Mary Portas in Margate

[Melanie Sands]

Yes, I've heard of Margate. No, I've never been
there, as far as I can remember - it was always Brighton,
although from Tunbridge Wells Margate wouldn't have
been so far away, surely?

How can a beach resort become forgotten and a little
bit seedy?

Sometimes Mary Portas is annoying, but surely the
publicity is good in any case? So why were people
there against her?

We saw in the bakery series how some shops thought
the "people from television" would spruce up their
shops and buy them new fittings for free, but that
they, the shop-owners, could just take and take
and not have to give, or make an effort.

Did Margate think the same way? Reap the profits but
not have to pull the finger out? Or what?

I don't understand how a beach resort can dwindle
into seediness like that.

Melanie

[JNugent]

On 18/05/2013 15:05, Melanie Sands wrote:

> Yes, I've heard of Margate. No, I've never been
> there, as far as I can remember - it was always Brighton,
> although from Tunbridge Wells Margate wouldn't have
> been so far away, surely?

Tunbridge Wells is nearer to Brighton than it is to Margate. Straight
down the A26 brings you to Lewes.

> How can a beach resort become forgotten and a little
> bit seedy?

Easy. First, the taste and affluence of the public shifts such that
except for British resorts of the stature of Blackpool (and maybe
Brighton, some way below that), just having sand and sea is no longer
sufficient, especially not in comparison with the Mediterranean.

Secondly, the under-used infrastructure of the town is pressed into use
for inappropriate purposes which could not be better calculated to
reduce the stature and attractiveness of the place. In the eighties, it
would be Costa del Dole (unemployed youngsters taking rooms there in
order to get B'n'B social security rates rather than the lower amount
they would get at home) and from the late nineties, it would be the
dumping of bogus asylum seekers there.

Something of a godsend to the owners of boarding houses with no obvious
alternative markets, but not likely to revive the fiortunes of the place
in terms of attracting day-trippers or weekenders (forget weelyk or
fortnightly holidaymakers).

> Sometimes Mary Portas is annoying, but surely the
> publicity is good in any case? So why were people
> there against her?
> We saw in the bakery series how some shops thought
> the "people from television" would spruce up their
> shops and buy them new fittings for free, but that
> they, the shop-owners, could just take and take
> and not have to give, or make an effort.
> Did Margate think the same way? Reap the profits but
> not have to pull the finger out? Or what?
> I don't understand how a beach resort can dwindle
> into seediness like that.

> Melanie

See above.

Would you go to such a place (and Margate is far from being the only one
of them) for your holidays?

[AC]

Cheap air flights to hot places with cheap booze.

Oh, and some right wing crap about the scrounging poor and dirty
foreigners. But since these places had gone to shit anyway, and are
there fore cheap, why not? In fact, if the tories want to clear the poor
out of rich areas (I live in one, clearing out the poor would be
fantastic) with housing benefit caps, why not let them have the old
knackered seas side resorts? Never know, they might get their shit
together. At the very least, they have their backs to the seas which
should help the army if they get too rowdy.

--
AC

[Basil Jet]

On 2013\05\18 15:05, Melanie Sands wrote:
>
> I don't understand how a beach resort can dwindle
> into seediness like that.

Maybe all universities should be in seaside resorts. This would enable
the same accommodation and transport resources to be used all year around.

--
Ukip - Breaking the fungus of British politics

[tim......]

"Melanie Sands" <Melani...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:8a7e325a-4735-46b1...@googlegroups.com...

> Yes, I've heard of Margate. No, I've never been
> there, as far as I can remember - it was always Brighton,
> although from Tunbridge Wells Margate wouldn't have
> been so far away, surely?
>
> How can a beach resort become forgotten and a little
> bit seedy?

Because it's over 2 hours from London by train and people found other places
to go to

So the hotels became hostels for benefit claimants.

[tim......]

"JNugent" <jenni...@fastmail.fm> wrote in message
news:avpgta...@mid.individual.net...

> On 18/05/2013 15:05, Melanie Sands wrote:
>
>> Yes, I've heard of Margate. No, I've never been
>> there, as far as I can remember - it was always Brighton,
>> although from Tunbridge Wells Margate wouldn't have
>> been so far away, surely?
>
> Tunbridge Wells is nearer to Brighton than it is to Margate. Straight down
> the A26 brings you to Lewes.
>
>> How can a beach resort become forgotten and a little
>> bit seedy?
>
> Easy. First, the taste and affluence of the public shifts such that except
> for British resorts of the stature of Blackpool (and maybe Brighton, some
> way below that),

ITYF Brighton is some way above Blackpool.

there are no seedy cheap and nasty places in Brighton, there are in
Blackpool

[JNugent]

On 18/05/2013 22:34, tim...... wrote:
>
> "JNugent" <jenni...@fastmail.fm> wrote in message
> news:avpgta...@mid.individual.net...
>> On 18/05/2013 15:05, Melanie Sands wrote:
>>
>>> Yes, I've heard of Margate. No, I've never been
>>> there, as far as I can remember - it was always Brighton,
>>> although from Tunbridge Wells Margate wouldn't have
>>> been so far away, surely?
>>
>> Tunbridge Wells is nearer to Brighton than it is to Margate. Straight
>> down the A26 brings you to Lewes.
>>
>>> How can a beach resort become forgotten and a little
>>> bit seedy?
>>
>> Easy. First, the taste and affluence of the public shifts such that
>> except for British resorts of the stature of Blackpool (and maybe
>> Brighton, some way below that),
>
> ITYF Brighton is some way above Blackpool.

You have to be joking.

I certainly don't want to trivialise Brighton (it has other things going
for it and its economy (eg, the Amex centre and its modern fame as a
centre of learning, including EFL), but it is way behind Blackpool as a
resort. There is nowhere in the UK to match Blackpool.

Blackpool and environs (from Fleetwood to St Annes) form a huge resort
catering for a wide range of clientele and activities all year round. It
is far more than just being a town with a beach. Just think of the
entertainment offerings there (even well out of the summer season).

> there are no seedy cheap and nasty places in Brighton, there are in
> Blackpool

I can't easily accept that there are no seedy places in Brighton. AAMOF,
it has developed quite a reputation for seediness (in some areas) over
the last few decades, and trades hard on it among certain demographics.

Blackpool certainly has some as well, though it isn't clear that it is
as proud of them as Brighton is.

[Michael Swift]

In article <8a7e325a-4735-46b1...@googlegroups.com>,
Melanie Sands <Melani...@hotmail.com> writes

>Yes, I've heard of Margate. No, I've never been there, as far as I can
>remember - it was always Brighton, although from Tunbridge Wells Margate
>wouldn't have been so far away, surely?
>
>How can a beach resort become forgotten and a little bit seedy?

Because it's a shit hole, we spent a couple of holidays in Cliftonville
up the coast from Margate in the 1980's, it was a dump then and I doubt
it has improved since.

Mike

--
Michael Swift We do not regard Englishmen as foreigners.
Kirkheaton We look on them only as rather mad Norwegians.
Yorkshire Halvard Lange

[tim......]

"JNugent" <jenni...@fastmail.fm> wrote in message

news:avqikf...@mid.individual.net...

> On 18/05/2013 22:34, tim...... wrote:
>>
>> "JNugent" <jenni...@fastmail.fm> wrote in message
>> news:avpgta...@mid.individual.net...
>>> On 18/05/2013 15:05, Melanie Sands wrote:
>>>
>>>> Yes, I've heard of Margate. No, I've never been
>>>> there, as far as I can remember - it was always Brighton,
>>>> although from Tunbridge Wells Margate wouldn't have
>>>> been so far away, surely?
>>>
>>> Tunbridge Wells is nearer to Brighton than it is to Margate. Straight
>>> down the A26 brings you to Lewes.
>>>
>>>> How can a beach resort become forgotten and a little
>>>> bit seedy?
>>>
>>> Easy. First, the taste and affluence of the public shifts such that
>>> except for British resorts of the stature of Blackpool (and maybe
>>> Brighton, some way below that),
>>
>> ITYF Brighton is some way above Blackpool.
>
> You have to be joking.

I meant on the "lack of" chaviness (whilst still actually being a mass
market resort) scale

tim

[JNugent]

On 19/05/2013 09:23, tim...... wrote:
>
> "JNugent" <jenni...@fastmail.fm> wrote in message
> news:avqikf...@mid.individual.net...
>> On 18/05/2013 22:34, tim...... wrote:
>>>
>>> "JNugent" <jenni...@fastmail.fm> wrote in message
>>> news:avpgta...@mid.individual.net...
>>>> On 18/05/2013 15:05, Melanie Sands wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Yes, I've heard of Margate. No, I've never been
>>>>> there, as far as I can remember - it was always Brighton,
>>>>> although from Tunbridge Wells Margate wouldn't have
>>>>> been so far away, surely?
>>>>
>>>> Tunbridge Wells is nearer to Brighton than it is to Margate. Straight
>>>> down the A26 brings you to Lewes.
>>>>
>>>>> How can a beach resort become forgotten and a little
>>>>> bit seedy?
>>>>
>>>> Easy. First, the taste and affluence of the public shifts such that
>>>> except for British resorts of the stature of Blackpool (and maybe
>>>> Brighton, some way below that),
>>>
>>> ITYF Brighton is some way above Blackpool.
>>
>> You have to be joking.
>
> I meant on the "lack of" chaviness (whilst still actually being a mass
> market resort) scale

1. I agree that Brighton more readily attracts the trendy "classless"
clientele, if that's what you mean.

2. Don't confuse the state of being a member of the working class with
being a chav. Chavness is more to do with the unprincipled dependent
underclass (and I would argue that it is more of a southern thing in any
case).

[tim......]

"Martin" <m...@address.invalid> wrote in message
news:rb3hp8tkjp1p0kqb3...@4ax.com...

> On Sun, 19 May 2013 01:11:44 +0100, Michael Swift
> <mike....@yeton.co.uk> wrote:
>
>>In article <8a7e325a-4735-46b1...@googlegroups.com>,
>>Melanie Sands <Melani...@hotmail.com> writes
>>>Yes, I've heard of Margate. No, I've never been there, as far as I can
>>>remember - it was always Brighton, although from Tunbridge Wells Margate
>>>wouldn't have been so far away, surely?
>>>
>>>How can a beach resort become forgotten and a little bit seedy?
>>
>>Because it's a shit hole, we spent a couple of holidays in Cliftonville
>>up the coast from Margate in the 1980's, it was a dump then and I doubt
>>it has improved since.
>

> What on earth made you do that? We found that the best things about
> Ramsgate were the ferries that took us to NL and Belgium.

you can't even do that anymore (unless you are driving a truck)

tim

[Michael Swift]

In article <rb3hp8tkjp1p0kqb3...@4ax.com>, Martin
<m...@address.invalid> writes

>>Because it's a shit hole, we spent a couple of holidays in Cliftonville
>>up the coast from Margate in the 1980's, it was a dump then and I doubt
>>it has improved since.
>

>What on earth made you do that? We found that the best things about
>Ramsgate were the ferries that took us to NL and Belgium.

Cliftonville wasn't bad, far enough away from Margate not to be affected
by the Londoners who visited at weekends.

We did go on a couple of cross channel day tours, one to Dunkirk and one
to Le Touquet, this was on the Herald of Fee Enterprise where we got a
tour of the bridge, when it sank #2 son, who was 8, had nightmares for
several months.