah, my other daughter, had the Little Greek Bus which was supposed to go to events outside Folkestone, but then Covid struck.  She came down here to serve for the Drive In cinema and then opened up Greek Street in The Goods Yard, and hasn’t left.” 

cavells

“As the popularity of the site has grown, it’s been really important for us to be able to trade all year round.  To start with, we were only working for 5 or 6 months a year.  It got to the point where the state of the Bus was deteriorating.  In conversation with Paulo, the general manager here, and the rest of the Harbour team, we worked on a new venue.  Cavells, our Mediterranean Lounge,  is a converted parcels carriage, commonly called a Cavell, and it’s the next step in our journey here.”

Read more about Cavells and Bubbles and Cones here.

go dutch

Alison: “I started in 2015 with a gazebo tied to the Heras fencing next to Follies.  I would set it up on the Saturday, drop it down at night, and then up again on Sunday morning and take it away with me at the end of weekend.  Some days I woke up wishing it wouldn’t be there! That’s the truth!

“I started with the poffertjes which are Dutch pancakes.  Thing was, no one knew what they were!  It was like selling tea to people who didn’t know what tea was.  We started to get regular customers for the sweet and savoury balls of batter.  It was hard work.  But at the end of the season I asked Denice and Diane if I could come back the following year.  They were positive, as long as I didn’t have a gazebo, but had something more substantial.”

the birth of the goods yard

“I bought my first shed which was on the slope just outside Nathan’s That Burger.  Then I had my cart with the slushy machine on top, and then a bigger shed. By this point it was 2020, and Covid had struck.  At the end of the summer some of the traders got together to talk to the Harbour Team about making something of The Goods Yard area. 

“Up until then there were some unpainted huts there, and the screen, but it had been showing the football, and short seasons of films.  There was me, Jamie with Just Ribz, Mark from Soul Kitchen, Bernie from the Big Greek Bus, and Simon from the Champagne Bar. 

“We put up our own festoon lights in the blistering wind and rain.  It was awful!  But people still wanted to come out, and the space was enclosed yet still compliant with all the regulations around at the time. That’s how The Goods Yard started.”

train carriages

“I had a hut in The Goods Yard and things started up again.  Romanus who had been running Smokey Folkes in the train carriages at Platform 3.  He was incredibly good but couldn’t make the business work.  During the week he was a facial trauma surgeon in London, and his wife a lawyer.  They’re incredibly clever people but I think it was too much to try and do both.  So I took on one carriage for Shesells Seashells and then heard they were going to put someone in who was going to do sushi.  I thought, I could do oysters… and so offered that and got another carriage.”

upgrading to an elephant (carriage)

“In 2024, the Paulo and the Harbour team offered me the choice of a bigger carriage.  There were various options but the most affordable one was this converted Elephant carriage.  It makes dining here an all year round option and everyone gets a sea view. 

“Back in 2015, you could see that what was happening here was good, and I wanted to be a part of it. I only live down the road, and it makes much more sense for me to create and build my business here than travel up to London as I was doing before. It was persistence that got me here, I rang and rang Diane and left message after message.  When she finally got back to me, she apologised for not replying and asked me to come down. I turned up, and that was that.”

Read more about Shesells SeaShells here.

sole kitchen

Mark: “My business partner Michael Lake and I had been running a small pop-up selling street food in a little stall by The George and the fountains.  That was in 2014 and 2015, and we’d just finished for the summer. Michael rang me up and asked if I’d been down the Harbour to see what they were doing. He said it was amazing, that there was so much potential.  I went down and everything was empty.  There was a pizza place, and a little bar, but it was completely dead. There was nobody there. 

“We had a few conversations with Diane and Denice but it was early days.  I had been in catering, and am also a builder, and I was seriously thinking of giving up the catering and was starting to think about branching out on my own.  Then Michael called me and said that the Devers had just told him a hut had become available and could we start straight away.  We were like, yeah, ok… so cobbled a few pieces of equipment together, £100 for a fryer, £60 for a little work top. Our starting menu was fish finger sandwiches, salt and pepper squid, no beer or anything.”

specialising in paella

“Denice and Diane needed someone to cater for the Salt Festival that year and asked Michael if we could do it.  They wanted paella, and Mike, ever the quick-thinker, said that we specialised in paella.  In all honesty, we’d never made paella before in our lives!  But, a little bit of research and we know our way around a kitchen so we pulled it off.  It went down really well.  

“That first year we made a little bit of money, and I went back to being a builder.  I really enjoyed that first year though, and they asked as back for 2016.  So we took the money we’d made and bought a bigger fryer, got a beer system and started to work with a local brewery.  Even though we were only open weekends and some holidays, and bank holidays and so on, word spread.  People told others to come down and see what was going on. It just started growing.”

harbour coffee

“By 2017 there was an opportunity to move into a little container that was at the end of the car park.  We had this idea to have a coffee shop, but both of us still had full time jobs as well.  Everything was derelict up to the Big Greek Bus so that first year was slow.  Again, I bought a load of chairs off Ebay, and rented a coffee machine. Every year we’ve reinvested in the property and the equipment and so you see how it is now. 

“Covid struck and we became part of the offering in The Goods Yard.  I did a thing called Mr Grilled Cheese with a cheese toastie stand.  You can now get them in Harbour Coffee.  It was a small venture to start with, but when Paulo, the new General Manager, arrived, he, with the financial backing of Sir Roger De Haan, invested in that area so that it has become a great success. Now our option in there is The Fish Shack.”

Covid

“The three venues, Sole Kitchen, Harbour Coffee and The Fish Shack were working well but things were still closed in winter.  I decided to open Harbour Coffee in the winter and it was incredibly quiet.  But Covid helped that too.  I was furloughed and so sitting at home, I thought, why not just open up, with a screen and a paddle to hand the coffee cups through the hatch.  

“I really needed the business to get through the next winter but Sir Roger De Haan was brilliant in supporting all the traders.  He said that if anyone wanted to open, he’d do a deal and let everyone open without charging anyone rent.   The traders opened up, and the customers started coming.  I cried. Every day people came for their walk, and got a coffee and had a brief moment of normality in that crazy time.”

a queue of 40 people

“To start with it was just a few people, but then there was a queue of about 30 to 40 people snaking across the car park.  I got my sister in to help, and it grew from there.  We got a reputation of being open.  All my equipment was rented and I got the grants from the Council which meant I could buy my own coffee machine.  I can remember it being like buying buying a racing car; it was a thing of beauty!  It arrived on this pallet, this beautiful Italian machine with top of the range grinders. Suddenly, I felt this meant business. 

“All that hard work had paid off, and conversations with Paulo started to talk about putting a container on top of Harbour Coffee and extending upwards. We started doing kippers for breakfast, and avocado on toast.  It was such a great location, and we were really busy, but the second it rains, everyone goes.  A bit of wind, and you can feel it up there!”

sailbox

“Paulo was building some larger units out of containers on the eastern side of the car park.  One set was due for another trader but they pulled out.  So he asked me if I wanted it.  I didn’t really think about it, it made sense to bring the top bar down here, and serve brunch, beers and Sunday Lunch.  Now it’s too small for us.  We have 67 seats in here, and 60% of the time it’s full. 

“We did a social media campaign where you saw the gravy being poured over Sunday Lunch and instantly got 600 bookings off the back of it.  It was the perfect moment.  As soon as the sun comes out I have 100 extra seats, but in the winter, it’s a busy place!  Look for another expansion next year: Sir Roger has been really supportive in making the businesses work.  He comes in, sees what’s going on and how things are working, and helps suggest ideas of how to grow and improve.”

tv performance

“It’s certainly a great place to work here.  There’s always a buzz and it’s great when the whole Harbour is jumping with people.  I really enjoyed being on telly too.  That was a bizarre experience, but I wouldn’t have had it had I not been here.  I had to show how to open an avocado and remove the stone.  It was over in seconds, and I guess I’d do it all again if they asked me.  But I was nervous at the time.”

Read more about Mark’s businesses and his time on telly here.