Why do place names change?

Was just mooching through a lovely old 1836 map of Thanet from the brilliant website Old Ramsgate The Great War that I picked up via the equally nice blog Promote Thanet. I walk my dog most days out at Botany Bay and the name has always struck me as odd. Looking at the map it says it's called Barleymow Bay (that's me squinting and can't really read it that well). It's a lovely name. The Bay then goes round the corner to White Ness and then on to Kingsgate. Which reminded me of the small changes that have come in even over the last few years: The Parade is referred to in the media now as The Piazza and The Stone Pier as the Harbour Arm. Rebranding of place names without good reason sits oddly I think. What's the purpose? It's not as if there has been a disaster, some awful event which makes a name change necessary. Personally, names shouldn't be changed without good reason.

Thanet Newsround

I've been pretty lax at updating the old blog the last few weeks. So, I thought one way back into the swing of things could be for me to pick out some key features from the local news publications. Inclusion on this round up is just stuff that catches my eye, not necessarily of the most importance:

From The Isle of Thanet Gazette, Friday Dec 5th, 2008.

"Six-Figure Spruce-Up"
A curious article gushing over the owners of Dreamland, the Margate Town Centre Regeneration Company, supposedly planning to 'do up' the delightful shopping centre at the top of the High Street. Shall we await with baited breath on this one? Things have gone so well for Dreamland. Mind you, could it be any worse than what's there?

"Bob light up the town"
You might be surprised to hear what annoys me about this article. No, it's not Bob and his Kent TV. It's the referral to The Parade opposite Margate Harbour as "The Piazza". Just stop it! It's The Parade. There's no need to rebrand it an italian name. The Parade has done nicely for years and years as, erm, The Parade. Pretentious rubbish and where did the reporter from the Gazette get off rebranding it?

Favourite Places - The Harbour Cafe

I think The Harbour Cafe is really the best place in Margate for decor. It's situated on the ground floor of a lovely grand old building, The Royal York Mansions, on the Parade, situated next to the Harbour on The Parade. The owners renovated it from a regular pizza takeaway place about five years ago. It's stripped back bare brick walls and raw floor boards. It's got a slightly vintage feel that isn't trying too hard.

The fave things on the menu are the homemade burger and fat hand cut fries. The Sunday lunch is good. The deserts are lovely, fresh fruit tarts and if they have it in the wonderful chocolate tart.

If they ever closed I'd be lost for somewhere to have an afternoon coffee and cake. They're also dog friendly.

Royal York Mansions
10 The Parade
Margate
CT9 1EZ
01843 290110