Our once-deprived seaside town has become UK's ‘Shoreditch-on-Sea' filled with influencers… it's a blessing & a curse

Scottish Sun

2 days ago

The town was once the 33rd most deprived area of England
SHORE DEAL Our once-deprived seaside town has become UK's 'Shoreditch-on-Sea' filled with influencers… it's a blessing & a curse
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LOCALS claim their once deprived seaside town is becoming an influencer hot spot.
Residents say the sudden influx of Londoners is both a blessing and a curse with the thousands strong gentrifying force now relocating to their town.
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Margate is home to a huge community of relocated Londoners
Credit: Getty
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The seaside town has been dubbed 'Shoreditch-on-sea'
Credit: Getty
Cliftonville West, an area of Margate, has seen a huge influx of so called DFLs (Down From Londoners) since the pandemic.
The town has earned a new nickname amidst the growing relocation of middle class, big city workers, now branded "Shoreditch-on-sea."
According to The Telegraph nearly 6,000 people from the capital relocated to the area since the Covid-19 pandemic.
Cliftonville West is now reportedly the place in England that has been most gentrified over the past ten years.
Property in the area now costs double what it did in 2010 and the number of residents who are university graduates has almost doubled between the 2011 and 2021 censuses.
Following the Second World War the town didn't build any new hotels, a new theatre, conference centre or other attractions to keep up its seasonal trade.
Relying almost exclusively on this seasonal holiday trade, Margate began to decline and became on of the most deprived areas in England.
Following the slide into deprivation the town's hotels have been left neglected and ill suited to locals in need of housing.
Dan Thompson, an artists and historian, was left homeless for six months after struggling to find an affordable rental property.
He said Margate has always been a bit rough and added that bids to make it a more attractive neighbourhood made it a town built to attract DFLs.
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In the 2000s hospital admissions for drugs and alcohol were five times the average for Kent and by 2010 it was the 33rd most deprived area in England.
Since then the town has turned things around with new attractions bringing in tourists, money and relocaters.
The opening of a gallery on the seafront in 2011 contributed more than £110 million to the local economy and by the end of the decade things began to turn around.
Rock band, The Libertines converted a dilapidated B&B into a boutique hotel and the neighbourhood was set to be named the coolest in the country by Time Out.
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Locals say DFLs price them out of homes
Credit: Alamy
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DFLs have brought a new wave of tourism to the area
Credit: Alamy
After the pandemic influencers began to flock to the town bringing a new, wealthy group to the area.
Dan Thompson moved to the area before the gentrification and has lived there since, working to help improve the area.
Thompson told The Telegraph: "The wave that came down during and post-Covid were coming down seeing the town as finished.
"It had coffee shops, it had wine bars, it had galleries, it had all of that. They were coming down as consumers.'
New residents who moved after the pandemic claim that old timers hate the DFLs.
Sophie Brown, 34, moved from south London eight years ago, she now runs a queer bar and community space in the town.
She said: 'There are a lot of old-time Margate people who absolutely hate DFLs like us.
"They think that we're coming in to gentrify the place and really destroy it.
"We think we're making it better and also trying to make things better for local people.'
The influx of wealthy Londoners has caused house prices to skyrocket and left locals without the means to afford their own town anymore.
Sophie continued: 'People that were born and bred here, they're pretty angry at us. We are part of the problem, there's no sugar-coating it.'
While gentrification has made it harder for locals to afford the town, it has brought back some of the tourists.
New businesses, fine dining and street food has seen the tourism industry slowly pick up again.
Dan Thompson added: 'If you'd have come here in 2004 and spoken to local people, you wouldn't have wanted to come back.
'Now even the most grumpy of locals, who are moaning about the dog s*** and the bins not being emptied, they'll also tell you that the beaches and the sunsets are beautiful.'