Well, I eventually had a consultation with the Covid-carrying Tendon Man and it seems that the ride to the Townhead Inn in Eyam has resulted in some Achilles tendinopathy. Whether the ride caused it or simply exacerbated a problem that already existed is really neither here nor there, the outcome is the same. By the time I've got up, had my breakfast, done the physio exercises for the subluxating shoulder and now those for the tender tendon it's almost time for bed again. There's certainly not a lot of time left for any directory delving, or pedalling, were I still not banned from the bike. At least this post didn't entail much of the former.
It probably comes as no surprise to you to learn that I've been interrogating Dr. Google about the Achilles, but it was certainly a surprise to me when a picture of a pub called the Achilles Heel in Margate popped up. And guess what – it's no longer there. What could be more appropriate?
The Achilles Heel used to be found at 3 and 4 Marine Gardens in Margate, on the corner it shares with Grosvenor Place. It didn't start life as a pub but as a couple of mid-nineteenth century private boarding houses. According to CAMRA's Whatpub website, by the early part of the twentieth century one housed a tailor and the other served as the local Conservative Party's office. In 1935 the two were combined to form a ladies outfitters and after the second world war it became a restaurant owned by the Achilles family. It wasn't until 1975 that it became a pub.
In 1999 the Achilles Heel closed and was converted into a Tapas bar/restaurant entitled Bar Barcelona. The place has undergone a number of metamorphoses, continuing the bar/restaurant theme, since then. Amongst these incarnations, after some nice, bright decoration, were Purple...
...which at some point gained a Solanacea to become the Purple Aubergine.
Since then it's been Bar One...
...then Pinar...
...and Black Cat...
...before, in late 2021, opening as LOVE – a café/bar/music venue in which The Libertines frontman Carl Barât is a partner. Like all the others listed above that existed after the Achilles Heel closed, it's not really a pub but at least it's better than it becoming a block of flats.
So how about a picture of the actual Achilles, I hear you demanding. OK, here's one.
Like Purple before it, it too has now had some bright decoration.
Oh! You meant the pub! Well, I've tried to contact the photographer as the image is still under copyright, having only been taken in 1989, but I've not had a reply as yet. If I get one, and if he approves of its use, I'll post it here. In the meantime if you click here you'll be taken to the photograph in its online repository.
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