Joyland Books

What’s wrong with Margate
Clean up Margate and those other seedy seaside resorts

Richard Morrison
Come friendly bombs, Betjeman wryly wrote, and fall on Slough. Actually, I don’t mind Slough. It has some impressive roundabouts. But Margate? Now you’re talking about a blot on the landscape that could disappear overnight without a murmur of lament, at least from me.

Come, friendly tides, and flood Dreamland! As poetry it may not quite sing like Betjeman, but as a sentiment it’s irreproachable. Margate’s grotesquely tacky, yet unaccountably “celebrated” amusement park should have been torn down decades ago. I was taken there each year as a kid and, even in the 1960s, it seemed as ancient as Stonehenge, only in worse condition. Reading in The Times that it not only still exists, but may soon reopen as a “heritage fairground”, as part of a £60 million plan to turn Margate into a chic “cultural destination” (no, this isn’t April 1), was like being told that the NHS is acquiring medieval pliers for a return to heritage dentistry. The only pertinent question is not when or how — but why.

Only at the seaside do traders and local authorities imagine that they can woo crowds with food, facilities and rides so squalid that they should be treated as toxic waste.

I’d love Margate to shed that image — because if Margate can, anywhere can. And in a year when nobody except freeloading MPs can afford a foreign holiday, there’s never been a better time to instigate a renaissance of the British seaside. But time is running out. If the rot isn’t stopped soon, the British public may soon be applying George V’s alleged last words — “Bugger Bognor” — to a great many of our famous old seaside resorts.

From The Times May 15, 2009

Dreamland vision

New Margate development will offer more than a burger-and-slot-machines ethos

Sir, Richard Morrison asks why the people of Margate might want to create the world’s first amusement park of historic rides on the town’s famous Dreamland site, home to the oldest rollercoaster in the country, and suggests that the plans should be dropped in favour of a “back to nature” approach (times2, May 13). His vision for seaside resorts is “to hell with the heritage guardians and their antediluvian squeals”.

Of course, the Dreamland project has much more in common with the “success stories” he quotes (the usual Eden Project, St Ives, Rick Stein) than “burgers and slot machines”. Dreamland Margate will be a brand new 21st-century attraction rooted in the culture and history of the town. Such an approach is encouraged by the Government, and indeed forms a large part of its Sea Change grant funding programme.

Our vision at Dreamland Margate is to lift the somewhat tired UK seaside experience that he refers to and replace it with a genuinely contemporary customer offer that exceeds expectations and is unique. The Government’s Urban Panel, which visited the town in March, has just released its report, which singles out Dreamland as the priority scheme in the town, having “assets of the highest quality and national importance” and urges “that the vision of Dreamland reopening as the first and nationally unique heritage fairground be promoted with urgency and drive and without unnecessary burdens”.

Margate is lucky to have such an asset that can form the basis of what will be a truly spectacular cultural experience, involving historic rides, a celebration of youth street culture, a series of themed festivals, a high-quality new public space, quality bars and restaurants followed by a new performance venue in a second phase. Few seaside resorts have such a strong place in popular seaside entertainment culture; it would be foolish to throw this away and start again from scratch. Our proposal has more in common with Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen and Liseberg in Sweden than the hopeless “burger-and-slot-machines ethos” to which he refers.

Nick Laister

Chairman, the Dreamland Trust

From The TimesMay 19, 2009

Marvellous Margate

Beside the seaside in Britain

Sir, Not everyone can holiday in the Maldives, nor would everyone want to. This recession is a great chance for our British seasides to come into their own (“Clear up these seedy resorts and we’d all like to be beside the seaside again”, times2, May 13). The beaches in Margate are a dream — the walks to pretty neighbouring places are inviting. The Winter Gardens theatre provides top-class entertainment; the little old Theatre Royal has reopened to happy audiences; there are festivals throughout the summer and donkey rides for the children.

Once the Turner is complete and Dreamland running, I defy anyone to say it is not a lovely holiday destination.

Unemployment is high in seaside towns — hardly the fault of the residents. Those who caused it probably agree with Richard Morrison and go farther afield for their holidays.

I hope it rains.

Ann Brace

St Albans