Tourism based businesses in Thanet have been given an exclusive sneak preview of Margate’s newest visitor attraction.
Over 150 local people attended two preview tours around the new Turner Contemporary gallery last week (Thursday 3 March) as part of the exciting Countdown to Turner plans.
The tour, hosted by Turner Contemporary and Thanet District Council, aimed to involve key local business people in the plans for the new gallery and to give them a preview of the building ahead of its opening on 16 April. Those invited to the event included local taxi drivers, hairdressers and other tourism based businesses who all deal with local people and visitors to the area on a daily basis.
Director of the Margate Renewal Partnership, Derek Harding, said: “It was fantastic to see so many people at the Turner Contemporary. This is going to be a huge boost for Margate, and the whole area, and we want to involve key local businesses to show them the benefits that we believe Turner Contemporary will bring to Thanet. I think it’s fair to say that a number of people came along today thinking one thing but left with a completely different view”.
Local Taxi driver, Hugh Brown said: “I’ve really changed my opinion after today. Turner Contemporary should not be seen in isolation but as part of a concept which will help the area. I haven’t had much to do with art in the past, you get your own ideas which are wrong, I thought I wouldn’t understand it but actually I didn’t realise how beautiful some of his works are (Turner) and I’m quite impressed actually”.
Local resident Terry Gibbs said: “At the moment we get day trippers mostly in the summer months to Margate, but having the gallery will help to attract people all year round. I don’t see why it won’t get lots of people here, everyone should come and have a look, if it’s free then why not?!”
Owners of South Lodge Guest House, Bill and Christa Hackney, said: “It will do well for the area, the building is very impressive, iconic even, from the outside but is even more impressive inside. When it opens it will be just magical. We really love the idea to have the public all around the building, looking in, which will act as a real draw to get people to visit. It will have a very positive affect for the whole of Thanet, particularly for Margate”.
Before exploring the gallery, visitors were given a series of short presentations to provide more detail about the organisation. This included talks from Director of the Margate Renewal Partnership Derek Harding, Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees for Turner Contemporary, Clive Stevens, Jonathan Bryant from the Dreamland Trust and Sarah Martin Head of Exhibitions at Turner Contemporary with details of the opening exhibitions.
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Paul Gray, Head of Operations, Turner Contemporary said: “It was great to see so many people turn out for last week’s events, and everyone I spoke to was positive and excited about the gallery opening. We will continue to work closely with local tourism businesses to help provide a great welcome to the many visitors the gallery will attract.”
To find out more about Turner Contemporary please go to www.turnercontemporary.org and for more information on the countdown plans for Margate visit www.thisismargate.co.uk
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