The Railway Tavern opened in 1881 and was tied to the Meux’s Brewery, it still features the original Meux glazed tiles. After 129 years of trading, it closed in 2010 and then reopened in 2011 as D-Ream. D-Ream lasted just over a year, closing in October 2012.

The Terrace Tavern and Hotel was present in records from 1837. It was tied to the Russell’s Brewery of Gravesend and the exterior of the still features the beautiful green tiles advertising Russell’s ‘Shrimp Brand’ beers, dating from around 1913. At one time the pub had its own football team, indoor cricket team, darts and pool teams; a real community hub.

The building that was once the City of London is in a great location high above the river Thames. The original pub was founded here in 1839. Unfortunately, that building was destroyed by fire in 1893. The rebuilt City of London traded until 2002, in 2009 it was converted to a b&b.

In 2012 when The Pilot Tavern closed the Gravesend Messenger reported: Its former landlady Susan Newman remained there and rather than tear it down is now hoping to bring the building, which is in dire need of some repair, back to its former glory.

The Bricklayers Arms opened in 1851 and closed in 1910. It reopened as The Station Hotel in 1914 which closed in 2002. Reopening later as Bar24 and then The Bridge Bar, which finally closed in 2017.

The Public House, the pub, with maybe the church, was once at the centre of every English community. In my parent’s generation most men, and sometimes women, would have ‘a local’ a place to go and chat with friends about their lives, their troubles, or at least how poorly their football team were playing that week.

This could almost be a pitch for a reality TV show. Take an event photographer from the UK, drop him into the middle of a North Carolina forest and get him to photograph a rodeo. OK, maybe not, but it did go through my mind.

“Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, come to the community and share the gospel”. I’m sitting in the small very busy office at Sanctuary, the night shelter for the homeless in Gravesend, talking to Steve Nolan. Steve and his wife Lorna are the unpaid Project Managers for Sanctuary.

I’m not sure what I expected but it wasn’t this.

Steve Nolan is showing me around Sanctuary, a night shelter for the homeless. He and his wife Lorna are the full-time Project Managers for the shelter.

In this video, Henk Wildschut revisits the site of the Calais camps he previously photographed in his series Shelter. It highlights the difficult circumstances of those waiting to get to cross the English Channel, many risking life and limb to make the crossing. It vividly shows that the view of these migrants from either side of the channel is never clear-cut.

I think I've mentioned here before the excellent Documentary Review Podcast. Actually it occurs to me that by saying 'I think' I may give you the impression that I've been too lazy to check. I'm not taking you for granted, dear reader. It's just that, well, I suspect that I may not have mentioned it before, which would, I'm afraid, have been dreadfully remiss of me.

I have to hand it to whoever is programming the exhibitions at the Science Museum's new Media Space, it's quickly establishing itself as one of the best photography galleries in the capital.

It opened with a joint exhibition 'Only in England' featuring the work Tony Ray-Jones and Martin Parr.

Good documentary photography is a mixed blessing. Yes, it enlightens, it inspires, but for much of the time, it shows the vast majority of us how lucky we are and what tough lives some of us live. This is particularly true for the work of Jim Mortram.