Dreamland Margate

Dreamland Margate is an amusement park in the seaside resort town of Margate, Kent, England.

Dreamland opened in 1920 and has since been a popular attraction with visitors to Margate. The park is famous for having the UK's oldest surviving roller coaster, The Scenic Railway which is a Grade II listed structure. Dreamland was the subject of a 1953 documentary film, O Dreamland. In 1981 Dreamland was purchased from Associated leisure/plesurama by the Dutch Bembom Brothers, who renamed the park "Bembom Brothers White Knuckle Theme Park",^[1] and converted it to a pay-on-entry park. In 1990 it reverted to the "Dreamland" name, ^[2] and in 1996 it was purchased by Jimmy Godden (who had operated Folkestone's Rotunda Amusement Park since the 1970s.^[3]

Proposed closure and redevelopment as Heritage Park

Since January 2003, Dreamland has been under threat from closure because of the value of commercial land in the area. A campaign has been set up to attempt to save Dreamland from closing. A government inspector's report, carried out from April to September 2004, said the area should be kept exclusively as a theme park and an opinion survey carried out by The Isle of Thanet Gazette, the local paper, shows strong public support for keeping the Dreamland site as an amusement park. Despite this, the site's future is still uncertain and the developers claim that their plans will improve Margate. Dreamland was open for the Summer 2006 season but without its ferris wheel. The only permanent ride operating was historic The Scenic Railway wooden roller coaster, which has been operating at Dreamland since 1920, making it the UK's oldest roller coaster. In 2004 this became a grade 2 listed structure following a successful application by the "Save Dreamland Campaign". The owners of the site, Waterbridge Ltd, trading under the name 'Margate Town Centre Regeneration Company', although their interest in the area is really Dreamland, announced that the park would not open for the 2007 season. It is hoped that, in some form, the Scenic Railway will operate in 2007. Waterbridge are due to present their redevelopment plans to the public in the Summer of 2007. Currently on the Margate Town Centre Regeneration Company website you can 'design your own idea for the site'. However, it is not possible, using the simplistic website they have created, to design a theme park, something which several opinion surveys (Thanet Gazette) have shown to be what the majority of people want and what was recommended for the site by government inspectors in a 2006 survey of Britain's coastal resorts (Thanet Gazette, Save Dreamland Campaign). The save dreamland campaign hope too see the park reopen in the near future as a heritage theme park and to this end have been obtaining classic rides from defunct amusement parks in the UK and are currently storing them. This scheme has a lot of local and national support. Thanet District Council the local authority favour at least 50% of the site be reatained as an amusement park. A working model of Dreamland park was built in the eighties and nineties, and is currently in storage but it is hoped that it will be displayed again in the near future, it features many of the rides from that era including the Looping Star and Big Wheel as well as The Scenic Railway.

In film and television

• The park was used in the film Exodus.
• Dreamland was visted by Del and the lads in the 1990 Christmas special of BBC Television sitcom, Only Fools and Horses.

References

1. ^ 1989 Bembom Brothers White Knuckle Theme Park Flyer. Archived Copy
2. ^ 1990 Dreamland White Knuckle Theme Park Flyer. Archived Copy
3. ^ The Save Dreamland Campaign.

External links

• Dreamland Fun Park Season 2006 (Official website)
• Dreamland Fun Park, Margate (Unofficial website)
• Campaign to save Dreamland
• blitzandblight.com – Dreamland