Will someone explain Margate?

[13m]

I had to go to Margate yesterday and I was shocked.

The town is well located relative to London, it has a great beach, good architecture and a pleasant old town, yet it shows little sign of gentrification. Why is it?

I didn't realise that in 2017 Kent still had places like that.

[13m]

dcb said:

13m said:

I had to go to Margate yesterday and I was shocked.

The town is well located relative to London, it has a great beach, good architecture and a pleasant old town, yet it shows little sign of gentrification. Why is it?

I didn't realise that in 2017 Kent still had places like that.

The whole of the Isle of Thanet is like that. It's always been a backwater.

Poor rail service to London means that it doesn't get commuters like
other parts of Kent.

There are very few jobs in the area - mainly summer season only.
Pfizer shutting down didn't help.

Mind you, for folks who don't need a job like pensioners, houses are
relatively cheap.

I think St Pancras is about 1hr 28min isn't it? Whitstable, which has gentrified, is not a great deal closer to the smoke. Granted it IS closer and it is a working fishing town, but I'm surprised that Margate is so overlooked.

[13m]

dcb said:

I am not sure where Whitstable gets most of its money from
- maybe tourist money is part of it ?

At a guess I'd say London money spent at the weekend by holiday home owners. I have been in Whitstable the past couple of days and there's plenty of money about. Lots and lots of boutiques aiming their wares at middle-class mummies.

There's also the fishery / oyster business.

[13m]

Gixer said:

And yet they are building more and more houses down there.

Never understood why Whitstable is so raved about tbh. As for Margate, I always find it a bit sad when I have to go down that way for work. As a kid, I spent a fair amount of school holiday time down that way as my grandparents had a place in Broadstairs. It was a far better place back then, now everything is just so run down. Not to mention the new 50mph limit on the Thanet Way making a dull drive even more mind numbing

It is sad, yes, and as I mentioned it seems to have the mmakings of something much better. But a lack of local economic activity and tad long train journey to the smoke won't help.

[13m]

The Don of Croy said:

Nobody mentioned the Turner Contemporary yet? Obvious, but seemingly successful, and maybe the start of something for the area.

We went over the Yuletide for our first visit - the gallery was packed. However, there just isn't the attraction to go walkabout in town - not when Canterbury is just a drive away. The sea wall is nice in the sun, the beach looks good, and there's development happening (will Manston be developed?) so perhaps in another 10 or fifteen years...

And that 50mph speed limit is a major disincentive - mile after mile of boring road and no clue as to why.

Frankly Thanet has been on borrowed time ever since the demise of the Hoverport.

I was speaking to the owner of a "curio" shop who sells tat to hipsters. Think the female version of this chap:



Anyway, she said the influx of said hipsters had increased markedly since the Turner opened.

Having thought about it over a few weeks, I think it will struggle to improve beyond becoming a hipster hangout all the time there is so little economic activity there. Beardy people and craft beer does not an economy make.

Also, as several have pointed out, the communications are not quite good enough.

[So]

Type R Tom said:

The Gorillaz concert at Dreamland sold out in under an hour (much to my annoyance) and I hear they have plans for further concerts, fingers crossed between Herne Bay, Margate and the other Thanet towns we can start dragging people away from Whitstable and the chaos of a sunny day because apart from the harbor and few shops selling over priced st there isn't much else there.

That's not fair, in my experience they have well above the national average of dog poos on pavements. I cannot think of anywhere in the world I've been with more.