Cliftonville is a coastal area of the town of

Margate Margate is a seaside town on the north coast of Kent in south-east England. The town is estimated to be 1.5 miles long, north-east of Canterbury and includes Cliftonville, Garlinge, Palm Bay and Westbrook. The town has been a significan ...

, situated to the east of the main town, in the Thanet district of

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

South East England South East England is one of the nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. It consists of the counties of Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, Berkshi ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

. It also contains the area known as Palm Bay. The original Palm Bay estate was built in the 1930s as a number of large, wide avenues with detached and semi-detached houses with driveways, garages and gardens. This land was sold by Mr Sidney Simon Van Den Bergh to the Palm Bay Estate Co on 23 June 1924. Such avenues include Gloucester Avenue and Leicester Avenue.

East Cliftonville

The estate covers the eastern part of Cliftonville and was fields when the first was built. It extends east beyond Northumberland Avenue and has been developed in phases. An earlier phase covered the northern ends of Leicester and Gloucester Avenues and the whole of Clarence and Magnolia Avenues; the later phase extending eastwards of Princess Margaret Avenue is a Wimpy-style housing estate with small houses largely identical in appearance and of less substantial build quality than the original 1930s estate. The eastward expansion of Cliftonville has included much of the former parish of Northdown including Northdown Park and House.

West Cliftonville

West Cliftonville was originally developed as the up-market alternative to bustling Margate and had many small private hotels and guest houses with outstanding Victorian architecture which catered for the many visitors to what was in the first half of the 20th century a thriving holiday resort. Many of the large hotels have been converted into one bed flats; this has brought about positive action from Thanet District Council which introduced selective licensing ensuring that quality home improvements are maintained by landlords (2006) and restricting planning permission for one bedroom flats (2007). Cliftonville now has many of its streets protected by conservation areas orders and these have been introduced in (2017) by Thanet District Council. The seafront area once included many large hotels, including at one time a large

Butlins Butlin's is a chain of large seaside resorts in the United Kingdom. Butlin's was founded by Billy Butlin to provide affordable holidays for ordinary British families. Between 1936 and 1966, ten camps were built, including one in Ireland and o ...

complex. Some fantastic hotels remain, e.g. Smiths Court Hotel overlooking the sea, and The Walpole Bay Hotel. However, tourism and visitor numbers have increased in Cliftonville (2018) with the additions of newly opened bed and breakfasts changing the Cliftonville landscape, including
Cliftonville Townhouse Boutique Bed and Breakfast
and The Albion Rooms by the band

The Libertines The Libertines are an English rock band, formed in London in 1997 by frontmen Carl Barât (vocals/guitar) and Pete Doherty (vocals/guitar). The band, centred on the songwriting partnership of Barât and Doherty, has also included John Hassall ...

expected late 2020. Northdown Road and Cliff Terrace have also had a resurgence, with many trendy and hip businesses opening since (2010) these includ
Haeckels
an up-market beauty brand gaining international success with its natural products made from seaweed here in Cliftonville. Whilst restaurants and cafes are flocking to the area e.g. Forts; Cliffs café, yoga, records; The Grain Grocer with its wholefoods store,
Ouma's Kitchen
Transmission Records bring unique vinyl collection, Banks Bar Gins and beers, Batchelor's Patisserie continental cakes and coffee (which has been situated in Cliftonville since the late 1970s) and MarMar with its plants and café are all bringing an exciting new East London edge to Cliftonville. The Oval Bandstand and lawns run by community group GRASS Cliftonville bring an exciting opportunity to bring community engagement t to Cliftonville and they host a monthly award-winning farmers' market (the last Sunday of every month) and during the summer there are a number of activities and events, including musical shows, held on weekends. The Tom Thumb Theatre bring a host of music events and theatre to Cliftonville. Cliftonville also has a host of community groups that have been engaging with the communit
GRASS Cliftonville
are bringing about positive change within the community through positive community engagement.

Facilities

The shopping area of Cliftonville is called Northdown Road and includes a number of main banks and building societies, larger corporate concerns including Boots and

Tesco Tesco plc () is a British Multinational corporation, multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, England. In 2011 it was the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues an ...

, a number of family run specialist shops including an award-winning art gallery, a post office, several pubs and bars, many unique and upmarket coffee shops and cafes, two churches and a number of estate and letting agents as well as an award-winning media company all along its two-mile length.

Entertainment

Cliftonville also has an indoor ten-pin bowling alley and sports bar, tennis courts
The Oval Bandstand and Lawns
is a significant part of Cliftonville's cultural landscape. The Oval Bandstand is a large capacity outdoor amphitheatre in Cliftonville and is open throughout the year. The Oval Lawns comprises over 4 acres of public amenity space owned and managed by not-for-profi
GRASS Cliftonville CIC
This year the social enterprise will be hosting over 25 Summer Sunday community events, 4 outdoor cinemas, and will welcome over 15,000 visitors through the gates. The famous Winter Gardens theatre. Faith In Strangers also exists in Cliftonvill
Faith in Strangers
A 350 capacity venue, bar, workspace and soon to be restaurant, open to all. Margate Arts Club is an small venue with membership for the artistic crowd of Cliftonville.

Writing and poetry

During the first half of the 20th century Cliftonville was considered the fashionable hotel quarter of Margate. It was during the autumn of 1921 that T.S. Eliot spent a period of convalescence at the Albemarle Hotel, Cliftonville. His widow has confirmed that he found inspiration for, and wrote significant sections of ''

The Waste Land ''The Waste Land'' is a poem by T. S. Eliot, widely regarded as one of the most important poems of the 20th century and a central work of Modernist poetry in English, modernist poetry. Published in 1922, the 434-line poem first appeared in the ...

'' in the Grade II-listed Nayland Rock promenade shelter. The spirit of early 20th century Cliftonville was caught by

John Betjeman Sir John Betjeman (; 28 August 190619 May 1984) was an English poet, writer, and broadcaster. He was Poet Laureate from 1972 until his death. He was a founding member of The Victorian Society and a passionate defender of Victorian architecture ...

in his poem "Margate Pier".

Notable people

The stage and film actor

Trevor Howard Trevor Wallace Howard-Smith (29 September 1913 – 7 January 1988) was an English stage, film, and television actor. After varied work in the theatre, he achieved star status with his role in the film ''Brief Encounter'' (1945), followed by ''T ...

was born in Cliftonville in 1913.

References

External links

* Open Directory Project {{Thanet Populated coastal places in Kent