The UK’s Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has given the green light to The Dreamland Trust to move forward with its plans for the world’s first amusement park of historic rides.
Located on the site of the old Dreamland amusement park in Margate, Kent, the park will celebrate the heritage of popular seaside culture, of which this site is an important example.
The Trust has secured £384,500 ($631,000/€442,000) of funding and now has two years to submit more detailed plans for the £2.65 million of HLF support it is seeking for phase one of the project, which totals over £12 million.
That first phase will create an amusement park comprising rides salvaged from other defunct parks around the UK, many of which are the last surviving examples of their type. The centrepiece will be Dreamland’s Grade II-listed Scenic Railway.
Work will also be carried out on the Dreamland cinema building, restoring its 1930s Modernist façade and installing an exhibition space. Entry to the park and landscaped gardens will be free of charge with wristbands sold for the rides. The Dreamland Trust predicts the facility will attract 700,000 annual visits.
“We are committed to bringing this project to reality as quickly as possible,” says Susan Marsh, the Trust’s honorary secretary. “This unique new visitor attraction will provide a major boost for the tourism economy and give the people of Margate what they have so long wished for – a revitalised Dreamland.”
