Son Of Turnip?

Northsiders appear to be getting more than a little hot under the collar about the sale of one of the jewels in Margate's regeneration crown, the Outfitters Gallery in the Increasingly Less Creative Quarter.

Since I broke the news that it's up for sale for £415,000, there have been calls for an investigation into whether the £100,000+ funding from GOSE (the Government of the South East - who they???) and the Arts Council (via Kent Creative Partnerships) has been well spent. Oh yes, well and truly, I would say - the solid oak worktop in the kitchen is to die for! Lovetts' details certainly appear to put more emphasis on the place as a charming pied-a-mer than a thriving art gallery and place for the kiddies to come and make papier mache walruses.

Personally I can't see what all the fuss is about. After all, we're not talking about anything like the £8m that was wasted on the 'offshore' Turnip Centre, and anyway GOSE would surely have ensured the money could be clawed back from any profit from a sale within a certain time after the funding was handed out. They surely would have. Surely. They would. No, they would have, surely.

Outfitters Gallery on the GOSE website
Outfitters Gallery on the Lovetts website

Open And Shut Case

Here's a bit of an admission. I actually enjoyed a night out in Margate yesterday!

On the way to meet my chums for a gargle or two (yes, it's true, I do have friends on the north of the Ile), I noticed that something called The Flower Lab is due to open in what the Uranians insist on calling the 'creative quarter':

Nothing too creative about experimenting on poor, defenceless nasturtiums, but good luck to them anyway. Then I noticed one of the creative flagships of the creative quarter has creatively closed:

This is the place that those nice people at GOSE (Government of the South East) spent a substantial amount of money (or European Objective 2 Funding as they prefer to call it) on not so long ago. Now it's up for sale for a cool £415,000.

GOSE, you'll recall, is also the body that recently tipped the nod to 1300 new houses at Westworld Cross. I don't recall voting for them, but it's nevertheless reassuring to know that all the tax I give them is being put to such, um, profitable use.

Outfitters Gallery on the GOSE website
Outfitters Gallery on the Lovetts website
And if you fancy running an Italian restaurant, Soprano in Cliftonville is up for sale too!