Urban Panel report

Friday's Isle of Thanet Gazette carried an interesting article on the English Heritage Urban Panel visit to Margate and subsequent report.

The Gazette reports that Chris Smith, the panel co-ordinator stated:
"The Georgian town built on the hill fields beyond the High Street puts Margate at the forefront of English seaside development and had Cecil Square and The Assembly Rooms survived intact, the image of the town today might well be different today.

The building that houses Thanet Council is so out of scale and over bearing as to drive the image of the rest of Cecil Square from the mind. The square has suffered badly from the non-negotiable demands of the highway engineer. Members felt that the re-creation of Cecil Square as a pedestrian dominated space of quality would offer a far better return for residents and visitors alike."

I couldn't agree more. Last week I went on a historic guided tour of Margate with the Margate Civic Society. It was really enjoyable and I'd recommend it. It was so interesting to get a new view of places and details that I pass in everyday life. One of the stops was on Cecil Square. Old photographs were passed around that showed a Thornton Bobby department store with wonderful ronate ironwork to the facade next door to the Natwest Building and that corner was an intact terrace of fine houses down to street level. There was no delivery arch into the corner, which I believe was put in later for M&S. It's so destructive the modifications that are made and then the businesses move on. Looking at the old pictures and then bothering to look up above the traffic it's clear the fabric of the beautiful square is still there. But that it is obliterated by the excessive widening of the road and the Council Offices and Court that tower over in extreme ugliness.

I remember someone telling me that the TDC building was built with no expense spared. Something about handmade bricks shipped in specially? I will have to do some research on this. If anyone has any pictures or knowledge of what was there before the ins and outs of the building of the current Council offices I'd be glad interested.

It isn't hard to imagine Cecil Square back to its former glory. If it was in any other european city it would be one of the main public squares of the town, fronted with shops, bars and cafes. Perhaps a weekly market. Instead it's a car park, duel carriageway and bustop with poor street furniture and inappropriate landscaping. It could be a welcoming place instead of a stressful environment.

It seems Margate officals were pleased with the panel's report in respect of Dreamland and the Turner Contemporary and Old Town. I need to research what plans are afoot for Cecil Square and also to track down the report. The Council is feeding back on the report on June 16th.

TDC press release on the Northdown Road fire

Work is continuing to make safe a set of terraced buildings, badly damaged by fire in Cliftonville.

The fire broke out late on Saturday night at the properties in Northdown Road and saw 80 firefighters tackling it throughout Sunday and into Monday. Six people were re-housed in emergency accommodation by Thanet District Council, but all have now made their own arrangements. There have been no reports of anyone being hurt.

Building Control officers from the council have been on the scene throughout today (Monday 18 May), assessing the damage to the building. Work is being undertaken this afternoon to put additional scaffolding in place around the building to make it safe.

It is hoped that Northdown Road, which is currently closed between Prices Avenue and Crawford Gardens will be open by tomorrow (Tuesday 19 May) afternoon, with shops and businesses that have been affected by the fire in that area able to re-open at that time. Work is continuing to re-connect gas and electricity supplies to affected properties and it is expected that the work will be completed by midday tomorrow.

Deputy Chief Executive, John Bunnett, said: "This has had an excellent response from everyone involved, both inside the council and from our partners at Kent Police and Kent Fire and Rescue Service. Our officers have once again excelled themselves and have been working around the clock to try and return the area to normal as quickly as possible. That's our priority at the moment. We want to see businesses in the area that have been affected able to trade again as soon as the building is made safe and we're doing everything we can to ensure that happens."

Chief Superintendent John Molloy said: "I would like to thank the residents, shop owners and staff and visitors in Cliftonville for their understanding and support over the past few days. It is quite evident just what an extensive fire this was and our first priority has been to ensure everyone's safety, followed by working to get the community's life back to business as usual. The structure is too dangerous at the moment to start our investigations on site. However, we would welcome anyone with any information to contact Margate police station on 01843 231055 or to talk to one of our Cliftonville neighbourhood officers as soon as possible."

The cause of the fire is not yet known and is under investigation.

ENDS

Cheryl Pendry
Press and Media Manager
Thanet District Council
www.thanet.gov.uk

Tel: 01843 577 034
Fax: 01843 295 343

Time Tunnel fire photos

I've been back up there today and it seems the fire is still burning since midnight last night. The fire seems to have spread to neighbouring properties and businesses. The building may have had linked basements. I'm so hoping the other businesses are not affected, but even with this level of disruption it has got to have an impact. The police officer on the cordon that I spoke to said it was being treated as a crime scene. I've not got confirmation on that from anywhere else. Margate really is finding it hard to shake off this association with fires. Which is a huge shame.

Fire on Northdown Road

There was a big fire on Northdown Road tonight. In an arcade three doors down from Lovelys and two doors from the scooter shop. I'll post pictures tomorrow. It took a long time for the fire crew to get through the security shutters. When we left the scene the fire had spread to next door. I hope that it has been brought under control.

These arcades, eh. Very fire prone.

New cafes open in town

The new Be Beached cafe on the Harbour Arm has opened this weekend. Really great menu, that balances local quality produce and price. There is a tasty brunch menu which includes most dishes for under a fiver. Poached duck eggs and granary fingers, kedgeree, smoothies. There are many veggie options with a few dishes for meat eating friends. I had a fine pot of coffee and a fairy cake yesterday and a nice ginger beer today while I soaked up the sun and the view. I wish Be Beached every success! You can also find them on the web!

There is also the London Pie and Mash shop in the old town. I'm no afficionado for traditional pie and mash so I'm afraid I went for gravy like a true northerner! I'm told I have to go back for the liquor and chilli vinegar. It was great to hear people reminiscing in the place about their east end London pie experiences. I can see this place being a real winner.

local food producers in Thanet?

I listened to an excellent edition of the Food Programme on Radio 4 today. It was visiting the Slow Fish expo in Genoa which is part of the Slow Food movement. They were accompanying cornish oyster fishermen, members of Slow Food Cornwall. It lead me to look up to see if there is a local representative within Slow Food UK locally in Thanet. Looking on the map it seems that Thanet doesn't seem to have a rep, which is a shame. The nearest is the Weald and Kent and is inland.

The promotion of sustainable fishing for the area that serves the local community would be a great concept and could only improve domestic tourism to the area. You've only got to see how well Whitstable has done from its connection with quality local seafood as an example.

I'm still looking for quality local food producers and retailers for the food market in Margate Old Town taking place on the last weekend on the 29th and 30th of August. Pop me a mail if you are interested.

Glimpse exhibition final day

The Margate UK flickr group exhibition has its final day tomorrow on Sunday 19th April. It's had well over 1000 visitors over the last two weeks. I'm told there is an impromptu gathering to send her off from about 2pm onwards. There's a nice series of interviews with the exhibitors on the Glimpse Blog. See if you can detect a common theme. ;-)