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A postcard from Ramsgate, a seaside resort 'locked down in all but name'

Ramsgate harbour
Ramsgate harbour

Ramsgate was a small fishing town until its harbour was built and bestowed with Royal Status by King George VI, when it became the place for sea-bathing and promenading. But these days this faded Georgian seaside resort is quiet. All too quiet.

National lockdown gives way to Tier 3 today, when little will change: the Government is urging people to avoid travelling in and out of Tier 3 areas, unless it is an essential journey. Ramsgate, as all of Kent, has been shunned.

We’re left wondering how this happened. Up until the national lockdown, the district of Thanet (which includes Margate, Broadstairs and Ramsgate) was in Tier 1. Yet we have come out of it one of the hardest hit with Covid-19 in the country. North Thanet MP Roger Gale has been reported as saying that it was down to “one last drink” and that we “left the national lockdown too late”, while South Thanet MP Craig McKinlay has pointed the finger at students, saying numbers are allocated to their home town even if they study elsewhere (in fact, numbers should be attributed to their university’s district).

Those in west Kent, with comparatively low numbers, seem outraged that Thanet (and neighbouring Swale) have marred their chances of a relative return to normalcy. Some blame schools reopening and others blame outsiders – usually those from London, just 90 minutes away – for visiting when east Kent numbers were relatively low.

Hotels in Ramsgate tell me they did have close to full occupancy in September and October. Ben Irvine at the seafront Albion House hotel is cautious about reopening “with Covid numbers the way they are”. He and his wife, Emma, have been using lockdown for staff training, maintenance and external painting – they’re determined to be ready for 2021. The team behind the Falstaff Hotel has carried on with takeaway, feeling that Ramsgate needed “to have some sense of normality in a time that [can leave] us all feeling alienated”. Coffee and croissants, and a friendly face, have certainly brought comfort.

Albion House hotel, Ramsgate
Albion House hotel, Ramsgate

Without a better track and trace system it’s not clear where people contracted the virus. But what is clear is that people and businesses in Ramsgate are suffering. Nearly every business tells me that the Government grants during the first lockdown were a help, but that very little has been forthcoming this winter. Andre Dack, director at Ramsgate Music Hall, a venue whose tiny size belies its status on the live music scene, tells me: “This is essentially a lockdown in all but name. If we are to be in Tier 3 for the remainder of the month – which looks likely – we will have only been open for one show since the initial lockdown in March. [...] We are witnessing a catastrophic collapse of a billion-pound industry.”

Adrian Mowl of the Royal Harbour Brasserie is holding out hope for Tier 2 after the December 16 review. The Dorchester Hotel-trained chef believes that “it’s the governments reaction to Covid, not Covid itself, that will cause the most harm ever experienced [by] this country in my lifetime”.

At Little Ships, where they’re serving takeaway through a hatch and doing deliveries, owner James Thomas says: “Although it’s about protecting lives, it’s also about protecting livelihoods. We are down to running on air and we need to be open as soon as we can.” Both these restaurants overlook the pretty harbour, which is a glorious twinkly spot in December, with boats and yachts decked out in Christmas lights – a tradition determinedly continued this year.

Restaurants might be hoping that December 16 brings better news, but Roger Bell at the Ravensgate Arms pub has his sights set on next year. “I have no passion for running a pub that doesn’t allow you to mingle, sit around a bar, or forces you to order a pasty with each drink,” he says. “We are all in this together and if it means we all need to be strict for a while, then so be it. Frankly, we should have done this [lockdown] as a whole country, sooner and for longer.”

The few lucky Ramsgate businesses that haven’t been hit by Covid restrictions include Harbour Bikes, where my fiancée and I hired a tandem last weekend and sped along the Kent coast past Margate, as far as Minnis Bay. Despite problems in the supply chain (bikes can’t get built if raw materials aren’t pulled out of the ground), demand has been high.

Other new ventures have used lockdown as a springboard for new projects: Ramsgate Arts Barge and Union Yoga have put in motion successful crowdfunders, and Ramsgate Radio – with its ethos of including, celebrating and listening – has had a massively successful launch.

As non-essential shops, gyms and hairdressers reopen, things may start feeling a little more normal in Ramsgate. On historic Addington Street, there are lots of small independent galleries, cafes, record shops and antique dealers, for which Christmas trading is vital.

At Moon Lane Children’s Books and Toys, Nicci Rosengarten tells me she has missed her customers. “Talking about what’s so wonderful in the world of children’s books is what we’re here for,” she says. Despite feeling nervous about Covid numbers, Nicci has taken all the necessary precautions and today couldn’t come soon enough.