Tom Page Photographer

We arrived mid afternoon on a cold and frosty Saturday, mid January in Margate. It's winter but still, I expected a bit more of a buzz at this seaside town.

That frosty myth was sold to me by Mary Portas and Co. selling cheap rail tickets to UK destinations over the winter period in a bid to jolt into life a hibernating urban wilderness.

It doesn't want to be woken, it knows what it is. I don't think we are even wanted there.

The elements have bleached this town in the winter. Salt and snow have lined the pavements, trees and houses. Colours have faded. Doors are bolted shut. Rooms throb from behind the panes. 

It echoes the past and clings to it. 

like the oldest roller-coaster in Britain. A slow undulating circle which has seen better days.

The only modern feature is the Turner gallery. From the outside it doesn't look much. From within it carves panoramic views overlooking the sea, respectful of its namesake. Ensuring each visit is different and unique with the changing conditions of the sea views. 

The town harbors few commercial boats, just the juggernaut float past like flakes on the horizon line, but it will be catching new streams of traffic flooding into the the gallery I'm sure. A really worthwhile and well thought out space.

The people know that and seem to be reserving energy, holding back. 

A focus point, a totem pole to Margates new future as an attractive destination. The summer will come, the beach will thaw, and new life will breathe across it's passageways.

The Turner Contemporary

Interactive art inspires

The gallery has it's effect already, energising a generation

A fancy car, perhaps out of place on this highstreet