On Margate Sands.
I can connect
Nothing with nothing.
The broken fingernails of dirty hands.
My people humble people who expect
Nothing.
T.S. Eliot - 'The Wasteland"
Recently back from a couple of days in Margate, which I hadn't visited before as far as I know.
The town has had a lot of money spent on it, and it has been gentrified to some extent.
After I had been, I came back and picked up an old Geographical magazine from 2019 only to find that there was a lengthy article on the town and the money that had been spent on it.
One of the biggest developments was the construction of the Turner Contemporary Art gallery, which was a little controversial as some local people suggested that there should be money spent on other priorities. This was the reason we went: to go to see the excellent Beatriz Milhazes exhibition.
Dreamland has been reopened with some new developments. Sadly it was closed as there were several concerts. We could hear Natalie Imbruglia and Will Young performing.
We liked seeing the cinema which is the 'location' for the cinema in 'Empire of Light' as well, which is on the Historic England National Heritage List.
The big murals were also excellent: here was one of my favourites:
Local people remember the original Dreamland and several locals told us of their memories of the theme park. People in the town were very friendly actually.
Another book which explores this resort is one of my summer reads: 'The Seaside: England's Love Affair' by Madeleine Bunting, which has a section on Margate. The book is recommended.
Finally, we headed for the railway station which was welcoming packed carriages of people from London for a day on the beach in the heat. We saw the T.S Eliot mural in the toilets. Eliot wrote some of the Wasteland while sitting in a seaside shelter, which we saw: the Nayland Rock Shelter.
A few links for those considering this as a case study for regeneration and gentrification perhaps:
https://www.thanet.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Margate-Town-Investment-Plan_TIP1_201211_facing-pages-1.pdf - Investment Plan
A Historic England publication - includes some excellent images of Margate from the past
If you are visiting yourself over the summer a few recommendations:
- the excellent Beatriz Milhazes exhibition at Turner Contemporary
- the quirky Crab Museum
- the excellent Neapolitan pizzas at The Pickled Fox, made by a pizza maker from Naples - try the house lager as well
- the amazing ice cream from Ramsay and Williams - check out the antiques as well
- the pastries in the cafe at the Turner Contemporary Gallery - get there early
- check out the street art near to the micro-pub Ales of the Unexpected.
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