Moved to Ramsgate 6 months ago from London.
It was known as planet thanet in the past and regarded as remote, but the train from Ramsgate to St Pancras takes 1hr 19 minutes, and the roads into Thanet from Kent are now much better than they used to be.
What you should know about Ramsgate:
- Lovely architecture, there are lots of beautiful Victorian properties on the west side around Ellington Rd and Vale Square. Also, on both the West side and the East side near the sea there are gorgeous Georgian houses (Augusta Rd, Spencer Sq, Addington St) with wrought iron canopies (usually listed). Prices are most definitely going up.
- Some nice cafes and restaurants: Kyoto for sushi, Caboose, Bench for Tapas, the Belgian Bar, the Town Bar at the Albion Hotel. The lovely Vinylhead cafe, which has a real suntrap rear garden, and also sells records. Not as many quality eateries as Broadstairs and Margate, but it's improving.
- Pubs etc: The Ravensgate Arms is a lovely place and the Queen Charlotte. Ramsgate Music Hall is a small venue but gets surprisingly good acts - Neneh Cherry, The Wave Pictures, Jungle Brothers, Beak, Sleaford Mods and so on.
- Great views over the harbour, where there are little cafes, vintage furniture shops and galleries tucked into the arches. A few of the pubs on the front there are bit tacky, but it takes all sorts. There are nice ones too.
- The beach - a sandy beach, but if I'm honest, Margate and Broadstairs have nicer beaches.
- There's a boys and a girls Grammar school in Ramsgate.
- You can get the train to Canterbury (20 mins) where there is very good shopping and two cinemas, one is a Curzon. The shops in the town are not too bad, but there has been a bit of a migration to Westwood Cross (an out of town shopping centre).
- Houses on the east side of Ramsgate are cheaper. There are some great period places so you could do well to buy there if you are on a budget or looking for the place to go up in value.
- The Newington area behind the train station is quite deprived, as well as a couple of spots on the East side. The town is not a crime or drugs free zone, but I have felt pretty safe here, to me it seems no worse than areas of South London that I lived in - probably safer.
- Things to do: walk along the cliffs or beach to Broadstairs, this walk has beautiful views and you can stop off at the tranquil Italianate Greenhouse in King George VI park for a cream tea; take a wander down Addington St, where you can look at vintage furniture shops, pop in Vinylhead cafe or the Queen Charlotte and then walk around the nearby Liverpool Lawn or Spencer Square and Eastern Esplanade for the architecture and sea views; Ramsgate Tunnels; the Beach; see a film at the mini Granville cinema; take a boat trip from the harbour; have a lovely al fresco breakfast enjoying the sunshine outside the Belgian Bar or one of the cafes on Westcliff Arcade; visit the Updown Gallery, visit Petticoat Lane Emporium on Dumpton Park Drive for more vintage items.
One of the reasons I decided to move to the Thanet area was the fact that there are 3 towns close together and they all have a different character. Margate is 5 miles away, and Broadstairs is under 2 miles away - they are all well connected by bus and train. Broadstairs is the smallest and quaintest, it's really very unspoilt and has a lovely enclosed beach with restaurants on the high clifftop behind where you can eat overlooking the sea. All three towns are very child-friendly, but I would guess Broadstairs the most. Margate has the most young/contemporary feel, and attracts lots of ex-Londoners - it has numerous art galleries, The Turner, The Tom Thumb theatre, the Old Town is full of nice shops and places to eat, there's Dreamland, and Margate gets fantastic sunsets over the sea (ramsgate and Broadstairs get the sunrises). Ramsgate feels like the biggest town, it has the grand architecture, and is the best connected to London. If you live in Thanet, you can enjoy all three, plus the many (clean) beaches and the coastal walks which are stunning - you can go uninterrupted along the coast from Reculver to Ramsgate on foot or by bike.
The negative things about Thanet? Parts of it look rough and unpretty, it's true. But only parts. And personally I find anywhere 100% pretty a bit too much, too quaint. Unemployment is a problem in the area, fingers crossed this will improve in future. The shops tend to close on weekdays at about 4, which can be frustrating. ramsgate feels very dead on a Sunday, and Margate on a Monday (the Turner is shut on a Monday, many local shops follow suit). There is a bit of a following for UKIP in the area, but I've not felt it's presence particularly since the election, and there is also a vocal anti-UKIP presence as well...
Here ends my ode to Thanet.