Dreamland Margate

Dreamland Margate

Slogan	We cater for pleasure
Location	Margate, Kent
Coordinates	51°23′11″N 1°22′33″E / 51.3863°N 1.3759°E / 51.3863; 1.3759Coordinates: 51°23′11″N 1°22′33″E / 51.3863°N 1.3759°E / 51.3863; 1.3759
Owner	Thanet District Council
Opened	1880 (1880)
Previous names	Bembom Brothers White Knuckle Theme Park
Rides
Total	22
Website	www.dreamland.co.uk
Status	Open

Dreamland Margate is an amusement park, entertainment and amusement centre located in Margate, Kent, England. The site of the park was first used for amusement rides in 1880, although the Dreamland name was not used until 1920 when the park's Grade II* listed Scenic Railway wooden rollercoaster was opened.

The number of amusements at the park increased during the 1960s and 1970s, and in 1981 the site was sold to the Benbom brothers, who renamed it "Benbom Brothers White Knuckle Theme Park". The name remained until it reverted to Dreamland in 1990.

In the early 2000s, the park began to enter into decline, and a number of rides were sold to other theme parks. The park's owner announced in 2003 that Dreamland would be closed and the site redeveloped, although the listing of the Scenic Railway meant it could not be moved. Public support and a government report led to the site being sold to Margate Town Centre Regeneration Company in 2005. A number of residents launched a campaign to restore the site, although Dreamland subsequently closed in the same year. The site fell into a state of disrepair and was subject to a series of arson attacks, one of which significantly damaged the Scenic Railway.

The public campaign to restore the park continued, and in September 2013, ownership passed to Thanet District Council after a compulsory purchase order was approved by a High Court judge.^[1] In 2014 it was confirmed that the park would be redeveloped. It re-opened in June 2015 as a "Re-imagined Dreamland".^[2]

History

Origins

The Dreamland site was a salt marsh known as the Mere that was inundated at high tide until 1809 when a causeway and seawall were built. In 1846 a railway terminus was built on the present Arlington site for the South Eastern Railway, followed in 1864 by a further terminus, for the rival London, Chatham and Dover Railway on the site of what is now Dreamland Cinema. The LCDR subsequently failed to secure Parliamentary approval for its Private Bill, so the station, already built in the expectation of receiving Assent to the Bill, remained unused and unconnected to the railway network.

Dreamland’s origin dates from 1863 when railway catering contractors Spiers and Pond opened a restaurant and dance hall in the unused railway terminus on the Mere causeway. Not being very successful, the ‘Hall by the Sea’ was bought by the Reeve family of Margate in 1870 for £3,750 who gradually also acquired the low-lying land at the rear of the Hall.

In 1870, circus entrepreneur George Sanger went into partnership in the Hall by the Sea with Thomas Dalby Reeve, the then Mayor of Margate. After Reeve’s death in 1875, Sanger became the sole proprietor of the Hall and the land behind it. The land behind the Hall, the former ‘Mere,’ was turned into pleasure gardens with a mock ruined abbey, lake, statues and a menagerie – as well as sideshows and roundabouts. Cages and gothic walls on the Dreamland western and southern boundaries (listed Grade II) date from this time. The main purpose of the menagerie was to act as a breeding and training centre for the animals used in the travelling circus.

The first amusement rides were installed as early as 1880 when ‘Sea on Land’ machines were installed. Passengers sat in ‘boats’ that were made by a system of levers to pitch and roll as though at sea – a direct antecedent of the contemporary ‘flight simulator’ rides. In 1893 a large skating rink was built. Shortly after this, the park gained some notoriety as the venue for the murder of a sex-worker by the local circus strong man.^[3]

Sanger died in 1911 during a scuffle arising from the attempted murder of a friend (although Sanger himself may have been the intended target), and the park entered an uncertain period as part of the attraction was the charisma of the man himself. In the end, the site was purchased from his estate in 1919 for £40,000 by John Henry Iles who had already set up theme parks all over the world, including Cairo, Berlin, Petrograd and Pittsburgh.

Inspired by Coney Island which he had visited in 1906, Iles renamed the site Dreamland and initiated work on the construction of the Scenic Railway rollercoaster in 1919, having purchased the European rights to the Scenic Railway design from inventor and patent holder LaMarcus Adna Thompson. The ride opened to the public in 1920 with great success, carrying half a million passengers in its first year.^[3] Iles also bought other rides common to the time to the park including a smaller roller coaster, the Joy Wheel, Miniature Railway, The Whip, and the River Caves.

Scenic Railway 1930's

Expansion

Scenic Railway 1950's

The Scenic Railway in 2016

A ballroom was constructed on the site of the Skating Rink in 1920, and in 1923 Iles built his Variety Cinema on the site. In 1926 Iles was responsible for the building of the Margate's lido on the seafront. Between 1920 and 1935 he invested over £500,000 in the site, constantly adding new rides and facilities and culminating in the construction of the Dreamland Cinema complex in 1934.^[4] Iles ceased to be a director in 1938 and the business was taken over by his son Eric. Most of the Dreamland site was requisitioned by the Government during World War II with the park reopening in June 1946 with Eric Iles as manager and, from 1947, investment from Butlins.

Three generations of the Iles family – John Henry, Eric, and John, were to control Dreamland from 1919 until its sale in 1968. The new owners, Associated Leisure, introduced many innovations to Dreamland, including squash courts and, in an echo of the Sanger era, an ice rink and zoo. Much of the planting of the pleasure gardens dating from the 1870s survived until the 1970s when the gardens were removed and the rides expanded. 1976 saw the debut of a revolutionary new ride, the Orbiter, unveiled by travelling showman and Dreamland lessee Henry Smith, a ride which went on to become a highly successful ride in other amusement parks and travelling fairs around the world. Henry, himself a descendant of George Sanger, also had a Skid, Waltzer, Speedway, Tip Top and another Orbiter up until the parks change of ownership in 1981.^[5] 1980 saw the opening of a 240-seater 148 ft high Big wheel.

Dreamland was purchased by the Dutch Bembom Brothers in 1981. They owned several other amusement parks in continental Europe and renamed the site Bembom Brothers White Knuckle Theme Park,^[6] bringing in a new headline attraction in the form of the Anton Schwarzkopf-designed Looping Star roller coaster. The name change lasted until 1990, when it reverted to Dreamland.^[7] Other changes they made included ceasing evening hours and charging for admission, rather than per ride. They also introduced many new ‘high-tech’ rides that updated the park and made it, by the late 1980s, one of the top ten most visited tourist attractions in the United Kingdom.

In 1996 the Bembom family sold the site to local entrepreneur Jimmy Godden who had previously operated the Rotunda Amusement Park at Folkestone and Ramsgate Pleasure Park at Ramsgate. At this time, most of the rides they owned were relocated. The Looping Star (Great America) went to an amusement park in Budapest with the looping boat ride The Mary Rose. The Looping Star's sister ride made a brief appearance for two seasons at Margate (previously at Camelot Theme park) before leaving again for its current home, Loudon Castle theme park, where it is called the Twist 'n' Shout.

After his purchase of the park, Godden was able to secure European and regional grant aid to assist in an initial £3m redevelopment.^[8] However, during Godden's tenure many of the rides were sold off, including the big wheel which had dominated the Margate skyline for two decades but was dismantled and sold to a park in Mexico.^[9]

Closure

In 2003, Godden announced that Dreamland would close and the land would be redeveloped. Public opinion supported continued use of the Dreamland site as an amusement park, along with a government report in 2004. As a result, Dreamland was sold to Margate Town Centre Regeneration Company in 2005 for £20m. A number of local residents then formed the Save Dreamland Campaign. The campaign proposes to turn Dreamland into a Heritage Amusement Park consisting of a number of vintage rides and attractions from other British amusement parks. Some rides have already been obtained by Save Dreamland and are currently in storage.

Although it was initially announced that Dreamland would close in November 2003, it did indeed operate during 2004 and 2005. Dreamland was closed to the public in 2005 and all of the rides apart from the Scenic Railway were removed from the site. The Scenic Railway was granted Grade-II listed status in 2002 and could not be moved or dismantled.

Part of the Scenic Railway was destroyed by fire after an arson attack on 7 April 2008.^[10] About 25 percent of the structure, boarding station, storage sheds, and trains were destroyed and had to be removed as irreparable. The physical security of the site was upgraded and the surviving structure surveyed. Some of the surviving machinery and chassis from the cars was salvaged and stored on site. Another suspected arson attack was carried out on the site on 28 May 2014, but this was confined to a disused building near the Scenic Railway.^[11]

Cinema Building August 2014

On 25 April 2008 the Dreamland Cinema's Listed building status increased from Grade II (buildings of special architectural or historic interest) to Grade II* (particularly significant buildings of more than local interest). The Cinema, which featured a Compton theatre organ, was closed in 2007 following the opening of a new multiplex cinema at Westwood Cross. The buildings are currently under renovation and the Dreamland sign on the front tower has been refurbished with LED lighting and shines brightly at night.

Scenic Railway June 2014

The cinema has been sold by the current site owners. This was before the result of a court appeal by the current site holders to stop the council taking possession of the theme park.^[12]

Opening of a Re-imagined Dreamland

Opening Day, 19 June 2015

Dreamland Staff Opening Day, 19 June 2015

Fun Fairers Entertainment Team, Opening Day, 19 June 2015

Gallopers Opening Day, 19 June 2015

Twister Opening Day, 19 June 2015

Helter Skelter Opening Day, 19 June 2015

Chair O Plane Opening Day, 19 June 2015

Opening Night, 19 June 2015

Chair O Plane Opening Night, 19 June 2015

A total of £18m in public funding was awarded to the Dreamland project, to restore, preserve and maintain the listed structures which include the Scenic Railway, menagerie cages and some of the internal building spaces. This money was also used to purchase five heritage rides.

On 16 November 2009, the Dreamland Trust was awarded a grant of £3 million by the Heritage Lottery Fund with further funding of £3.7m and £4m coming from the UK Department for Culture, Media and Sport and Thanet District Council respectively, to restore the Scenic Railway and to develop the former Dreamland site as necessary for rejuvenation.^[13]

The Scenic Railway forms the focus of the rejuvenation of Dreamland as an amusement park. Work began on its in 15 September 2014, with a complete refurbishment of the track and new trains being built.

Some historic rides from other parks were donated to the Dreamland Trust which are in storage for restoration at a later date, the majority of unique old rides from Pleasureland Southport were donated which include the 1940s Caterpillar ride, King Solomon's Mines wooden roller-coaster (formerly of Frontierland, Morecambe and later moved to Pleasureland Southport), workings from the Ghost Train and River Caves, the Hall of Mirrors, Mistral, Haunted Swing and the Skyride (Chairlift ride). The Junior Whip which stood at Pleasure Beach Blackpool was also donated.

Wayne Hemingway, his wife Gerardine, and the 'HemingwayDesign' team were appointed as designers of Dreamland in 2012. This includes the creative vision for the re-imagination and branding for the vintage amusement park.^[14]

An additional £10m in private funding was contributed to opening of Dreamland by commercial operators Sands Heritage Ltd., these funds were used to introduce a collection of 17 additional rides to create the Amusement Park, as well as a Roller Disco & Diner, Amusement Arcade, Vintage Pin Ball Arcade, Dreamland Emporium and The Octopus's Garden.

The park opened on 19 June 2015 garnering much media coverage.^[15][16][17] Additional rides opened in July.^[18] The park's centerpiece - The Scenic Railway, rebuilt by Thanet District Council opened to the public on 17 October 2015 due to delays in rebuilding the train carriages. Member and press previews took place on 16 October 2015.^[19]

Due to various delays caused by Thanet District Council surrounding the opening of Dreamland on 8 December 2015 Sands Heritage Ltd were forced to apply to the High Court for a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) in relation to debts of £2.9m.^[20] At a meeting on 23 December 2015 the company's creditors agreed to accept the CVA, allowing them more time to pay off their existing debts.^[21]

Attractions

Since the opening of the Scenic Railway on 15 October 2015, all rides are up and running.

Phase 1: Now Open - Amusement Park, Bandstand, Roller Disco and Diner, Amusement Arcade, Vintage Pinball Arcade, Dreamland Emporium, Octopus's Garden and Ice Cream Parlour.

Phase 1.1: Now Open - Scenic Railway, Outdoor Event Space, Dark Space, Dreamland Ballroom, Hall by The Sea

Phase 2: Work Begins 2016 / 2017, Expected Opening 2019 - 2020 Dreamland Cinema, Bingo Hall, Sunshine Cafe and Dreamland Arcade.

Operating

In popular culture

Dreamland was the subject of a 1953 documentary film, O Dreamland. It was also visited by characters in the 1989 Christmas special of BBC Television sitcom, Only Fools and Horses, titled "The Jolly Boys' Outing". Some of the rides seen in the sitcom were renamed and repainted at Loudoun Castle Theme Park in Scotland (now closed). The Mary Rose was renamed the Black Pearl and is now at Lightwater Valley in North Yorkshire.

The park was also the filming location for the 2007 film Exodus and featured prominently in the 2000 film Last Resort, about a young Russian immigrant seeking asylum in England.

Dreamland is frequently alluded to in Graham Swift's 1996 novel Last Orders, as well as the 2001 film adaptation.

The Romford-based band Five Star shot the majority of the video for their 1984 single "Crazy" at Dreamland.

In an episode of British sitcom One Foot in the Grave titled 'Dreamland', during a conversation with Victor, Margaret recalls the couple visiting Margate and Dreamland on their third anniversary.

On 29 June 2015 the music video for the song 'Blue' by Marina and the Diamonds was shot at Dreamland.

References

External links

• Official website
• Campaign to save Dreamland