Regenerating Folkestone’s harbour for the future
Over the last 10 years, the coastal town of Folkestone in Kent has undergone a substantial transformation.
Its harbour area and Old High Street, now dubbed the Creative Quarter, in particular, are unrecognisable when compared to the deprived, run-down seafront it used to be.
In 2012, Helen Sharp was working on an employment project for young people there.
“There was this huge problem in a lot of seaside towns, lots of deprived areas where children were leaving school, maybe even before their GCSEs, coming out of the system and getting lost”, explained Helen.
Over three years, Helen worked with more than 120 young people and 64% of them got a job, college placement or work experience as a direct result of the project.
It was a success, however, “every single young person said, ‘there’s nothing for me here.’ That was the mentality,” said Helen.
Fast-forward to 2019 and Helen is conducting career interviews with the Year 11s at the Folkestone Academy.
Out of the 400 teenagers she spoke to, only four told her that “Folkestone was a dump.”
She said: “It was such a rare comment from the group, when the first person said it, I thought, I must this note this down.
“Whether they were consciously saying that they wanted to stay in Folkestone because it has really changed in that time or whether it was a subconscious thing, it really showed that we had made some impact.”
The Folkestone Harbour and Seafront Development Company is leading the project to regenerate the seafront area. Lead by Sir Roger De Hann, Non-Executive Chairman of Saga, they’ve been at the forefront of the development in this area of the town, building housing, opening restaurants, investing in education and conducting the complete renovation and reopening of the Harbour Arm.
Helen is the editor of Folkelife, a magazine that details the different stages of the town’s regeneration, its history, offers practical advice to those looking to move there, and is published by the Seafront Development Company.
Ella Alexander recently wrote in an article for Harpers Bazar on why Folkestone is Kent’s most underestimated seaside town:
“I have always loved Folkestone. I like the regeneration of it, but only because it seems to be an example of one of the few seaside gentrifications that has managed to do so in a respectful way. The locals are still included and it hasn’t tried to arrogantly recreate Peckham by sea, then blithely, righteously quip that it’s boosting the local economy through seasonal employment or by erecting craft breweries that the locals can’t afford to drink in.”
Her comments aren’t strictly true though.
Perhaps as an outsider, seeing gentrification in areas like Brixton or Hackney, where it can feel like huge organisations are coming in and forcing locals out with rent increases, it seems like Folkestone has done it right.
Genuine regeneration over gentrification.
And whilst there is certainly a lot to be proud of, the real situation is a lot more nuanced.
The area of Folkestone & Hythe has four areas that are within the UK’s most deprived 10% and the area surrounding the newly regenerated Harbour Arm is one of them.
There are many, like 31-year-old resident Gary Gurney, who told Kent Online: “It’s boring around here. There’s nothing to do since they took the seafront away, we should get a bowling alley.
“Nobody can get any jobs.”
There are still people here who are nostalgic of the Folkestone for the town it was in the 90s, where the booze cruise reigned supreme and the Rotunda, a theme park situated at the beachfront, was the height of culture.
Most of what is here now isn’t necessarily for them. But nor should it have to be. It’s for the future.
To explain, Helen goes back to where the town’s regeneration began.
“People would come down to Folkestone, get on the ferry, go across the channel on a booze cruise and then come back. The alcohol was cheap”
Upon the creation of the single market, the EU outlawed duty-free sales in 1999 and with the addition of competition from the Dover to Calais ferry route and the Channel Tunnel, the ferries that had previously provided huge amounts of income for the town become uneconomical and the area fell into disrepair. Employment figures rose and many young people moved away as soon as they could.
And this is where De Hann stepped in.
Helen explained how De Hann felt that the town needed to get people of employment age back and asked what kind of industry it could offer: “The digital creative industry was just booming.
“He was not only trying to bring the employed back to Folkestone, but also trying to build something that would be attractive for those people who want to raise their children up here.”
The Workshop, a venue for office space for small traders and small businesses, described as a “Shoreditch away from London”, was opened to facilitate those working in the industry and Folkestone Fringe, an artist-led organisation committed to creating opportunities and projects connecting the community began their annual programmes.
Organisers of the Creative Folkestone Triennial, an international exhibition of newly commissioned public artwork taking place every three years, said that the town’s economy was given an almost £4 million boost by the 2017 Triennial, with around 150,000 visitors flocking to the town.
During its 2014 iteration, the town made headlines around the world when Berlin-based artist Michael Sailstorfer, announced that he had buried 30 individual pieces of 24-carat gold in the sand of the Outer Harbour beach.
Helen told me that her friend in Florida had heard about the project and “on the BBC news website, where they list the most read articles, the buried gold in Folkestone was number one, and number two, was Brand and Angelina get married. For a brief hour that was the most read story.”
She said: “I think it’s about inspiring people to do something and feeling so good about their hometown, that whatever skills they get, they want to come back and reinvest in it.
“The way the town is going to grow is by everybody working into it and feeding back into that economy.”
Oliva Franklin provides the perfect example of someone who did just this.
The 24-year-old was born and raised in Folkestone and after school moved to London pursuing a degree in English Literature at Kings College, graduating in summer 2018. Like most after graduation, her time was divided between her old home and her new one as she struggled to find her place in the adult world that had been freshly thrust upon her.
She got to know the Folkestone Fringe team from the pull which was drawing her back — Folkestone’s growing arts and cultural scenes.
Since then Olivia has worked on numerous community arts Festivals in Folkestone including Salt Festival of the Sea & Environment, Profound Sound — Folkestone’s Experimental Music Festival and Magic Carpets, a Creative Europe platform in which Fringe represents the UK amongst 15 partner organisations based over Europe.
Olivia works mainly in the marketing and branding for these events, taking on a plethora of responsibilities, creating content and leading events.
In her multifaceted role, she is also the Market Manager at Folkestone Market Place, a boutique market hosting a wide range of vintage treasures and artisan goods every Sunday from April through to October, based on the old Sunday market located at the Rotunda site.
Olivia said: “It’s a way to give back to independents basically. We really try and accentuate and give space to the shop local initiative. Folkestone is a breeding ground for independent businesses and it’s nice to be able to offer the market as an opportunity.
“We don’t want to forget about the audience that was going to the old Sunday Market at the Rotunda but I guess at the same time it’s difficult because you know, all markets have to run on a certain aesthetic. I have a list of what we offer space to. It’s independently designed and made products, handcrafted i.e. pottery, crochet, curios and gifts.
“I think we pride ourselves on people taking the time to make things themselves, having put their heart and soul into it. We want to give people space to show off their craft.”
Arguably, it’s important that these independent creatives be given that space as they are the people that are generating the growth here. Not only are events like the Triennial producing massive amounts of income for the town, but the independent restaurants, cafes and shops are drawing both locals and visitors alike back to the highstreets.
Helen explained: “I was talking to the owner of Objectables”, an independent card shop in the Creative Quarter, “the day that Topshop announced they were closing all of their high-street stores. He explained that on the days they were open during the pandemic, they made more than they had done on those days the previous year.
“He said the loyalty and the support they were getting from local customers means that this might actually be the regeneration of the high street. And it’ll be down to independents.”
The pandemic could benefit our local high streets in another way too.
Helen said: “How do you justify going into a coffee shop if you just want a place to work? It’s very difficult to work at home long term.
“Maybe those empty shops in the high street could become somewhere where you can rent a desk for an hour or two.”
Not only would those empty storefronts be used in a positive way that fits in with our new way of life, but people would be back on the high street, potentially popping into the gift shop next door or buying lunch in the café down the road.
What’s more, is that, whilst most of the industry in Folkestone’s Creative Quarter is based around the digital creative industries, the introduction of this model would provide a place for people who don’t necessarily work in this field a place to work as well. It provides the opportunity for more people to belong to the regeneration’s live, work, play philosophy and for Folketsone’s high-street to stay independent.
Helen added: “Interestingly, when we started all of this, we would say: ‘We know we’ve made it when we’ve got a Pizza Express’,” demonstrating that Folkestone was the kind of town a Pizza Express would be.
Then when, Luben, Folkestone’s own wood-fired pizza restaurant opened, “We didn’t want a Pizza Express anymore. And I think,” Helen paused, “actually, we are strong enough to probably say we don’t need it nowadays.”
Folkestone is now a destination of great food, people coming in to try all that they have to offer around the Harbour Arm and beyond. However, again, here you must ask: what about the places that existed before the regeneration and what about the people who have lived here their whole lives, who maybe, want the familiarity of a Pizza Express?
Helen said: “I think you have to ask what people want. And then I think you should give them an opportunity to try what we’ve got. Because I think a lot of people are very opinionated about what they want and wherever you go, eating out is very expensive.
“But people have to feel that they belong to it. And I think that’s where we were going with this,” she added.
“When those young people were thinking, I could see myself doing this, I really like cooking or building, once they start seeing these opportunities here, within our community, Folkestone is no longer a dump,” said Helen.
This is what the work by the Folkestone Harbour and Seafront Development Company is trying to accomplish and we’re starting to see results.
Helen explained: “They use local contractors and local people. If you are somebody who is a person who has done your apprenticeship and your helping to build part of the regeneration and then pop into the local café for a sandwich at lunchtime, you start piecing it together.”
But does this further suggest that the regeneration is maybe only for the young people of the town, the people that don’t necessarily remember the Rotunda or the old Sunday market?
Helen replied: “It depends because if you are the parent of a young person who has built that building, you can say, my son, my daughter did that. And then that gives you ownership. People start recognising the investment.”
The businesses and restaurants that have been here for years, that already belong to those of “old Folkestone”, as Helen says, are recongnising that investment too.
“They are benefiting from all of the people that are coming to the town.”
When the viaduct opened for the first time in years, a bridge connecting the two halves of the harbour, Chummys, a well-known seafood stall established in 1958 reported their best ever day of trade. All the people coming to the Harbour Arm, all walked across the viaduct. Not only were they getting their usual trade, but they were also getting it from the Harbour Arm as well. Everyone here is benefiting, everyone here is gaining back an opportunity to truly belong to the community they are from. There is no longer a feeling of desperation to escape from the people there.
That chance to belong is certainly why Olivia came back to the place she had grown up. She said:
“My favourite thing about Folkestone is the ability to put your stamp on something. The relationships that you can create here and the people you can get to know.
“It feels easy, but I guess that’s what it feels like to be part of a close-knit community. I like feeling important somewhere.
“It’s about where you work, where you live and where you have your social time. It’s all very intermixed here and I think that is quite unique.”
Walking around Folkestone early on a Friday evening admittedly you still see young people aimlessly gathering, just as the generations before them did too.
Perhaps now, however, they have something that those that grew up in Folkestone 10 or even five years before them did not. Genuine opportunity for a career of their choosing and a chance to feel like they truly belong.
