the fab four – go dutch – 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.

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.