Recent history

[EAS]

This was only two years' ago:

http://www.propertyweek.com/story.asp?storyCode=3082130

Quite a lot has happened since then...

[Lou]

Yes Eas, but never say never eh.... its amazing what can happen even against the odds.........

[ghughesarch]

But it is the residential element that really excites him. House prices have gone up sharply in Margate in recent years to more than £300/sq ft (£3,230/sq m) and rising, so Hunter can expect to make a substantial profit if he can secure residential planning and then sell off chunks of land to housebuilders.
...
‘Margate needs to join the likes of Tunbridge Wells, Chelmsford and St Albans, which have all undergone image changes. It needs to lose its association as a seaside resort.’

I think the current irony of that sort of thing may be wht EAS was getting at.

[Vince, Charlie and Sam]

If anyone is interested in my two penn'orth, we are not quite yet half-way through the collapse in property values.

[EAS]

I posted this in the Heritage Forum, with more info, but I'll put it here too:

http://www.bdonline.co.uk/story.asp?sto ... in=BDdaily

Not enough, but something at least to encourage seaside town to be er... seasides?

http://www.joylandbooks.co.uk/forum/vie ... highlight=

(Margate as somewhere else... why? Isn't its USP the fact it's beside the sea?)

[Cheryl]

This is when you know things must be bad on the property front. A Thanet Estate Agent is quoting the high speed rail link on property details, boasting that it will ONLY take 1hour 38 minutes from Margate to London. I laughed out loud.

Here in Birmingham we have Virgin Pendalino trains getting us to London in 1 hour 15 mins. I must advise our Estate Agents to quote this on their property details!

[Vince, Charlie and Sam]

I'm sure I read somewhere that it is going to be 1 hour 14 minutes- I'm sure the current fastest service is 1 hour 38, with plenty taking over 2 hours if you fancy a tour of Folkestone on the way.

[Cheryl]

Hi, my parents have used the Victoria to Margate service quite regularly and the official timetable quotes 1 hour 45 mins - if you are lucky!

Whether the new trains will shave 7 minutes off the journey or if it is 1 hour 14 mins as Vince states I don't know. However, this particular Estate Agent was going with 1 hour 38 mins.

[rayhol]

The most recent quoted time is (around) 92 minutes from St. Pancras to Margate. Southeastern is having a job making a business case for these trains, and the timetable is still not finalised. Current plans indicate one train an hour off-peak weekdays each way via Ashford and Canterbury West, and presumably the same on Saturdays and Sundays.

The Southeastern platforms at St. Pancras are a long way from the Underground platforms, and St. Pancras isn't anything like as central as Victoria or Charing Cross, so any perceived journey time savings are likely to be eaten up getting to the station to catch the train. It also seems likely that "adjustments to stopping patterns" will make journeys over the 'old' network longer and less attractive, to 'encourage' people to use the new service. It will, of course, cost more to use the new trains, there is a premium for travelling over the high speed line.

It will be interesting to see what people think of the new timetable when it begins. I don't think the new service will make Margate a more attractive place to live, or to visit, unfortunately.

[Cheryl]

Personally, I don't think the train ride will stop people visiting Margate for Leisure purposes - consider the Bembom era. Infact the journey can be part of the fun when you are embarking on a family/leisure day out.

However, I do think it is a commute people would not be willing to do on a daily basis for work, and it is for that reason I found it so amusing on the property details I was reading. Moreover, it illustrates further that a housing estate on Dreamland is not required for London commuters.

[Vince, Charlie and Sam]

Whether the new trains will shave 7 minutes off the journey or if it is 1 hour 14 mins as Vince states I don't know. However, this particular Estate Agent was going with 1 hour 38 mins.

I generally find that if an Estate Agent says it, then it must be true.

[EAS]

Anderson and Hunter also believe that Margate should focus on commuter-driven growth. In December 2009, Margate will receive a new high-speed rail service to London via Ashford, as part of the Channel Rail Train Link. The journey time is more than two hours to Charing Cross, but this will be slashed to 1 hour 20 minutes to St Pancras, and possibly less.

‘The critical ingredient will be the railway,’ says Hunter. ‘It will become a commutable distance to London so, like it or not, commuters will come here.’

He believes commuters will be positive for Margate as they will create a pool of highly skilled workers, attracting employers.

[Nick Evans]

Commuters have been travelling from the Thanet stations for decades of course and I commuted from Whitstable to London in the late eighties and early 90s. You need to be made of strong stuff, and be on a good salary, to put up with day in day out commuting. Four and half years was enough for me and my journey time was around 75 minutes each way. A Thanet station would have been the straw that broke the camel's back in my case.

I doubt very much that the new hi speed trains will make any real time difference to the north east of Kent. Travelling times to Victoria from Whitstable are around 80-85 minutes on the current service and two hours to Ramsgate from Victoria. Sure you might benefit if you need to travel to north or east London but not by a great deal. South East Trains need to cut out some of the stops around Medway or north Kent if they're going to compete on times - which I very much doubt they will.

Those best placed to save any time on the new Hitachi trains - and yes they are very impressive, having seen a couple out on manoevures lately - are travellers living in Ramsgate, Canterbury, Ashford and Maidstone areas, not Margate, Birchington, Herne Bay or Whitstable people.

BTW did you know in the immediate post war years, people living in London were encouraged to move to our parts of Kent by being given a subsidised red X annual season ticket to the capital? Great idea, what happened to it I wonder?

[Sarah]

I've read so much contradictory information about the new rail services. I'd be very surprised if they alter the journey times by more than a few minutes either way. Mind you, who'd be daft enough to buy a house on the vague promise of improved public transport connections...?

Nick, I can only imagine the outrage in Whitstable - DFLs being wooed with cut-price rail tickets! It's enough to make you choke on your oyster.

Sarah

[EAS]

Even if they do cut the times, getting into London is going to be only part of the journey for most. Add on travel times from the station too, once you are there... it's getting worse by the year. Ghastly and not for the fainthearted.