Don’t Look Back Into the Sun

I recently spent a few days in Margate on England’s Kent coast. I had heard a lot about how it was regenerating itself from a classic, but decaying, traditional seaside resort into a modern centre for music and the arts, with independent cafes and eateries.

Beach, food, music and the arts – it sounded like my kind of place.

The town’s provenance as a centre for the arts is well founded. The long sea front has unbroken views facing west, and the quality of the natural light is what reputedly attracted classical artist JMW Turner to reside and paint here. The description of the light is accurate – there are cracking sunsets every evening, especially this time of year when the days are long (see my main photo above for one example).

This is the home of Tracey Emin, and the town’s heritage trail is full of references to other legendary Brits who have also made this their place of abode. Here is the vista that inspired TS Eliot to write his epic poem The Wasteland. Hawley Square, with imposing terrace houses looking out over a beautiful old public garden, has been home to John Keats, Lord Nelson and, erm, Hawkwind.

The artistic regeneration has been kickstarted by the arrival of the Turner Contemporary Art Gallery, built on the site of the guesthouse that Turner stayed in while visiting here. It has a huge window looking out to sea, dressed for our visit by Brazilian abstract artist Beatriz Milhazes. It reminded me of a stain glassed window, see below.

Dreamland, shown below, is a 1930s amusement park, restored to all its retro glory and serving also now as a venue for visiting bands. The summer programme includes Placebo and Queens of the Stone Age, so they are clearly having success in attracting top quality music.

Near the Turner, and just across from the main beach, is the Old Town. Programmed for clearance in the 1960s, it was, thankfully, saved and is now a thriving centre for independent shops and cafes. We enjoyed grabbing a takeaway coffee or sandwich and taking it over to eat on the beach. Takeaway of choice was Sub Rosa, which specialises in fresh bagels. Below is my soft, chewy and delicious ‘everything’ bagel with cream cheese.

It is impossible to tire of the views across the sands, see one example below.

In another direction, you may just spot one of Antony Gormley’s iron men figures gazing out to the horizon. Be warned, however – he does get completely submerged at high tide (the statue that is, not Antony Gormley, obvs).

While there is lots to enjoy and get excited about at Margate, I do need to add some note of caution and balance, before everyone signs up to a short break there. The regeneration is still, very much, a work in progress! The arty points of interest, vintage clothes shops, adventurous foodie cafes and cappuccino bars rub shoulders with a serious amount of shabby and decaying buildings, graffiti and neglected public spaces. If that sort of thing disturbs you, then it may be best to leave your visit till the rebirth of the town is a little further down the road.

With its juxtaposition of crumbling facades of a once great English seaside resort, artistic heritage and modern day grunge, you may be excused for thinking Margate would be the perfect place for those bohemian songsters, The Libertines, to open a boutique hotel. Well, guess what? Pete, Carl and co have invested in the Albion Rooms, a stylishly kitted out 8 room hotel with bars and music venue (see below). It also has a recording studio, which is used both by The Libertines and local indie bands.

So I will finish by adding The Libertines to the ADK Playlist. Here’s a track that could easily have been written about the glorious view from Margate’s beach, just across from the Albion Rooms. This is Don’t Look Back Into the Sun.