How Margate Became Summer's Hippest Hotspot
How Margate Became Summer's Dream Destination
Image Source: Getty/Chris Ratcliffe
It's the setting for Lily Allen's new Sky comedy-drama "Dreamland" as well as the location Harry Styles chose for the latest popup shop to promote his beauty brand "Pleasing", so just what is it about the former run-down coastal town of Margate that is making it a hotbed for creatives, visitors, and celebrities alike?
There's no denying the seaside town has a charming aesthetic. Lying less than two hours away from London in the county of Kent, it is a natural escape for city dwellers to get some fresh air at weekends. Yet more people are making their visit a permanent fix. And why not? The streets are lined with vintage shops, record stores, and independent cafés reminiscent of the hipster boroughs found in the capital. Yet here, the sea is on your doorstep. As such, the town is swarming with artists and craftspeople, making a living by selling handmade jewellery, ceramics, and paintings. There's a bohemian feel in the air.
"London will never ever go out of style, but Margate has got a really buzzy yet family-friendly vibe which is ideal for me at this moment in my life," Cruel Hearts Club musician Edie Langley tells POPSUGAR as she plans to relocate from the capital with her partner, Carl Barat, co-frontman of rock band The Libertines, and their children. In fact, The Libertines band opened Margate's hippest hotel in 2020, called The Albion Rooms.
"Everyone here is a bit wonky."
"My partner found a dilapidated hotel around six years ago and proceeded to turn it into the most incredible boutique hotel, bar, and recording studio," Langley says. "It has a sexy rock and roll vibe with a really vibey bar in the basement. It is one of those bars that when you enter, time passes very quickly and you find yourself accidentally having a few Margaritas too many." The musical couple also opened Love Cafe with some friends, which is a café and bar with "amazing sunset views of the beach and insane breakfasts." Langley's latest project is a nightclub and band venue called Justines, which should be opening in the next couple of months. "It is going to have incredible cocktails, amazing music, and secret gigs," she says. "Margate is full of incredible musicians and artists which in turn, attracts more of the same, so it is growing all the time."
Image Source: Pleasing
Margate has been on quite the popularity ride, falling in and out of favour with each passing decade. Beginning as a small fishing village, it became a popular holiday spot for upper class Londoners in the 1700-1800s. It's not hard to imagine the upper echelons of society heading for their holidays at the coast, thanks to "Bridgerton". The town really thrived following railway connections making it a more affordable holiday destination — and the arrival of the Dreamland amusement park only added to its delightful reputation.
Yet as larger theme parks arrived decades later, Margate's popularity took a nosedive. Known for gang violence between the mods, rockers and skinheads of the Sixties and Eighties, there were countless arson attacks up to the early 2000s. Dreamland was forced to close, but after a £20million redevelopment project, it re-opened in 2015. Having maintained its old-timey feel and vintage looking rides, it now welcomes a diverse mix of visitors.
Image Source: Getty
And it is this inclusive vibe that has also contributed to its resurgence. People Dem Collective is a local organisation who are creating a National Cultural Centre on the seafront. Cofounders Kelly Abbott and Victoria Barrow Williams, who have lived and worked in Margate for 15 years, say the collective was born out of a lack of space for people of colour to heal, transform, and feel seen. "We were sick to death of hearing stories from Black and brown people in Margate who were being abused in the workplace, so we decided to get them all together and do something about it," they tell POPSUGAR. Meeting every Sunday, they were organically growing — and then came the murder of George Floyd in the US. "After Floyd's death, we knew we had to put on a protest here in Margate, in our socially conscious town. We were completely shocked to see a never-ending line of people walking down the hill, and it turned out to be 4,000 people. We were completely blown away - it just felt like the whole town had shown up."
The Cultural Centre will act as an educational space to mentor young people and put on events and workshops, as well as an area for people of colour to come together and celebrate. "We've got a rich culture here of Black and brown people that we need to share, that we need to elevate and inspire and uplift and uprise and make connections with," the founders say. "Our experience in this community is being erased and deleted, so we wanted the space to celebrate us, our history, and our excellence. Our mission as an organisation is to facilitate and provoke systemic change. This is a movement that is necessary for Kent, the UK, and the rest of the planet."
If you walk through Dreamland, you'll see a magnificent mural to Black British icons such as Munroe Bergdorf, Little Simz, and Ncuti Gatwa front and centre. The artwork, which was painted by Olivia Twist with creative direction from Paul Camo Roberts, is a beautiful reminder of Black British excellence.
Margate's supportive kinship is growing. Despite a chequered history of embracing different subcultures, it has become a thriving place to live — particularly for the LGBTQ+ community. Rainbow flags are flying and gay bars like CAMP are nightlife highlights. The town has its very own Gay Pride Festival held at Dreamland and boasts several queer community groups, from Queer Swimclub Margate to an LGBTQ+ hub supported by national charity Just Like Us. According to designer, model, influencer, and CEO of trans charity Not a Phase, Danielle St James, the real "guiding star of Margate's queer culture" is Margate Arts Club. "Margate Arts Club is run by my friend Amy Zing, and it's a fabulous little venue that hosts everything from bonkers queer nights to the monthly trans peer support groups that we run through my charity," she says. St James moved to Margate a few months ago after living in central London for 10 years. "I think the reason for the mass exodus to Margate is because the standard of life on offer here is immensely better," she says. "It's only an hour commute into the city, but it also feels safe. Everyone here is a bit wonky."
It's no wonder Margate is attracting so many famous faces. With quirky bars and inclusive, retro-inspired venues all designed with a quintessentially British seaside feel, it's the perfect place to get immersed in modern, coastal life.
Image Source: Getty
