In my penultimate instalment of seaside visits I give you Margate, a town which up until a few years ago may have been best summed up by the Morrissey lyric ‘The coastal town that they forgot to close down’. It has been in decline for decades, overlooked next to its experienced swisher sisters in Whitstable & Broadstairs, it has arcades, a dilapidated pleasure beach and not much else to recommend it to the passing train passenger. But with the opening of the Turner gallery in 2010 and a trickling influx of ex-Hackney-hipsters the town is beginning to show signs of a renaissance. There are shoots of gentrification in the form of retro tea rooms, boutiques and over-priced jumble sales. However there is still something very wistful and maudlin about Margate.

In my penultimate instalment of seaside visits I give you Margate, a town which up until a few years ago may have been best summed up by the Morrissey lyric ‘The coastal town that they forgot to close down’. It has been in decline for decades, overlooked next to its experienced swisher sisters in Whitstable & Broadstairs, it has arcades, a dilapidated pleasure beach and not much else to recommend it to the passing train passenger. But with the opening of the Turner gallery in 2010 and a trickling influx of ex-Hackney-hipsters the town is beginning to show signs of a renaissance. There are shoots of gentrification in the form of retro tea rooms, boutiques and over-priced jumble sales. However there is still something very wistful and maudlin about Margate.

I went with my two bestest friends Kathryn & Lizzie, partly to see the Curiosity exhibition at the Turner gallery, and partly as a final hurrah before one of my dearests goes travelling, here’s my photo diary of a gloriously fun and incessantly rain soaked day:

Two solitary beach huts on the sea front.

Remnants of the Pleasure beach, set to return in 2015 complete with
 Ferris Wheel attraction!

Ice-Cream Cone Railing.

Lady of Mar - Shell lady looking out to sea.

Margate Dreamlands - closed down but recently awarded heritage status.

The Mad Hatters Tearoom - closed every day except Saturday!

Shaving Brush Badger taxidermy in one of Margate's new trendy
 junk shops Hunky Dory.

Post-halcyon W.Shaw.

Sea Mizzle.

One of my favourite curiosities at the traveling Hayward exhibition.

Optimistically placed deck chair in the drizzle.

The view from a dilapidated hotel.

Martgate's magnificent shell grotto bequeathed anonymously in 1835.

 

Tudor House restoration challenge.

Catch of the day - river boat and pastel Georgian Houses.

Desolate coastline reminiscent of Dungeness.

Souvenirs of a day-trip.

Final mention to the work of artist Ann Carrington whose resplendently surreal work I came across when trying to find out the name of the shell lady looking out to see: