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Pro
Pure 'bucket and spade' English seaside.
Con
Can be a bit rough on weekend evenings.
In a nutshell
Old fashioned :) But in a good way!
Broadstairs Folk Festival 2013
rosata Says: If you are a fan of live music the Folk Festival has a lovely atmosphere and do not miss it :The next date :9 - 16 August 2013Apologies to VTers with messages on this page previously; it has been deleted and cannot be reinstated :-((
planxty Says: I know the reader may find it odd to find a tip about somewhere to obtain a meal in the things to do section rather than the restaurant section, so allow me to explain. I work on the principle that anywhere with a seating area goes in the restaurant group and takeaways go...
planxty Says: Readers of my pages know that I like a drink now and again and I have got a great fondness for British pubs for which I make no apology. I had just walked to the nearby Westwood Cross shopping centre which is a fair old walk from Broadstairs especially on a warm August day...
Osteria Pizzeria Posillipo: Popular Italian Eating Establishment
rosata Says: There was quite a queue outside this Neapolitan style restaurant at the time of Broadstairs Folk Festival.Booking is advisable.Indoor seating and an outdoor terrace with view of Viking Bay.Open from 12 pm seven days a week.Other premises in Canterbury and Faversham in Kent.
Morelli's: Perfect for ice cream, snacks, drinks
rosata Says: A family firm since 1907. The cafe has remained unchanged since the 1950s if not longer according to a grandmother who I was talking to. She was a local lady who had been going to the bar all her life and said that the fountain had been there forever. It was not easy to take...
Phileas Fogg: No longer there.
planxty Says: In Albion Street there has long been a restaurant known as Phileas Fogg's and friends of mine form the area, whose advice I respect, spoke fondly of it. Strangely, in all the times I have visited Broadstairs, I never actually managed to visit it.I have to report that as of...
Broadstairs Kebab: Very good kebab.
planxty Says: When you consider an English seaside town you would normally think of fish and chips, and Broadstairs is very well served for that as evidenced on my other tips. However, every community in England of any size at all will have a kebab shop, generally run by Turks, Greeks or...
Charles Dickens pub.: Nice views, great food.
planxty Says: Update September 2012.I promised a further update when I next visited Broadstairs Iwould inform the reader what was happening with the Charles Dickens. It has been bought back by the Thorley Taverns group (a very big player in East Kent) and been completely refurbished to a...
Casa don Todos Tapas Bar, Broadstairs: Tapas in Broadstairs?
planxty Says: Update August 2012.I am just back from Broadstairs after a few weeks there and I can confirm that the place is still shut and being used as a sort of storeroom. I asked the owner of the adjacent pub to which it is attached, if there were any plans to re-open it and he said...
Buttery Cafe.: A proper "caff".
planxty Says: Further update 30/08/2012.Readers of my other pages will know I like to keep my pages up to date when I can and it appears the Buttery has undergone yet another change of management apparently now being run by Thai people. I did not eat there on my last trip but my great...
Bradstow Mill: Lots of live music.
planxty Says: For a relatively small place, there is plenty of nightlife round Broadstairs, probably to some extent a reflection of it's status as a holiday destination albeit that that is dying out somewhat. One place that has consistently supported live music over many years is the...
Wrotham Arms: A good live music spot.
planxty Says: There are a number of places offering live music in Broadstairs and indeed the music scene in Thanet is very lively. I have a number of very good musician friends based in the area and I play there regularly myself and we have all, at one time or another, played in the...
Let the train take the strain.
planxty Says: Update September 2011I have just come across this tip originally written some years ago, and it is now considerably out of date. The opening of the new High Speed Train (HST) to Broadstairs has now considerably shortened the travllein time to about one hour 20 minutes,...
planxty Says: OK, so I "borrowed" the title for the tip from the company's own advertising but it really is appropriate for the shuttle bus service that operates around Thanet. It operates between Margate, Ramsgate Westwood Cross shopping centre and Broadstairs and with a weekday requency...
Westwood Cross shopping centre.: Dream or nightmare.
planxty Says: This is not so much a tip about a shop as about an absolutely huge shopping area just outside Broadstairs called Westwood Cross, which has provoked very mixed reactions amongst the locals as do many similar out of town shopping centres all over the country.Certainly Westwood...
Butcher of Brogdale: A very fine butchers.
planxty Says: A relatively small town like Broadstairs seems to be extremely blessed with an excellent selection of butchers. I can think of three in the High Street alone, never mind the supermarkets in Westwood Cross. I do, however, particularly like this one possibly because they...
planxty Says: This tip does not concern a danger, in fact it refers to something that prevents danger but it is a warning to beer purists who may visit the town, especially in summer. During the excellent Broadstairs Folk Week, which I play every year, most pubs in the town will only...
rosata Says: Botany Bay is a beautiful Blue Flag award beach with chalk cliffs and chalk stacks across from The Fayreness Hotel. It is the northernmost of seven bays in Broadstairs and on The Viking Coastal Trail.
planxty Says: I don't know if readers will have seen the absolutely classic comedy sketch by the British comedy duo, theTwo Ronnies (Barker and Corbett). It has been voted best sketch in the history of British comedy. If you haven't seen it, I have posted a link here.There is a bit of...
Helpfulness
I associate Broadstairs with many things, although sport is generally not one of them. They do have a decent rugby side in Thanet Wanderers but one sport you can watch or participate in is without overly exerting yourself. that of petanque / boules which seems to be very popular in Kent. I suppose it is the proximity to France where I believe the game originated. If you are not aware of it, I have posted the rules in the attached website. It is not dissimilar to lawn bowls in that the object is to get your boule nearest to a pre-positioned smaller ball called a jack, but in this case the boules are thrown into the air rather than rolled along the ground.
It is a very social game, often associated with pubs, and this is the setting I found it in at the absolutely excellent Brown Jug pub just outside Broadstairs. This is an absolute cracker of a place, totally traditional, which is why I went to visit it. What I didn't expect was the sizeable petanque pitch (if that is the correct word). Being the weekend, there was a game going on, and I was immediately offered a game, an offer I declined remembering my pathetic attempts at it in Southeast Asia although I spent a very pleasant afternoon watching and being guided through the finer points by a delightful local man.
If you want to watch the better players, the pub team plays in the East Kent League on a Tuesday evening in the summer (check if they are home or away first) although friendly games go on at the weekends and occasional evenings dependant on who is there.
Equipment: If you don't have your own boules, someone will lend you a set or there is a pub set you can borrow.
Updated Jun 8, 2012
Address: 2204 Ramsgate Road, Broadstairs, Kent, CT10 2EW
Website: http://www.britishpetanque.org/PDF/Rules%20of%20Petanque%2009blue.pdf
I have to preface my Broadstairs pages by declaring an interest. I have been playing the wonderful Folk Week here for a number of years, and it is undoubtedly my favourite festival of the year....
We went down for the day, 06/03/08, by train.Woke up to a delightful sunny, cold day and decided to go. We noticed quite a few changes.The town's being made more upmarket-after all these years! More...
A grey day in Broadstairs, but the views are still stunning, and the town has real character.
Family holiday destination on the Kent coast www.visitthanet.co.uk www.visitkent.co.uk
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