18 Fort Road, Margate Introduction

Initial site context FORT ROAD HOTEL 18 Fort Road, Margate Introduction Thanet District Council (TDC), is seeking a developer/hotelier to assist in the regeneration of The Fort Road Hotel, Margate. Margate is the UK’s original seaside resort. It was ‘discovered’ by fashionable Londoners in the early eighteenth century and has been evolving as a cultural destination ever since. Over the years, it is famed for having been, variously: a favourite weekend haunt of the artist JMW Turner; a source of inspiration to the poet TS Eliot; a playground for millions of visitors to Dreamland; a battleground for Mods and Rockers; and the childhood home of the artist Tracey Emin. Like so many UK resorts, Margate fell out of fashion towards the end of the twentieth century, and fell onto particularly hard times. As a result, the public and private sectors have rallied behind the resort in support of a large-scale regeneration programme with culture at its heart. Today Margate is reimagining itself, as it has done at least twice before. Having pioneered the concept of the seaside resort, Margate is to become a vibrant, twenty-fi rst century tourist destination; building on its unique, and incredibly rich, cultural past. This April, we celebrated the opening of Turner Contemporary – a new, world-class gallery inspired by JMW Turner’s association with the town. On the back of this multi-million pound investment, Margate is preparing to welcome a new wave of cultural tourists. More than 200,000 people to date have visited the gallery – and other attractions and visitors are promised to follow in its wake. To accommodate those who want to stay locally, Margate will not only need more hotel rooms but we anticipate a new kind of hotel offer – one that successfully bridges the gap between historic interest and contemporary comfort. Our vision for the Fort Road Hotel is to fulfi l this need. The Fort Road Hotel: Iconic Site The Fort Road Hotel (previously the Fort Castle Public House) is one of the last surviving buildings in the area today that the artist JMW Turner would recognise. Turner spent fi fteen years ‘weekending’ in Margate with Sophia Booth (whose house was opposite) and, as a noted drinker, it seems inconceivable that he did not visit the establishment. This gives the former hotel hard-to-beat historic and artistic credentials that are likely to be of special interest to visitors to Turner Contemporary. The hotel also benefi ts from a fantastic position, facing the sea, overlooking (and overlooked by) the gallery. The two buildings share the same privileged view of Margate’s sunsets, that Turner declared “the loveliest in Europe”. These associations with Turner (historically with the artist and now with the gallery) give the Fort Road Hotel potentially iconic status. Furthermore, the building is well situated on the main coastal route in and out of Margate, within close proximity of the harbour area; the Old Town; and Margate High Street. 1 Fig 1: 1852 ‘Sanitary Map’ of Margate – The Fort Castle Public House, and the two Houses, are shown Centre It is within 15 minutes walk of Margate Railway Station which, in turn, links the town to London (via a fast and frequent service to and from London Victoria, Cannon Street, Charing Cross and St Pancras) and to mainland Europe (via Ashford International and Stratford International). The ports of Ramsgate, Dover and Folkestone are also easily accessible via train and road. The Fort Road Hotel: Historic Building The Fort Road Hotel sits within the Margate Conservation Area. It consists of a three storey brick structure, which is part rendered and part pebble-dashed externally. It has a basement and a sub-basement, and both of these lower levels have brick-lined vaults running out under the road. The building has a complex multi-valley tile roof. It is one of the older buildings within the Old Town area, appearing on the 1821 (fi rst topographically accurate) map of Margate already in its current plan form. The building’s double level basement would suggest a more ancient origin for the structure than the early C19th. Much of its contextual surroundings were removed in the twentieth century, especially in the late 1930s when all the structures to the north-west side of Fort Hill were demolished. It probably last functioned as a hotel in the 1960s. The planning history of the building consists of (in its entirety): FORT ROAD HOTEL (18 Fort Road) 1973 Conversion of hotel into 8 self-contained fl ats – Granted (ES/1/63/125C) 1978 Conversion of hotel into bedsits – Granted (TH/77/609) 1990 Conversion from 1 fl at and 13 bedsits to 7 self-contained fl ats and 3 bedsits – Granted (F/ TH/90/0928). 2 The building has been unused for at least twenty years. At some point; the tiles were removed from the inner slopes of the roof allowing extensive rainwater penetration into the interior. This has caused major decay to the fl oor plates. However, 215mm cross walls exist within the building, which have served to tie the external walls together. The interior does still contain the remains of a Georgian staircase. Fig 2: Fort Hill and the Fort Road Hotel 1975 The Proposal Our vision is to see the Fort Road Hotel reborn as a small, twenty-fi rst century character hotel with up to twelve rooms and a restaurant; which would help address the shortfall of quality hotel accommodation in Margate. The building has positive value in the townscape and any renovation would be expected to retain its historic character – externally at least. This approach would be consistent with the Council’s regeneration aspirations, and planning policies. That being said, the poor condition of the building as it currently stands presents an opportunity for a more creative approach to its redevelopment than might otherwise be considered appropriate – so long as it protects and enhances the building’s intrinsic heritage value. This image (right) - created by Louisa Inwood, a Stage 2 Interiors student at the Kent School of Architecture – provides just one example of how the building could be transformed with enough imagination and investment. The connection between the building and JMW Turner, although conjectural, is a strong one. The Fort Castle Public House (as it was then known) was a few yards from where Turner lived when he was in Margate. Turner, the owner of a public house himself, must have known the building well. 3 This link could prove to be a lucrative ‘unique selling point’ for the enterprise. The area’s closest comparator, The Reading Rooms, is a boutique bed & breakfast with three bedrooms in a restored Grade II listed Georgian town house. Since opening in 2009 and being awarded the 5 Star Gold rating by Quality in Tourism, the venue has experienced consistently good occupancy levels, including during the winter. Given that this is before Turner Contemporary opens it indicates that there is a latent demand for a quality accommodation offer in Margate. Fig 3: Opening weekend of Turner Contemporary April 2011 Local Context Thanet District Council recognises the importance of the visitor economy to the area and takes a pro-active approach to supporting and encouraging tourism in close cooperation with Visit Kent. One of the targets in the Thanet visitor economy development framework and action plan is to bring about at least one new ‘boutique-style’ hotel in each of Margate, Ramsgate and Broadstairs. The most recent estimate of the value of tourism activity in Thanet as a whole indicates that in 2009 visitors spent £217 million. This is 10% higher than the equivalent fi gure for 2006. It is estimated that around £93.5 million of this was spent by all overnight visitors, up by 5% compared to 2006. Of all commercial accommodation available to visitors, serviced accommodation (hotels, guest houses and B&Bs) was the most popular choice among domestic visitors (used by 41% of domestic staying visitors). Just over a quarter of foreign visitors stayed in the serviced accommodation sector.* Specifi c fi gures for Margate are not available but it is likely that tourism to the town is worth each year between a quarter and a third of the Thanet total, some £54-£72 million. Margate (and Thanet’s) appeal to potential visitors will be signifi cantly enhanced now that Turner Contemporary has opened. There has also been signifi cant investment in recent years in developing the Hornby Hobbies Visit Centre and improving the visitor offer at Quex Park in Birchington, while plans are progressing to reopen Dreamland as a ‘Heritage Amusement Park’ in 2013. There are only two sizable hotels nearby, which are the Smiths Court Hotel, a three Star 43 room hotel and the Walpole Bay Hotel, a two star 2 Star 42 room hotel, both in Cliftonville. Apart from the 44 room Premier Inn adjoining Margate Railway Station, the rest of Margate and Cliftonville’s serviced accommodation stock mainly comprises guest-house style accommodation, much of it of low quality and ungraded. *Figures kindly provided by Visit Kent 4 Ownership and Lease Considerations Thanet District Council compulsory purchased the Fort Road Hotel in December 2010; as part of efforts to regenerate the town and eradicate perceived eyesores. The building was (and remains) in an advanced state of disrepair due to years of neglect and weather penetration. However, a structural survey concluded that the external walls are sound, with the exception of the front parapet which has since been secured by structural scaffolding. This temporary measure puts the council in a position to explore options for the long-term future for the building seeking interested parties progress the project.

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