retiredmartin

August 2024. Ramsgate.

Just two (2) more ticks to complete Kent’s GBG entries for another year, pipping young BRAPA to the post. Ha !

It’s Saturday in Thanet, so I’ll have no problem getting those two, and a relaxing day by the sea with Mrs RM awaits before we scoot over to Tunbridge Wells for a mercy mission.

I tell Mrs RM that Ramsgate is now one of THE trendy places she should be writing about and earning commission on compact luggage sales. Yes, that’s right, Mrs RM has monetised her site !

She’s not absolutely convinced by Thanet’s top town, having last been here in 2018, and astonishingly my last visit was pre-Covid, a memorable night in the company of the man we still call Erlangen Nick.

That Queen’s Head still looks gorgeous today, but the walk down King Street to the sea is a reminder that Ramsgate is at heart scruffy town that could have been transported from old Grimsby,

its reputation resting on lively locals run by Thorley Taverns (OK, and a few micros),

and the casual visitor might wonder what 1970s “Life on Mars” film set they’d found themselves on.

But then you reach the marina, with Peter’s chippy and rejuvenated Belgian Bar,

and there it is, the reason why the Sunday Times recommends you spend your precious staycation here.

The biggest Wetherspoons in the WORLD !

Actually, you need to go round the back of the Royal Victoria Pavilion to see what all the fuss is about,

and even then there’s not quite as many folk drinking in sight of the sea as you may have been led to believe. You know, I reckon the beach bar at Chapel St Leonards is better.

But it’s still impressive, and if you can’t see anyone actually standing at the main downstairs bar that’s because it’s early.

Oh, actually it’s just gone noon. Perhaps they’re ordering on the App like good boys and girls, or from the upstairs bar with its tremendous views to the Amusement arcade.

The folk who arrived at 10am and nabbed the terrace seats are the lucky ones, but in honesty Mrs RM and I can’t sit still for more than 10 minutes, on sand or seat, on the hottest day of the summer.

We head inside, use the App to order our £1.30 glass of grapefruit murk,

and then head to our second church of the day,