I first went to Margate in the late 1970's, when it seemed a pleasant enough seaside resort. Then over 20 years later, in 1999, I was persuaded to go with friends on a coach trip to the town, staying for a few nights in an hotel that overlooked the seafront, and not far from the Winter Gardens. The hotel was OK but the area around was pretty depressing. In the same block were boarded up buildings, probably former hotels, and a stand alone former hotel, which had obviously had been subject to a fire and then apparently abandoned.
All this and the uninspiring town centre, gave a feeling of a very run down resort that was struggling to remain a tourist attraction. I'm aware of the much praised new art gallery but looking through the photos here, I'm amazed to see there remain abandoned buildings and in fact one looks very much like the burned out hotel I remember. For example, taken in 2010,
TR3571 : Fort Hill, Margate and
TR3571 : The Arcadian and Fort Road Hotel, Margate.
So has Margate improved and are these derelict buildings just isolated reminders of a difficult period for the town?
TR 3553 7131 [10m precision]