Joyland Books

I have just discovered this website, having just been alerted to the sad news that Dreamland maybe closed down and redeveloped.

I have been looking for websites with photos and information about Dreamland for ages and this website is exceptional. It is just sad that it has taken the current circumstances to bring this about.

I am a keen theme park enthusiast and it all started when I first visited Dreamland with my parents in 1980 just before the Bembom Brothers took over. From about 1983 I fell in love with the place and made regular trips from Tadley, Hants (120 miles away) with my mates to Margate purely to visit the amusement park.

Margate was really buzzing in those days. The park was full with thousands of people, there was a real good atmosphere and it really got my adrenalin pumping everytime I visited.
My favourite rides were the Scenic Railway, the Looping Star, the Mary Rose, the Big Wheel and the Enterprise.

Whenever I see the episode of 'Only Fools and Horses' called 'The Jolly Boys Outing' where they visit Dreamland and ride on the Mary Rose, it almost brings a tear to my eye.

When I returned in 1996, 2002 & 2003 respectively, the place was a pale shadow of the place I knew and had grown up with.

The sale of the Big Wheel (to a Mexican park) was especially upsetting as I considered it to be a great landmark that graced the Margate skyline.
Whereas Blackpool had its tower, Margate had its Big Wheel.

Under Jimmy Godden, year by year, rides were being sold off and the park scaled down and so attendances continued to fall.
How has this been allowed to happen?
Why was the park no longer advertised anywhere and why could I no longer get a single leaflet about the place even when I visited it?

Under the Bembom Brothers business was booming, 2 million people came into Margate every year, the park was advertised on TV and there were leaflets about the park. Also virtually every train station in the South had literature about the park and the combined rail and admission tickets deal.

It saddens me to say this, but this situation has been a long time coming.
The last thing I want to see a casino or similar leisure facility built on the site. There are casinos in every town. They will not attract the families to Margate.

Amusement parks are magical places, especially when you are young. Dreamland was once a magical place for me before it fell into decline.
I just hope that someone steps in with a large amount of money and gets the park back to its former glory so that our children and many
generations to come can enjoy its magic.

p.s. Whatever happened to the Bembom Brothers? Why did they sell up?
Can we get them back please?

Henk Bembom last year acquired Loudoun Castle Theme Park in Scotland, and he is doing an absolutely fantastic job. It is a shame that we don't have his skills and enthusiasm in Dreamland, but people move on.

There are however several operators queuing up to acquire Dreamland, including the owners of Southend's Adventure Island Theme Park. Believe me, if they succeed in acquiring Dreamland, the place will be a very different park. With £10m promised on new rides and attractions, as well as park upgrades, it will certainly be a major visitor destination. And it should see the return of the much-missed rail tickets from London (Adventure Island already successfully operates that system).

We are keeping our fingers crossed and doing everything we can to help them.

Nick

Will Adventure Islands manager be accepted to take over dreamland and who does he need permission from.

Nkay11 wrote:Will Adventure Islands manager be accepted to take over dreamland and who does he need permission from.

Nick will know more, but as far as I know, it's a case of needing Jimmy Godden to be willing to sell it to him. I'm sure he would be...if he had enough money to match alternative developers!

ricardobugsy, very good post! I remember those rail leaflets too. We had them up here in North Essex and it was the very thing that brought my attention to Dreamland and made me want to go... It looked too fantastic not to. Like you say, leaflets of any kind then just disappeared from most places.

I have no doubt at all that there are operators with the willpower to make it better than it has ever been. I didn't know it once attracted 2 million visitors. That is an absolutely incredible amount for any British theme or amusement park, and I'm sure it could approach that again.

Graeme Cassidy wrote:
I have no doubt at all that there are operators with the willpower to make it better than it has ever been. I didn't know it once attracted 2 million visitors. That is an absolutely incredible amount for any British theme or amusement park, and I'm sure it could approach that again.

That's right. I have English Tourist Board statistics from the 1980s showing 2 million visitors per year to Dreamland. It was second only to Alton Towers as a pay-on-entry park. (Obviously Blackpool Pleasure Beach attracted more as it was a free entry park).

Nick

I remember walking past the posters on the railway bridge adverstising Dreamland and the combo rail-entrance ticket and hassling my Dad to take me and falling in love with the place.

I was at Blackpool Pleasure Beach on Saturday as me & partner took her younger brothers 10 & 13 to BPB for their first time. Their faces were a picture and reminded me of myself when I first visited Dreamland. We were there almost 12 hours and they loved it and at the end of the night when they play 'Goodnight' the place just feels so happy and magical, no theme park can ever feel like that. Lets just hope we can bring back those happy and magical feelings to Dreamland.

I couldn't have put it better myself (the text of the original post). I grew up yards from Dremland well into the Bembom years and attractions such as the big wheel were really exciting for a 9 year old! I was saddened to see that it had been sold, and on my last visit (3 years ago) I was a more than a little sad to see a drab and unloved park. certainly not how I wished to remember it. On the same trip, I discovered the remains of the pier had been removed, which was a great reminder of my time there, and on a day trip to Ramsgate, imagine my horror to find my favourite amusement arcade ever, Pleasurama, was now an unattended car park! (What happened to it?!!) Looking for at least something to cheer me up, I thought a look at the Lido would be nice, but I was disappointed again to see another unloved and neglected site. Even the Lido tower was a state. I returned home pretty frustrated thinking how good the place was, and still should be, and wished I could do something despite now living so far away. This site and forum has been a real eye opener and shown me that I'm not the only one that would like to see Margate thriving again, so I have my fingers permanently crossed!
I have a 3 and a half year old daughter now, and nothing would please me more than to be able to take her there as soon as there is a theme park to take her there for.
A long weekend in Margate isn't cheap, and without Dreamland it makes it hard to justify travelling all the way down there for me at the moment - I would go just to be there, but the attractions for families just aren't viable, and I fear until this changes, my feelings are probably felt by many other people. It's a sad state to be in and I really hope that things turn out how we know they should. Of course not living in Margate anymore, I may be wrong about Dreamland and it may not be as bad as I seem to see it, but again, this could be the image the park has gained further afield.
Sorry to go on, I didn't relalise how strongly I felt, but I'm glad I'm not the only one!

Well jimmy godden took over Pleasurma and in the end had a big fire. so that was the end of that. Hes had more fires then you can shake a stick at.



Alan

The lido tower has been refurbished and looks quite nice especially at night when it is illuminated. When I saw the tower taking shape I was pretty pleased thinking that something was going to happen at the Lido, not sure why it is done up as the rest of it is still pretty unused.

Wondered down one evening as a heavy rock band were playing in what was the old Jamaica Bar. I suppose there is something open but not really a family place.

Used to be wonderful years ago, I remember swimming in the Lido (yes I am that old) I also remember talent contests and the organist and the crowds that used to be there. I still have photos of fire eaters etc performing there. Another shame! Does Jimmy Godden own this?!? No of course he doesn't it hasn't been burnt down, silly me!

No one denies the fact you are that old Cheryl! ha ha ha, lets hope godden never gets to own the lido, there have been enough fires around here without the lido being the next! Looking forward to seeing you all at the weekend love dave x

I'm not just talking for myselve but i think for all those other children around kent which cant get to other amusments like myself but i think that we shouldkeep it for other poeple like during the holiday cause others and i wil be bored so please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!take my point as a child and friends that tlk 2 me about this if you want 2 argue just write 2 me back thanx court i feel all of these at once