A brief history of Margate’s demise and re-emergence

Margate is dubbed as the original seaside resort and during the 60s and 70s it attracted thousands of peoplelike Del Boy and Rodney (during Only Fools and Horses 1989 Christmas special) every weekend from London and further afield. Blessed with miles of golden sands, amusements and other activities the town offered city people a break from city life.

While it got to enjoy the highs though it has had to suffer the lowest of lows. A few tragic events meant that a joyeous seaside town became almost deserted of holiday maker in just a few years. Following this the town had a continued spell of misfortune making it worse and worse. Its’ fortunes have turned though and since the end of the 00’s Margate has began to rise again. A brief history of these events follows.

1978 – Margate’s demise came towards the end of the 1970s when in 1978 its’ pier, or jetty, was hit hard and severely damaged by a storm. The pier had become iconic to Margate and was even used for troop deployment during the Second World War.

1980s – The end of the 70s and start of the 80s also brought in the much talked about package deal boom which seriously decreased the number of people travelling from London to Margate for their holidays.

2003 – The town then had a quiet period in terms of newworthy events but in 2003 it was announced that the Dreamland Amusement Park would shut down. This was one of the few things that was still attracting some people to the area.

2005 – In 2005 an out of town shopping centre Westwood Cross then opened nearby to all but empty Margate’s highstreet (something that it has still not recovered from).

2007 – In 2007 Britain’s first highspeed line opened connecting the South East to London. While this may not be orientated specifically around Margate it is massive for the area in terms of bringing visitors in.

2008 – The iconic and world famous Scenic Railway, the UK’s oldest roller coaster, was set on fire. While some of the structure survived much of the central part of the ride was destroyed.

2009 – On November 16th 2009 The Dreamland Trust was awarded a grant by the government to restore the Scenic Railway and other historic areas of Dreamland though work did not begin straight away.

2011 – The long awaited much talked about Turner Contemporary art gallery opened which is said to be the first major step forward for Margate’s regeneration.  Since its’ opening the art gallery has attracting around 2 million people to the area and has contributed £41 million into the local economy through tourism. The gallery has been visited by the Queen, the Prime Minister and the Duchess of Cambridge.

2011 onwards – Following the opening of the Turner Centre the nearby old town area began a massive regeneration process. Before an area with nothing that nobody would go to now has a range of cafes, bars and restaurants where you can have lunch and a selection of retro and niche shops.

2011 – 2013 – Further works to the area surrouding the old town and the Tuner Contempary saw the £5 million building of a new flood and coastal protection scheme which doubles up as a fantastic looking promenade walk.

2015 – The second major part of Margate’s comeback happened in October 2015 when Dreamland reopened its’ doors to the public for the first time in over a decade. The rebuild of the Scenic Railway and the amusement park as a whole took a lot of battling from the Dreamland Trust and the Save Dreamland Campaign and happened much later than it should have done but will undoubtably bring a lot more people to Margate.

This brings us to more or less now in time and the question must be asked what will happen next as Margate continues to reinvent and rebuild itself?

We took a trip down to Margate to see how these recent events had affected it and if it is back to its’ former glory. To see this post click here.

To see our video focusing on Margate’s regeneration with an interview from Thanet North MP Roger Gale click here.