Beyond The Vale
The seaside town of Ramsgate in the southeast of England is incredibly distinguished: it has the largest Wetherspoon’s in England. It also has the only Royal Harbour in the country. In a neat linguistic loop the vast tavern occupies the Royal Victoria Pavilion which overlooks the regally moored yachts. Wetherspoon’s verandah is the perfect place to view the golden sands over a preprandial pint. Moving a few blocks inland, Seabird has indoor and outdoor seating – and cooking. Civilised lunch on the terrace is straight from the en plein air grill. Unmissable delights are fennel, feta, cucumber, olive and lemon followed by buttermilk and vanilla pannacotta with brandy soaked Victoria plums.
Gosh so many houses so little time. The domestic architecture of Ramsgate is a rich melange of all the best bits of the 18th and 19th centuries. Some of it is frayed round the edges – this town is genteel rather than gentrified, chilled instead of cool, warm and friendly not hot and trendy. Away from the scale and grandeur of the cliff houses, selected highlights, and not just on an alliterative nomenclature basis, are Vale, Valerian Lodge and Liverpool Lawn.
Close to Seabird, Vale is an impressive triple fronted end of terrace square building split into two semi detached villas. The three storey (with attic and basement) pair share a five bay end elevation: the middle bay is a blind window. A vast scrolled pediment concealing the setback top floor has the word Vale (in upper case) raised on a central panel. The two unshared elevations comprise three wider bays. Rather charmingly, the stucco to the ‘front’ house is painted bright grey; the ‘back’ house is in its natural darker grey pigment free stucco state. Like twin girls but one is wearing makeup. Vale was most likely built by the developer William Saxby in the 1840s.
Valerian Lodge on Grange Road is further up the hill from Seabird on the way to Ramsgate Railway Station. It’s a rather elegant Regency or very early Victorian house set in a miniature 0.2 hectare walled estate filled with holm oak, turkey oak, horse chestnut and sycamore. The house is a long low two storey (over basement) rectangular block: one of the short two elevations faces the road. A tented balcony with trellised piers linking two of the five first floor bedrooms peers over the brick and flint boundary wall. Except for render above the balcony, walls are pale brown brick. In 2015, a single storey garden room in matching style linked by a glazed lobby was added to the short elevation facing away from the road. It was designed by Margate architects Duncan and Graham. Valerian Lodge has the tallest chimneypots in Kent – or at least on Grange Road.
Not far from Wetherspoon’s, Liverpool Lawn was built by James Crisford between 1827 and 1836. A crescent and various straight terraces face a triangular green (that Lawn!). Liverpool Villa and Liverpool House are a pair of three storey brown brick houses: flat fronted facing the Lawn and two full height bow windows on the other principal elevation. These townhouses are aptly of a scale and appearance (especially the painted ground floor lintels) popular in Liverpool. Numbers 20, 21 and 23 form a stuccoed two storey terrace. Number 20 has a three bay façade on the short elevation and is just one bay deep facing the Lawn. Numbers 21 and 22 have identical three bay façades (actually three and a bit bay: they share a central first floor blind window) facing the Lawn. Liverpool Lawn is developer led residential use at its finest.
In 2013, Liverpool Lawn was extended by seven townhouses next to Liverpool Villa and Liverpool House. Built by developer Kentish Projects, designer Anthony Browne of Chelsea Consultants explains, “The houses were designed to mimic neighbouring bow fronted Grade II Listed Georgian properties, while also adapting interior contemporary elements. The houses at the end of the terrace were finished in a contrasting white castellated style. The development utilises hand cut Flemish bond brickwork, lime mortar and stone Gothic window arches. The bespoke wooden windows, doors and railings were crafted to original standards.”
Harriet Kean writes in the October 2024 edition of Tatler, “Wetherspoon’s are the cornerstones of society where everyone comes together. These days everybody’s at the pub. Why go to The Surprise in Chelsea when there’s an Earl of Mulgrave approved Wetherspoon’s: The Montagu Pyke? Everyone who’s anyone is currently mourning The Asparagus: the famed ’Spoon’s in Battersea that to the despair of socialites everywhere closed this year and then reopened as a bougie pub with craft beers. But The Asparagus did have its heyday, attracting everyone from the Morgan-Gileses to Old Marlburian Charlie Girardot.” Fear not: Ramsgate Wetherspoon’s is but a Tube and train ride away from Sloane Square.
