The easy train link to London and The Margate Exodus
Disadvantages:
The town itself
Recommend to potential buyers:
no
Full review
I live in the Margate area. The area Garlinge where I live is probably the nice end of Margate compared to the rest. Now I'm not just saying this because I live here but Margate is a sh*t hole. It was so popular before, it used to be the mini version of Blackpool. It was good value for money, the beach was fun to visit, fun for all the family and we even had our own theme park: Dreamland. Unfortunatly, Margate has recently gone downhill.
For a start, Dreamland is just a car park now. The fun famous theme park, now gone, it's just nothing. There was a zoo years ago before I was born which was cruel the way animals were kept but between losing the zoo and about 2001, the park really was wonderful. Now and then different rides were brought in and even a whole mini-golf course was made. I loved going there as a child with my mum, dad and sister. The park decided to close down in 2003/2004 but every summer since then they have said, "Last summer before closing down". I think this summer it will change because there is nothing left. The only thing left is the Scenic Railway and I know for a fact that it is only there because it is a listed "building". For anyone that doesn't know, the scenic railway is the 2nd oldest wooden rollercoaster in Europe. It's a shame because they don't allow rides on it anymore, it is becoming too dangerous. Last summer they had set up a ferris wheel which allowed you to over look Margate and the beach and stuff but it didn't have proper planning permission so they had to take it down. On the other hand, there are plans for an ice rink there and there are still arcades along the sea front. I wouldn't get too exicited about the arcades though, there are lots of "cool" crews in there, they might not be a pretty sight to see.
The high street of Margate was excellent for shopping needs but now everywhere is closing down because they are out of business thanks to Westwood Cross Shopping Town Centre. The area of Westwood, a 10 minute bus journey from Margate, is improving Thanet as a whole but shops in towns such as Margate, Ramsgate and Broadstairs, are closing making the towns worse places to be.
There has been a lot more imagrants living around the Arlington house area, in the Nayland Rock which originally was a normal hotel and even along the sea front in Clifftonville they are building flats for more to live here. Not being rude, but a lot of them are unemployed and do not do much during the day (or night). All they have seemed to do is raise our crime levels. They always seem to get away with it as they can't speak English.
To include to the downhill of Margate, the plans for a multi-million pound Turner Centre were completly ruined. It cost Margate a heck of a lot of money to plan the structure and to make a test building structure. The idea was to have a funny shaped white dome attached to the harbour. The problem was, when they made a test building, the whole thing had been blown over and calapsed into the sea.
Channel 4 had plans to make a modern day version of the Exodus in Margate. They called it "The Margate Exodus". They had built an 80ft "Waste Man" and burnt it for the intro of The Margate Exodus. It took three months to build. For a month and a half I would pass it everyday on the school bus and see the man being gradually built, step by step. On the evening of September 30th, huge crowds gathered in and around Dreamland where the Waste Man burning took place. The atmosphere was unbelievably tense. Suddenly, BANG, the fire had started. It was very clever as pyrotechniques had made it so the raised arm would fall and then the head. I was standing about 100 metres away and the heat was unbelievable, it felt like a hot summers day. The sight was so amazing and I said to my girlfriend, "This is the best thing that has happened in Margate". It truely was spectacular. The Margate Exodus is no longer being shown by Channel 4, instead they are going to take it to cinemas all over Britain. I can't wait to see it and if there are any clips with people skating in the background, look for one with an afro, that will be me, I went skating that day and I had no idea they were filming.
Transport around Margate is standard, however, all buses seem to be about 5 minutes later than the timetable says. The train station is very good to link to many places over Kent and London including Canterbury (East and West), Ashford, Maidstone, Chatham, Rochester, London Victoria, London Charing Cross, etc.
In general, Margate isn't good. There isn't much to do, it is just one big graffiti board calling for all chavs around the country. The beach is nice though, there is sand. Thats about it for my review. If you think my review is short, that is because there isn't much in Margate to descibe and if there is ANYTHING you need to know about Margate, leave a message in my guestbook and I will find an answer for you, I live here so I can do the research for you. I know many train ticket and bus ticket prices too.
