After Margate, we trundled off to neighbouring Broadstairs on the local Loop bus, which took us through some other neighbourhoods full of shops with interesting signs, and past a fantastic bit of topiary — a giant figure in a top hat with its arms raised to the sky. Unfortunately there was no time to get a photo as the bus zoomed by, but we did have time to speculate on how the arms had been made without any obvious structural support, before being distracted by the next exciting thing, which was an odd-looking Victorian tower with a crenellated roof. Although we later found out that it now houses a museum, we stayed on the bus until we got to Broadstairs' main shopping street, which was full of great local shops. I counted three independent, family run butchers shops all within a couple of minutes walk of each other; an undertakers with an amusingly apropos name; a proper old-fashioned English herbalists which smelt amazing; a nice greengrocer where we bought some tasty locally-grown apples; a proper old-fashioned sweetshop (unfortunately it was closed, much to my disappointment, because it had jars of salty licorice and sherbet lemons in the window); a couple of antique shops (including a toy hospital); a delightful, teeny cinema; and several bookshops. We had a great browse in Broadstairs Books, a fantastic and cheap second-hand bookshop with a great selection of books and comics.
Broadstairs has always had a nicer reputation than Margate, but it's still not overly gentrified, and has its fair share of tacky kiosks and shopfronts. It has an old-fashioned ambience, reminding me of the summer days of my childhood, with a nice dog-free sandy beach for swimming from, and another dog-friendly one full of rockpools to explore. There's a charming promenade along the cliff top, with some pretty gardens to stroll through, and which seems almost exclusively populated by Italian eateries. Most of these are independent, and a couple of them have been there for so long that they're local institutions, serving homemade ice cream in nice old-fashioned surroundings. We didn't actually have any ice cream, but we did get some deliciously fresh fish and chips (from a place with a bizarre mural above it and a bizarre pizza place next door to it), and ate them down on the beach watching the sea, with young seagulls eyeing us with interest. However, the seagulls didn't seem to be as aggressively predatory as they are in other seaside towns, and we were able to eat in peace.
After that, we wandered up to look at Bleak House, but, from the outside at least, it isn't nearly as bleak as the new-build apartment blocks on the cliff at the other end of the beach, which look completely out of place with their surroundings. Then we took advantage of a useful leaflet I'd found at the Shell Grotto (see previous post), which was published by CAMRA and listed local real ale pubs to be found on the Loop bus route. We went to one near the train station, The Prince Albert, which has a nice bit of art nouveau building decoration dating back to 1911 (see picture below). Unfortunately, I was disappointed to discover that, although they served real ale, there was nothing from a local brewery on tap, which was sort of the point of seeking out a CAMRA-supported pub in the first place. They did, however, have a mild on tap, which is not something that is all that easy to find, especially in London pubs, so we had a pint of that before realising how late it was, and rushing off to catch the last train home to London.
The Prince Albert pub
All in all, a really lovely day which served to remind me that I really should have made the most of living no more than two hours away from the seaside this summer, and should have visited the coast more often. It's not too late, though, especially as I hold hopes of having an Indian summer. Anyone fancy a trip to the seaside with me?
