Sir John Falstaff

The Sir John Falstaff was built in the middle of the 17th Century (the earliest record is 1670) with some evidence to suggest that the doctor's surgery next door was the original hostelry before this date, it is located on the old London to Dover Road (Gads Hill, Higham) about halfway between Gravesend and Rochester.

The pub is named after a fictional character created by William Shakespeare that appears in three plays. Although primarily a comic figure he is portrayed as a fat, vain, and boastful knight, who spends most of his time drinking at the Boar's Head Inn. In Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part 2, published in 1600 and again in 1623, Sir John Falstaff is confronted by the Lord Chief Justice for his participation in the Gads Hill robbery.

In summary, Sir John Falstaff loved a drink, loved his Inn and committed a robbery on Gads Hill. Because of this, it's easy to see why a few decades after Shakespeare created Sir John Falstaff, this public house was built here and named after him. It Has been called; “The Falstaff Inn”, “Sir John Falstaff Hotel” and “The Sir John Falstaff” in its long history.
 

CHARLES DICKENS & GADS HILL PLACE

Charles Dickens would have first seen the Sir John Falstaff when he was “not more than half as old as nine”. This is when his father, John Dickens told him that if he worked hard enough, he could buy Gads Hill Place, situated opposite the pub. Then when he was nine years old, in 1821, he would come on his own to see Gads Hill Place. Then 35 years later (in 1857), after Dickens had risen to fame and was a wealthy man in his own right, he did just that. He purchased the house from Mrs Eliza Lynn Linton, herself a famous novelist, and best known for being the first woman salaried journalist in Britain (herself inherited it from her father Rev. James Lynn).

To start with, the relationship between Dickens and the landlord of the Sir John Falstaff was very strained. Some say this was due to the number of parties and loud music from Gads Hill Place, not the pub as you would think. By 1861, the new landlord, William Trood, had built a good relationship with Dickens; so much so, that he would provide accommodation for Dickens' guests when there was not enough room at Gads Hill Place. Not only this, but he would provide refreshments for their lavish parties and allocated Dickens a private room, given that he was arguably the most famous man in Britain at the time. Their relationship was so strong, that it has been suggested that he was the inspiration behind the eponymous hero in the novel Dickens was working on when he died, The Mystery of Edwin Drood.

Dickens also referred to the Sir John Falstaff in the Uncommercial Traveller published in 1860 as: “…a little hostelry which no man possessed of a penny was ever known to pass in warm weather…”

Dickens’ youngest son, Edward, was also known to enjoy the Falstaff, with Dickens writing: “Dining at the Falstaff, in the side room on the ground floor…(Edward was) with a drum hanging up on a tree in the garden..”

Dickens’ other son, Francis, can be seen in the picture below, with his father, climbing over a fence behind the Falstaff, that is now the entrance to the pub from the car park. 

Charles Dickens’ patronage to the Falstaff ended on the morning of the day he died, when he came into the Falstaff to cash a cheque with the landlord, for £22; around £2,350 in today’s money.

Today, the Sir John Falstaff has a close relationship with Gads Hill Place, as it did back then; Sir John now provides refreshments and hospitality to the visitors and guests of Gads Hill Place.

Today, the landlord and custodian of the Sir John Falstaff, is known for personifying the pub because, anybody that has ever lived or worked here would agree - he is living and breathing and is very real, unlike the fictional character he is named after.


For more information, please visit the home of Charles Dickens in Higham, Kent - Gads Hill Place