Folkestone Crest 1906
Some of the photos on these pages are of poor quality, some of it is due to age, and some is due to the fact that on my old website I had them considerably smaller, and have not had time to re-scan them all as yet, so they look quite pixelly in this larger format.
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Copyright Joe Grey
2016
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Christine Then & Now
A nostalgic look at my home town. How it was in the days of my ancestors, and how it looks now in the 2000's.
In its heyday, Folkestone was THE place to go. It was a resort with class, and the gentry would spend their holidays taking the air along the Leas - where the ordinary people were forbidden to go.
Nowadays, more people spend their vacations abroad, so Folkestone, along with many other seaside towns has had to learn to do without such a large tourist trade.The main industry here has always been the fishing, and it is still possible to go down to the cobbled harbour and watch the few fishing boats come in that are left. In the olden days, you could spend many an hour watching the cross channel steamers coming and going, but the Channel Tunnel has taken its toll on the ferry trade, the Hovercraft and the Seacat, and now none are running from Folkestone.
I wrote most of the above a few years ago, when Folkestone was pretty depressing to look at. However, each time I have visited in recent years, I have noticed it slowly but surely pulling itself back together, while I, and many others do not agree with everything being done, it couldn't stay like it was, and it needed a lot of financial help. One of its well-known residents stepped up, and is attempting to attract a different clientele to the town, or should I say, the seafront, aiming to gentrify the town back to the Edwardian days when a lot of money was brought to the town in the pockets of the wealthy. However, a lot of things were provided to part those wealthy people from their money. Luxurious hotels with ballroom dancing, tennis courts right in the grounds, and they also provided their own horse & carriage transportation to and from the railway station. Folkestone also had high class shops, several varieties of theatre, with big names of the day performing, upper class restaurants, a golf course, and a pleasure pier. Right now, Folkestone can offer lots of coffee shops, a few restaurants, very few shops and the converted pier housing food stalls. They need to step up, because a sea view will not be enough to attract the wealthy. Also at the time of writing, the Road of Remembrance is closed as is the Cliff Lift, making for a very long walk from seafront to town centre.
Please do not lift photos off these pages without first contacting me for permission. Normally I will grant it if I own the photo myself, and if it is for non-commercial purposes. In exchange, I would normally expect you to agree to credit my website as the source by posting a link back alongside the photo.
If the photo is credited to someone else, I will not be able to grant you permission to use it, so please don't ask.
I haven't put the photographs in any kind of order, leaving it possible to add more as I get them without having to revamp the whole page each time. So you will find they jump from the very old to the new and back again. I have added the date to the photo if I know it. In most cases, it was the date that the postcard was mailed, not when the actual photograph was taken.
I have had a lot of input from people who have helped me get my facts straight, but if you see any errors or omissions, please drop me a line and let me know.
A man who has put me right on many things has been Folkestone historian Alan Taylor, whose knowledge I trust completely. Alan has written many books on Folkestone, and you can see (and order) his latest book, Folkestone From Old Photographs', by clicking HERE.
He is also President of the Folkestone & District Local History Society, and they have produced three fabulous DVD's of old Folkestone entitled 'Memories Of Folkestone'. Details of this can be found HERE.
I have each of these, and highly recommend them!
Last Updated Pages:
Fishing Industry
April 2025
Folkestone Ferries
March 2025
Folkestone Hotels Page 3,
Feb 20, 2025
Businesses New Page
August 24, 2024
Military & Wartime
April 24, 2024
(Extra page added too!)
Cheriton
April 1, 2024
Churches
March 12, 2024