English beach town to convert derelict seafront shelters into new tourist attractions
The town is also home to the world's biggest Wetherspoons
BEACHY KEEN English beach town to convert derelict seafront shelters into new tourist attractions
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AN ENGLISH seaside town has revealed plans to convert the abandoned beachfront shelters into a place for tourists.
Ramsgate's eight shelters line the East Cliff promenade, having been built in the 1930s.
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Ramsgate's abandoned shelters are being converted
Credit: The Heritage Lab
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The eight shelters were built in 1935
Credit: The Heritage Lab
The eight shelters - measuring 6m by 2m - look out across the sea but have been left to decay in recent years.
Most of them are now covered in graffiti, without any form of seating.
And the new plans will convert them into attractions such as a food and drinks outlet, as well as a sauna, beach huts, art spaces and fishing huts.
One confirmed shelter will become seating and information screens right by the Grade-I listed Chine steps.
The Architectural Heritage Fund, behind the transformation, has a small fund set to create the new designs.
However, they are set to raise further funding for them to include power and water to them.
If the target is met, then the new attractions hope to be open by summer 2026.
Locals can add their own ideas to the open consultation form.
The shelters, built in 1936, were part of the Marina Bathing Pool, a lido that was an Olympic-sized pool and diving zone.
However, it closed in 1975 and has since been filled in to become a car park.
The Sun visits Wetherspoons largest pubin Ramsgate
Rob Kenyon, CEO, Heritage Lab CIC: "We are excited to be able to kick start this new project thanks to a viability grant from the Architectural Heritage Fund which will help to pay for the research, design and early development costs.
"The project epitomises our ambition to develop curiously creative spaces, and we hope that this will help the regeneration of the East Cliff area and Ramsgate more widely.'
In the mean time, tourists can visit the Ramsgate Tunnels, the UK's largest network of wartime tunnels.
Or there is the Royal Harbour - the only one of it's kind in the UK.
Ramsgate is also home to the world's biggest Wetherspoons.
The Grade-II listed Royal Victoria Pavilion reopened as a Wetherspoons in 2017.
We went down to try it out - here is what its really like.
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