Catch up on the latest news across Kent with Ollie Leader.
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00:00Hello and welcome to Kent Tonight Live here on KMTV.
00:28I'm Oli Leder and here are your top stories on this bank holiday Monday on the 26th May.
00:38Stay indoors, smoke warnings as fire rages in Northfleet.
00:43Pint-sized perfection as community pub in Bethesden recognized with a ward.
00:50And kicking it with a legend as Roberto Carlos shows off his tricks in blue water.
00:56Now Kent firefighters have been working since the early hours of the morning after flames
01:02consumed a recycling site in Northfleet.
01:06The fire started just after 2am with those in the centre of Gravesend being warned to
01:13shut their doors and windows to ward off the heavy smoke.
01:18Our reporter Kristen Hawthorne was at the site earlier.
01:22Smoke from a large fire at the London scrap terminal has been filling the air in Gravesend
01:26today.
01:27As thousands of tons of metal are being burnt, firefighters on the scene have been making
01:32ongoing efforts for hours to put the fire out.
01:35The fire is in a recycling depot which has got scrap metal in there.
01:40It's unknown at this time that the amount of metal that's involved is estimated to be
01:45around 5,000 tonnes.
01:46The crews have been here on site since 2 o'clock this morning.
01:49We've been working hard throughout the day to get the incident resolved but I imagine that
01:54we're still going to be here for probably another 48 hours minimum.
01:57With 6 fire engines and around 35 firefighters on the scene, residents are being told to
02:02shut their windows and close their doors.
02:04Yes, so we've got 6 fire engines, a high volume pump and a turntable ladder on site to
02:09help extinguish it and we are utilising our drone capabilities as well which gives us an
02:13eye in the sky that allows us to see the fire from above which really does help us to resolve
02:20the incident.
02:21The fire robot is not here but we are using the on site machinery, the grab cranes etc there
02:26helping us with our firefighting as well.
02:28The cause of the fire is unknown and nobody was injured but investigations are ongoing.
02:34While residents are being asked to close their windows and doors, more information about
02:38the hazard can be found on Kent Fire and Rescue's social media.
02:42Kristen Hawthorne for KMTV in Gravesend.
02:45Now, a community pub that was closed for two and a half years during the pandemic has been
02:53recognised with an award after a miraculous return.
02:58The George in Bethesden was saved after villagers raised the £300,000 they needed to buy it.
03:06And now the campaign for real ale has recognised the embattled local hotspots.
03:12We sent our reporter Finn McDermid down to find out why it means so much to the local area.
03:21After the Covid-19 pandemic, the George pub in Bethesden had the task of repairing and
03:25restoring their grade-listed building for use.
03:28And only several years on from reopening their doors, they've managed to win the campaign
03:31for real ale's best pub in Ashford, Folkestone and Romney Marsh.
03:36Pub regulars came down ahead of their beer festival to celebrate the achievement.
03:39Oh, it feels fantastic. The vibe here is wonderful. I come to the George quite a lot. It's an amazing
03:44community-run pub. The village have bought the pub. There are so many shareholders of
03:49the pub who live here in the village and everybody in Bethesden really supports what the George
03:53is doing and has been trying to do. The food here is fantastic. The drinks here are fantastic.
03:58So this recognition from camera is just the icing on the cake.
04:01Now the pub's success is made all the better by the fact it's community-owned, meaning a
04:05committee of local residents are in charge of the pub, rather than a company, which they
04:10say provides a local touch.
04:12The pub wouldn't be here if the community weren't being here regularly, keeping it afloat.
04:19What we as an organisation have tried to do is to work with clubs and organisations within
04:29the village and we're trying to develop that all of the time.
04:34Now although the village will be celebrating the George's success, plenty of other pubs
04:39do struggle, with the total going down year on year. So what's the solution? Could it be
04:44that being a community-owned pub actually helps? Or is there a dark future that lies ahead of
04:48us, where we just don't have somewhere to enjoy our pints anymore?
04:53If community ownership is the solution, then there's a long way to go. According to Statista,
04:58there are more than 45,000 pubs across the UK, but it's only a small minority of them where
05:03local people own it as part of a committee. According to the Campaign for Real Ale, there's
05:07only 217 of them in the whole country, meaning less than half a percent of pubs are community-owned.
05:14And with the amount of pubs on the decline, officials say current government measures don't
05:18know much to help.
05:19Beer is one part of it as far as tax is concerned, but there's so many other considerations to
05:23make. You have business rates, you have other taxes, you have utilities, so gas, electric,
05:30all of those things, wages, there's so many parts that make making a pub viable. So you
05:37need to look at a lot more things than just taking a penny off of the pint of beer.
05:40Well, since they've won pub of the year in Ashford, Folkestone and Romney Marsh, the George
05:45will go up against other winners to see if they can take the title for East Kent as well.
05:49Oh, very, very excited. We've got to win it.
05:55Finn McDermid for KMTV in Bethesden.
05:59Now in sport and a footballing legend has made a very special appearance in Kent. That's
06:07right, Brazilian pro Roberto Carlos went down to Blue Water's Baller's Dome for its one-year
06:14anniversary and the celebration saw the former left-back teaching the next generation a few
06:21of his tricks. Our sports producer Bartholomew Hall was there.
06:37It was the free kick that defied the laws of physics. Roberto Carlos' famous goal against
06:42France in the 1997 Tournois has stuck with football fans for generations. Now on a visit
06:48to Blue Water's Baller's Dome, the former Brazilian international has been inspiring youngsters
06:53who've been taking on a challenge to recreate that famous kick.
06:58The pitch was even set up to recreate that moment with French keeper Fabian Barthes standing
07:04ready to be shocked once again. With some more successful than others, everyone hung around
07:11for a selfie and, of course, to get a few autographs signed.
07:15It's important to have a space like this where children learn to shoot, learn to position.
07:22In my case, it's a shoot. They were good. The score was very high. And it's good that they
07:28took advantage of it. They concentrated to know where to hit the ball. So, for me, it was a
07:33very important day.
07:38Well, I'm absolutely no Roberto Carlos before. I'll be honest, I haven't played football in
07:42about ten years, but will give it my best shot now. Right into the keeper's face.
07:52So, Mr. Barthes might have claimed my goal today, but for those fans who lined up to meet
07:57Roberto, this is what it meant to them.
07:59Bro, it's crazy. I met him in 2017, didn't I? But it wasn't really a meeting like that.
08:03It was normal. I was behind a barrier. So, to actually meet him, the legend that he is,
08:08yeah, it's a blessing I found out.
08:10Legacy, World Cup winner, Champions League winner, you name it, he's done it. So, it's
08:14good to see him. Good to get something signed by him as well. He said it was the first Fede
08:18fan that was here today as well, so it's a bit of a bonus for me being the only one there.
08:21So, Roberto Carlos is my hero growing up and the chance to meet him, like we said, it was
08:26much in a lifetime.
08:27It was nice meeting Roberto Carlos. I loved it.
08:31The event was to celebrate the first birthday of Blue Walters' dedicated football entertainment
08:36dome, Ballers, which Roberto is an ambassador for, alongside other icons Rio Ferdinand and
08:41Bobby Zamora. So, it seems even with more than 600 career matches under his belt for the
08:47likes of Inter Milan, Real Madrid and of course Brazil, it might just be Roberto Carlos' appearance
08:52here at Ballers that sticks with some of these fans a little bit longer. Bartholomew Hall for
08:57KMTV at Blue Water.
08:59And on that note, is it good footballing weather this week? Let's find out.
09:08Looking like a cloudy night tonight. Temperatures staying consistent around that 14 degree mark.
09:19It's staying like that into tomorrow morning. Some sunshine and cloud across the county and
09:25by the afternoon, it's raining all over. 15 degrees up in Margate. And for the rest of the week, we're
09:33losing that sunshine, people. It's cloudy. A bit of sun peaking through. Temperatures 23 by Friday.
09:48And finally, today is a very special holiday that you might not know about. That's right, it's Kent Day.
09:55The day is celebrated on May 26th every year, which is the feast day of St. Augustine, the first
10:02Archbishop of Canterbury and the patron saint of our county. But while we're always celebrating Kent
10:09here on KMTV, what does the county mean to those that live here? We went to Rochester to find out.
10:18To me, it means someone to come back to, to relax for a little bit and just to take it a bit easy,
10:28get a bit of weight off. Kent is my hometown. It was where I was born. It was where I grew up.
10:33It's where my heritage is. It's where my mum and dad are. And a lot of history too.
10:40We live here. We lived here since, erm, 2000. 31 years. 31 years. There we go. That's why
10:47he made the wife. 94. Yeah, 1994. I don't think it's a great area to live in, but obviously I
10:53come from here and all my family are down here, so it's like where I spend most of my time.
10:58I guess it's quite like historic kind of seaside towns and erm, yeah, kind of like quaint towns
11:03I guess, you know, a bit like artsy, depends kind of where you're going. Well I've lived in
11:07Rochester and Midway towns all my life. I think, erm, yeah, I think Kent has got a lot of history
11:13and it's, er, a nice, erm, county to live in. You've got the coast and you're not too far
11:18from London, so yes, nicely located. But it's my home, so it's important.
11:24I always love hearing how much people love the county and I'll be flying my Kent and Victor
11:29horse at home soon this evening. And that's really it from us this evening actually. In the meantime,
11:34check out all our special programmes and reports on our website, kmtv.co.uk.
11:41I'll see you very soon. Have a very lovely and worth rest of the week.
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