The cool coastal town with a popular beach has been named ‘Shoreditch-on-Sea’ due to so many creatives moving there, especially from East London
Londoners are always on the look out for weekend breaks to decompress after a long, hard week in the capital. Margate, on the Kent coast, is exactly one of those places. This could be a place many of us may want to visit in the next week or sea, especially with weather experts predicting a return to sticky 35C temperatures next weekend (June 20 and 21).
The hip coastal town, sometimes dubbed ‘Shoreditch-on-Sea’ is about 90 minutes to St Pancras via a direct, high-speed service. It’s been home to the likes of Turner Prize-nominated artist Dame Tracey Emin, as well as poet T.S. Eliot.
It’s a town home to 63,500 people, where a home sets you back £294,597 on average, according to Rightmove, £377,044 less than London’s average of £671,641. But it’s not just cheap homes and famous faces that make Margate what it is – it’s also steeped in history.
It was home to the Royal Sea Bathing Hospital, which was built in 1791. It was one of the earliest specialist orthopaedic hospitals in the UK, which used open-air treatment for patients with non-pulmonary tuberculosis. People with the condition received different treatments, with a central focus on providing patients with the supposed clinical benefits of sunshine, fresh air and sea bathing.
On a lighter historical note, Margate is recognised as the first place in the UK to offer and popularise the now hugely famous donkey rides on the beach in the early 1800s. And of course, the town has natural wonders, such as Dane Park, Northdown Park, and everything the coast and everything the North Sea have to offer.
We spoke to local councillor Barry Manners about what it is he thinks makes Margate such a great place to live. And having been in the area for seven years, he as a brilliant command of everything on offer.
He said he works a ‘bit of bed and breakfast’ during the summer, and some of his regular clients are ‘stressed out city types,’ something he concedes he was himself in the days of yesteryear. Some of his customers are paying an eyewatering £3,000 per month to live ‘in a box in Nine Elms’ and ‘just want to escape London for a weekend’.
‘The best coastline in the UK’
Cllr Manners said: “We’ve got among the best coastlines in the UK, you can walk around its entirety.” He said Margate is ideal for those who ‘just want to get away from London, and feel some sand in their toes, have a paddle in the sea and just see some amazing chalk formations and great beaches’.
He added: “I’m right on top of Foreness Point, which is one of the most biodiverse clifftop locations in the entire country. It was managed under a plan that was put forward by the Bumblebee Conservation Trust about 10 years ago. It’s a wildflower clifftop meadow space.”
There are also great cycling options in Margate, according to Cllr Manners, with ‘an iconic bike ride along the coast,’ something he takes advantage of when he cycles to Ramsgate.
‘Great places to eat‘
Cllr Manners also spoke highly of the pubs, adding ‘if you fancy a pint and watching the sunset with a seaview’. This is one of the things that makes Margate ‘great.’
But if you wanted to eat he recommends ‘The Pearly Cow’ which has such a good bar it would ‘put many five-star London hotels to shame.’ He event went as far as to draw parallels between the bar and some high-end ones he’s visited in ‘New York.’
‘It’s like a Where’s Wally picture’
MyLondon was told that one beach in particular that stands out is Botany Bay, which becomes choc-a-bloc when temperatures hit 30C. Despite being pleasant, when thermometers spike it becomes like ‘hell on earth’ with ‘wall-to-wall people like a Where’s Wally picture.’
‘Stressed Londoners love it’
Cllr Manners said ‘stressed Londoners love’ Margate, and that ‘we love them’ back. He said what we from the capital love is something they ‘take for granted,’ such as ‘the amazing coastline.’
He added: “We forget that if you’re coming down from London and you’re living in a box and working in Canary Wharf, it’s [Margate] absolutely wonderful. We do sort of look at them a bit strangely, and think ‘why are you getting so excited about that? It’s just a beach’. But, of course, it’s a fabulous beach. I’ve never heard of any kind of animosity or anything towards Londoners.”
There is a slight issue with Londoners ‘buying second homes’ in Margate, but he conceded that’s a ‘universal’ issue, due to the town’s housing crisis. “Local homes are not affordable for many local people, but then show me a house in London that’s affordable for Londoners,” said Cllr Manners.
How to get to Margate from London
If you’re getting a train from central London you can either get a direct service from London St Pancras International which takes about one hour 30 minutes or a direct train from London Victoria which is slightly longer but a classic scenic route, reaching your destination in about one hour 40 minutes.
Once you arrive at Margate Station, the main beach and the town centre are just a short five minute walk away.
