Margate, Hotel Metropole 1892

Photo ref: 31443

More about this scene

The impressive facade of the Hotel Metropole, with the Ship Hotel next door, faced the end of the Jetty to greet the thousands of holidaymakers who travelled down on the paddle steamers. In the foreground is a 'guess your weight' machine, where you only paid if the proprietor guessed your weight correctly. He could do this by cleverly adjusting the weights to his advantage. Six houses to the left was the lodging house of Mrs Sophia Booth, where J M W Turner stayed between 1827 and 1851. From here he painted watercolours of golden sunsets over the sea to the west and the misty dawns to the east. Between 1939 and 1945 the Hotel Metropole and surrounding properties were demolished as part of the town's Fort Road Improvement Scheme. The area as it was before demolition can be seen in the aerial photograph on pages 8-9. Three acres of rundown cafes, souvenir shops and a wooden arcade were cleared, and a new dual-carriageway swept down the hill offering a clear panoramic view of the sands and bay.

An extract from Margate Town and City Memories.