There is little in the way of records for the Tanners Arms. It was first licensed in 1839 and received its name from the adjoining St. Mildred's Tannery where no doubt many of its clients worked.

The inn was situated within Canterbury City's poor area, in the nineteenth century, where much of the surrounding properties were considered as 'slums'. No doubt the location next to the tannery and all of the obnoxious smells and contamination emitting from the works left the area far from desirable. The neighbourhood was notoriously known for its tough and physically violent nature.

The innkeeper in 1839 was William Gold and in 1865 John Sutton. The inn closed in 1903.

Ordnance Survey, 1874, 1st Edition Map of Canterbury 1874 (Map). SKE30106.

Enderby, H. M., 1950, The Inns of Canterbury Parts I & II, Lecture to the Canterbury Archaeological Society (Unpublished document). SKE29964.