ADVERTORIAL
POSTCARDS FROM KENT
10 YEARS OF FOLKESTONE HARBOUR
This year, Folkestone Harbour celebrates a remarkable milestone: a decade as a stunning visitor destination and vibrant seaside hub. With a rich and varied past, the harbour has worn many hats- ferry terminal, lorry park and railway station. During WW1, it became a place of poignant farewells for soldiers heading to the Western Front.
Today, the space has been reimagined into an iconic foodie hotspot. It’ s a hub for independent businesses to grow and thrive, drawing tourists from around the world, but Folkestone Harbour’ s story, as a beacon for positive regeneration, is just beginning.
How it Started When Sir Roger De Haan purchased Folkestone Harbour in 2004, the area was in a state of serious decline. It was neglected, dilapidated and closed off to the public. With ferry services long since ceased and no clear purpose ahead, the harbour would have continued to decay, deteriorate and become increasingly dangerous.
The newly formed Harbour Team, led by Sir Roger, worked with world-leading architects and designers to completely reimagine the site. In 2015, the Harbour Company received outline planning consent for the harbour and the neighbouring neglected rotunda site to be turned into a stunning vision. It included beautiful homes with sea views, vibrant shops, restaurants, bars and the once-dangerous concrete wasteland on the foreshore to be transformed into a welcoming pebble beach for all to enjoy. At the time, it seemed unimaginable.
Having received the planning permission, the Harbour Company then got to work demolishing the dilapidated old sheds and buildings left over from the port operations and closed the ugly lorry park. Over the next few years, the team lovingly restored the Harbour Arm, Customs House, Folkestone Harbour Station, the Folkestone Harbour Viaduct, The Signal Box and the lighthouse, which would become an iconic Champagne bar.
Unexpected Popularity The concept of reopening the harbour as a visitor attraction for the first time seemed like an overly ambitious reach. Whilst work had been done to make the site safe for visitors, with some amazing attention to detail, the entrance to the Harbour Arm looked like a building site with works to the station still yet to begin.
Despite this, a handful of small, local, independent businesses opened for a 10-week summertime street-food pop-up experiment in 2015. It was unexpectedly popular; local people were keen to explore a space that had previously been off limits.
Riding on a tide of unprecedented success, Folkestone Harbour had a grand reopening for its first full summer season in 2016. This saw an ambitious live music programme, unique events and a growing reputation for interesting and unusual street food options.
Art, Sport and Culture Every three years, local arts charity Creative Folkestone hosts a prestigious outdoor contemporary art festival: Folkestone Triennial. In 2017, the fourth Folkestone Triennial catapulted Folkestone Harbour into the spotlight and cemented its reputation as a major cultural landmark, with artworks from Antony Gormely, Lubaina Himid and Richard Woods dotted across the site. This year, public artworks will again return to Folkestone Harbour for the 2025 Folkestone Triennial, How Lies the Land?, taking place from 19 July – 19 October.
In summer 2018, the Harbour Screen launched in time for the first England game of the 2018 FIFA World Cup; tickets sold out instantly, crashing the booking site and cementing the screen’ s popularity with visitors.
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