Photos

Betabake bakers was located on the A2 High Street in Rainham, the shop next door was International Stores. This photo was taken in the early 1970s and the lower shot was taken in 2014. The building is now an Indian restaurant, originally Raj Rani and now called Tarana.

Betabake Rainham

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The Avenue Nightclub was formerly the Central Hotel and was located on the corner of Featherby Road on the A2 in Gillingham. It became Bar Rio in the 1990s but the nightclub was demolished in the late 1990s/early 2000s and replaced by housing that now occupies the site.

Photo of the Avenue Nightclub in early 1990s (judging from the MG Montego car in the background)

Photo of Central Hotel in Gillingham

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The snow in Medway in 1987 was some of the worst for many years, possibly since the severe winter of 1962/63. Due to the snow areas of the towns were cut off and some supplies needed to be airlifted in as lorries were unable to deliver by road.

Pictures of the Winter 1987/88 Huge Snowfall in Medway & Kent. Below photo of Ford Capri stuck in snow in Chatham

Snow in Chatham Kent 1987

Chatham/Gillingham/Rainham and Kent in general were hit particularly badly by snow in 1987 and for some days were cut off completely. I recall milk being flown in by army helicopter due to roads being impassable and major roads being blocked for many days. As outlined below the weather station recorded 22 INCHES of snow in Jan 1987 in Gillingham (in 2010 the roads were brought to a standstill with less than 20cm!!)

At the time I was working at Rainham Co-op as saturday staff, the shop now occupied by Wilkinsons. As school was closed due to the snow and being one of the staff that could walk to the shop I worked many extra hours during the snow building up my savings! Later on in the year the great Hurricane hit Kent during October 1987 leaving many trees blown down.

A quote from the netweather website below " The cold spell of January 1987 was exceptional and was probably one of the coldest spells since 1740. The intense cold and heavy snowfalls hit the SE the hardest. Transport was gridlocked and the cold even affected Big Ben's chiming hammer. "

Rainham Snow 1987 Frozen sea Rainham Kent 1987