INDEX local travel
The new Turner Gallery offers Margate – that seaside town with the lack-lustre reputation – a brighter future. There’s more to the old girl’s renaissance than art, though, as Laura Reynolds discovers…
The Old Town gets a makeover. Photo: Thanet District Council
2011 list, the inclusion of Rio and Stockholm probably came as little surprise. But the Kent coast? That’s where you’ll fi nd Margate, jutting out into the North Sea like the wayward limb. This once- decadent seaside town has suffered a decline with the destruction of both its pier and the Dreamland amusement park, which enjoyed a 1930’s heyday. And its reputation as a not-exactly-laugh-a-minute destination was probably cemented when T.S. Eliot felt inspired to write sections of his bleak, if seminal, poem, The Waste Land, here. But, thanks to the opening of the highly-anticipated Turner Contemporary gallery in April – a venture described by the Arts Council as “a beacon, rejuvenating the town and revitalising the local economy” – Margate’s fortunes are a-changing. With its quirky charm, clean beaches, and one- off shops to explore, the town’s nod from Frommer’s becomes far more understandable. Yes, there are still plenty of grot spots – Margate’s still Margate – but, these days, it’s defi nitely worth a visit.
W
hen travel guide Frommer’s put together its Top Destinations
Margate’s metamorphosis
Local reaction reinforces the new sense of optimism here: “We’re delighted the new gallery’s fi nally opened, and are hoping it’ll be good for business”, says Tamburlaine Robb-John, whose family owns The Joke Shop, one of very few businesses still trading near the Dreamland site. “Now that the gallery’s fi nally come to fruition, the locals are very enthused,” adds Lauren Wright, Turner Contemporary’s curator. “And it’s not just the gallery – lots else is happening in town, too.” Regeneration is evident in newly-painted shop-fronts and gentrifi cation of old-town areas – you can now browse for gifts, tuck into cake and relax in a little corner of Margate that could be... well, a nicely- scrubbed-up Margate. There are plans, too, to see the Dreamland site turned into a £12m-heritage
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park for the 21st century, though – the twists and turns of local planning being what they are – this probably won’t be something that’ll happen quickly, despite the scenic railway being given Grade II Listing by English Heritage. Art has always been in
Margate’s blood. Tracey Emin grew up here, and JMW Turner, who once declared the Thanet
sky “the loveliest in all Europe,” frequently worked here – hence the new gallery’s name. With Turner Contemporary, designed by award-winning David Chipperfi eld Architects, drawing a fresh, arty crowd to the area and adding a contemporary twist to Margate’s faded grandeur, this really is a great time to pay the town a visit.
Turner Contemporary on the pier. © Richard Bryant/
Arcaidimages.com
9
The INDEX magazine October 2011
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