Margate

[There Be Rumblings]

Moving out of London after 27 years and considering Margate as the place to move to. Heard really good things about it as being on the up after a long time in the doldrums. Now visited four times and have liked it, but reading more into opinions online it really splits the room. For every article describing it as a gem there are lots of people who still call it a shithole.

From our experiences so far:

Pros: Very progressive and inclusive, lots of nice independent shops springing up, miles of sandy beaches, seems really friendly, get a lot of property for your money compared to London, people who have done similar moves all seem to rave about it.

Cons: Resisential areas like Cliftonville seem to have nice pockets but overall still feel quite run-down, still a fair bit of deprivation outside the old town, not sure how easy it will be to find a job, won't know anyone so don't know how easy it will be to make new friends as a married couple without kids, haven't seen Micky Pierce on a beano yet. 

So yeah... Margate. Any lovers/ haters/ insights?
 

[Neomod]

I'm that big a fan of the Wave (Arlington House) I did a print of it.



We are moving this year and Margate is a distinct possibility. I can easily see it doing a Hastings in the next five years.

[Goldentony]

we played there a handful of times and on the last one we were delayed driving home because someone ran their husband over outside the job centre we were parked on top of

[jobotic]

Feels different to when we used to get the train there down the line as teenagers.

Last time I went we sat in a very trendy cafe with men in those hats on laptops. Apparently The Fez is a good pub. Lots of it is still shit.

Ramsgate seems better to me and it's only round the corner.

Folkestone is the top place in Kent apparently.

All full of DFLs obviously.

[Zero Gravitas]

Nah, not a normal place.

[shiftwork2]

Features in the good film Jellyfish which I watched last week alright cheers

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

[Butchers Blind]

Miserable place.

[Neomod]

Features in the good film Jellyfish which I watched last week alright cheers

It's also featured in the grim but good film by Paweł Pawlikowski, The Last Resort with Paddy Considine.

[shoulders]

They seem to have been trying to make Margate happen in waves and it kind of just about is happening now, but the problem is the residents versus the exodus of Londoners who are pushing up prices.

One of those towns where it's mega obvious we live parallel lives to our fellow citizens. I couldn't stand it. Bring me Denmark, Bring me Finland. Bring me a shoe without a grain of sand in it and a vista without a screeching seagull.

[Buelligan]

Love it on toast but couldn't eat a whole jar.

[M-CORP]

Kent boy here, only been to Margate a few times, the last time being in 2018 to see Orbital perform at Dreamland. That and the Turner Contemporary are good places... but it was pretty rundown when I was there. The beach was packed, what with it being summer and all, and the public toilets remain the worst I've ever had to traverse. Literally, vomit at the doorstep, wet, dank, dark and grimy... would recommend. I'm sure they've cleared up the vomit by now.

Someone earlier mentioned Folkstone and I would say that's a much nicer part of Kent.

[dead-ced-dead]

Someone earlier mentioned Folkstone and I would say that's a much nicer part of Kent.

I live in Folkestone and I'd say that it's kinda like Margate in terms of hipstery coffee/beer places but without the stabbings. It's nice, but I'd also say the non-stabby bits of Margate are nice. But that's a big caveat I agree.

It's also still fairly cheap.

[Marv Orange]

It's still pretty grim, nice but small nightlife scene if that's your thing. But if you want access to London, alot of nature and quaint places on your doorstep it's decent

[Bum Flaps]

What scandalous thing has Andrew Marr been accused of this time?

[Beagle 2]

A friend of a friend moved there with much fanfare about how it was trendy and up and coming. Last I heard he was trying to move out again and described it as a 'dirty little Brexit town'. 

[dontpaintyourteeth]

There's definitely been a few faltering attempts to gentrify it in the last decade or so but it doesn't seem to take

[dontpaintyourteeth]

I seem to recall something about Gizzi Erskine and Professor Green(?!?) opening a deconstructed fish and chip shop there or some bollocks like that. I think maybe a Libertine lived there as well, or is that Hastings?

[There Be Rumblings]

Yeah the Libertines own a hotel/ bar/ studio/ music venue on the seafront, The Albion Rooms.

[dissolute ocelot]

There's a good queer c(o)untry night run by the band Pink Suits, and seems to be some other entertainments, but it probably depends how fond you are of Tracey Emin. I think the Broadstairs name has more cachet.

[jobotic]

Margate FC are sponsored by The Libertines, and that alone is enough reason to look forward to their imminent relegation from the Isthmian Premier League.

[Minami Minegishi]

Margate FC are sponsored by The Libertines, and that alone is enough reason to look forward to their imminent relegation from the Isthmian Premier League.

Pete was there yesterday scoring a goal against a man on his stag do wearing chef's clothes.

Move tomorrow I'd say.

[Jasha]

Besides housing costs commuting times and social scene don't forget

Spoiler alert

IT'S IN KENT

[close]

[lauraxsynthesis]

Pros:
The Turner Contemporary, though actually quite small, is terrific with cool events and community art projects.

Dreamland has some great music events, but I don't know how they've held on as a business this long and their final closure seems inevitable.

The Crab Museum alone is worth a trip to Margate for me. If I lived there I'd go to their events.

When I visit I get food at the Old Kent Market and the various vegan cafes. It is a very good town for vegan cakes. There are lots of great omni food options too Also pop into the Rhodes Gallery which is where that Pedro Pascal exhibition was.

Easy reach of lots of other great places in Kent. I love Kent, personally. Whitstable, Broadstairs, Canterbury, lots of cute villages, Folkestone. Roman ruins, neolithic megaliths etc.


Compared to other DFL towns:
The beach is better than most/all of them. Big, sandy, North-facing so the sun isn't in your eyes, nice view of the harbour arm. I like the traditional seafront as well. The town centre is tiny though and mostly run-down and depressing. Mind you, more and more of the country's high streets feel desperate and on a steep decline so that's almost impossible to avoid now.

I personally prefer Folkestone. The beach is cold and windy and has stones but there are now 2 sea saunas. Always cool art and other events happening including increasingly comedy events, a beautiful cobbled high street, any amenity you need in easy reach, the Folkestone Bookshop. Even better though is probably Hastings. The beach is less cold and windy though still cobbled, the town has a palpable vibe and the community comes together for the fantastic Jack in the Green festival at the beginning of May, there's the country park that starts right at the town centre, and it's a good-sized town that doesn't feel like a poky little place. 

You might want a look at Ramsgate, which is nearby and must be cheaper. I don't love the seaside though, and if I had to leave London, Canterbury would be my first choice in Kent.


Cons:
Personally, I'd feel depressed living at the seaside during the cold, dark months. That black emptiness hovering over the town for a few months a year is something you might want to keep in mind. Margate is a long trek to London or indeed anywhere else in the country or abroad unless you're going via Dover or the Channel Tunnel - you might feel cut off.


Recommended books:
All the Devils are Here by David Seabrook
Dreamland by Rosa Rankin-Gee
Last Orders by Graham Swift

I think there are lots of novels set/partially set in Margate, but these are books I've read.

[flotemysost]

Only been once, as a tourist (stayed for a long weekend last summer) and got a similar vibe to the various Sussex seaside towns when they were at the "mid-gentrification, gearing up for mass Brighton exodus" point.

I liked it well enough, but I can imagine it'd be quite the change of pace for anyone used to the mad whirligig and hulking anonymity of London life; was talking to someone at the aforementioned Fez who'd recently moved there from London, and they were bemoaning the fact that everyone seems to know your beeswax immediately, whether you like it or not (though I guess that's not exactly an experience unique to this particular town).

Has anyone mentioned the Shell Grotto yet? Well go on then, the Shell Grotto: https://www.shellgrotto.co.uk/ bonkers mysterious subterranean catacomb type thing, definitely worth a visit

I'm that big a fan of the Wave (Arlington House) I did a print of it.

Aw yes, love that building, and nice work with the print!

[lazyhour]

We are moving this year and Margate is a distinct possibility. I can easily see it doing a Hastings in the next five years.

This is a fascinating thing to read because Margate was supposedly 'doing a Hastings' before Hastings did! Margate was the 'up and coming' town that hipsters were moving to about 15 years ago, then Hastings came snapping on its heels.

I live in Hastings - have done for ten years - and I've visited all these other DFL towns too. I suppose I'm biased towards my town, but for me Hastings has a very very important difference to all the other southern seaside towns (apart from Brighton):

It already had its own idiosyncratic culture before the DFLs came down.

It already had Jack In The Green, loads of folk music, weirdo artists and eccentrics. Yes, it's got some of the most grinding poverty in the country, but the town was never bereft of culture. It's got a fiery left-wing hippy/pagan spirit. Compare that with all the other South Coast Brexitland towns (often in Kent, for fuck's sake!) where none of the cool culture feels homegrown. It's just DFLs trying desperately to make a cheap right-wing seaside town more like London.

The reason Hastings has a Tory MP, by the way, is that our voting boundary lines also include all the scores of expensive little towns and villages that surround Hastings and bleed blue.

[Fambo Number Mive]

Is DFL Don't Fancy London?

[shiftwork2]

Down From London.

I'm trying to locate Brian Sewell's review of the Turner Contemporary.  The old stick was famously not a huge fan of the Turner Prize to begin with and he moans on about having to get 'behind the wheel' to go and see it.  Not an enthusiastic DFL.

[lauraxsynthesis]

Soz for jargon. Down From London. Edit: Oops pipped

[beanheadmcginty]

Ramsgate contains the biggest Wetherspoons in the world. Therefore Ramsgate wins.