Went to Folkestone Harbour Arm today, and it's fantastic. Maybe a bit too cool for the kids, but just my cup of tea. Today's the first day of opening, they've been renovating the harbour arm for the past year, so lots of entertainment on today. Hot hot hot today too so lots of people.
A fwe teething troubles it being the first day. We went in Follies first to get pizza for the boys and a) they couldn't offer us any tap water, WHAT??? We wanted this as well as our other drinks, we're not just being cheap, this is a bit odd. Also b) they could not take cards. This is just a short term issue, but it was more annoying, as we'd ordered, sat, started eating, and then found this out... Long walk back into town for me and number two son (in the buggy) to find a cashpoint while Clare sat with Harry.
I got some takeaway food from Dr Legumes which is one of the many pop up type food places down there. I'd heard of them before because of the mysterious flyers for a supper club they were doing, and wondered if it was vegetarian, and it is, all vegan actually! I had southern fried seitan and polenta fries. A little bit stern, proper vegan food, but just my sort of thing. Can't wait to try this place again, hope I get a few more chances over the summer.
Thought we'd make more of a day of this but we got there really late because we'd been at a party at Imagine in Ashford earlier. Got the bus down there but did not manage to make the most of it and sample all the other bars down there.
The Harbour Arm is AMAZING. It's really cool, not like anything else around. It feels like an important part of the creative master plan that Folkestone needs, but without being "oh, art shop, art shop, arty sort of cafe, art shop" like some of it is. It's cool bars and food places all grouped together. You should check it out, and I hope to get back there again soon.
This is part of my website The Folkestone Gerald that I built in a fury of enthusiasm when we first moved here sometime in 2004. I'd been a frequent visitor for a while previous to that so I am technically one of those DFLs you get nowadays. The site was a lot more dynamic with a gig calendar and voting for favourite places and stuff, and I know it was a useful resource for those who were thinking of moving here. Now I've moved out of Folkestone again (though only to Hythe) it doesn't get as much attention as it used to. Ironic really as The town is now becoming the exciting place we knew it was just about to. My name is not Gerald by the way, the name comes from a pretend newspaper in an episode of The Day Today or something, the Portsmouth Gerald, and how there is a local newspaper here called the Folkestone Herald. Puns like this are great aren't they? Do contact me if you have something to offer, email anythign @ this domain, or try @folkestone or @pauly on Twitter.