Scaffolding News

Reader Barry has sent me this snap of our clapped out Royal Pavilion here in the Millionaires' Playground getting a bit of an old facelift.

If you recall, Rank hopped it with their G Casino to Westwood Angry two years ago, leaving the Pav in a parlous state. Quite why the Cecil Square junta hadn't enforced the repairing terms of their lease over the previous 40 years, lord knows. Still, I suppose it deserves a half-hearted cheer to see they're at last doing it now.

According to the press release from our beloved Duffers, the work will include 'redecoration and work to the roof' which will 'be the start of a process that will eventually lead to further regeneration of the seafront and reoccupation of the building.' I see Rank have also applied for listed building consent to remove three metal screens from the first floor roof deck.

I guess we must be grateful that the place hasn't been Goddenised before now. It would be nice to think someone will come along with lots of dosh and an imaginative plan for the place - anyone for a swimming pool with glass walls? You'd be able to splash about on Ramsgate Sands in the middle of winter! It would have to be better than the monstrous lump that looks like an airport ramp which is being planned for the slipways!

Town of Ramsgate Up For Auction

Er, the pub in Wapping that is. Click here for more details in the Morning Advertiser (officially the pub trade's favourite!)

Last month the Cecil Square junta bought up the Flowing Bowl boozer in Newington 'for regeneration'. With their new found taste for hostelries, I wonder if they'll be tempted to add this to their estate?

Update: The pub sold yesterday for £1.11m, according to the East London Advertiser

Bad News Margate?

After this week's revelation that Margate tops the UK league for boarded up shops, could it be about to lose the one thing that's still worth going there for?

A bit of background. Not having a Valentine to spend Valentine's Day with, I wasted this morning forlornly looking through the fluffy-buns and luvvy-lambs in this week's Isle of Thanet Gazunder in a desperate but ultimately vain attempt to spot my name. After those come the birthdays, then the deaths, and then we get to a section called 'Public Notices'.

And it was there that I saw this: 'Avada Restaurants Limited Company No. 05801294: Notice is hereby given pursuant to Section 98 of the Insolvency Act 1986 that a meeting of creditors of the above named company...' etc etc

You can read the full notice in the London Gazunder, where all such notices have to be published, by clicking here.

Now, who or what are Avada Restaurants? Well, the eagle eyed will remember the name from their credit card bills as none other than the Indian Princess, Margate's recently be-Michelined Indian eatery and for my money one of the best restaurants in this part of Kent. Avada Restaurants is also listed as the copyright holder at the bottom of their website here. Could it really be possible that they've gone into creditors' voluntary winding up (for this is, dear reader, the effect of Section 98 of the Insolvency Act 1986)?

I do hope this is all some ghastly mistake. Maybe it's just a holding company being wound up, and it won't affect the restaurant. I have enjoyed Vik and Dev's fine Indian fusion food and charming hospitality on many an occasion (even, in happier times, on Valentine's Day) since they set up shop in 2006. The Princess is nothing less than the jewel in Margate's crown, and as well as the Michelin mensh, Dev has just been made operations director at the Quex dining rooms. But on a more gloomy note he's been issuing dire warnings about slow business on his blog and Facebook sites recently. So much for the vaunted 'Turnip Effect'.

If the worst turns out to be true (maybe Dev can clarify it via Facebook or his blog) perhaps history will recall that the turning point was when it became known that Margate's top duffer, Sandy Beach, who has presided over the slow death of his town for seven long years now, had declared the Indian Princess to be his favourite restaurant!

Click here for Indian Princess website
Click here for Dev's blog

Regeneration News

As the eagle-eyed will know from the What's On in Thanet section in my sidebar on the right, Margate has played host for the last two days to a national conference on regeneration, and the launch of a new 'Coastal Handbook'. Oh the irony! Anyhow, fresh from the fray, one of my (Labour, you'll no doubt correctly surmise) spies has sent this report:

From someone who attended the Coastal Communities Alliance two-day event. You are free to use any of it if you wish, bearing in mind TDC tried to prevent Labour councillors from attending.

Wednesday commenced with two separate trips, one for the Margate regeneration/history and the other for commercial sites. When we went into Dreamland, who should be there to open the gates? Only the supposedly very ill Mayor of Margate [And alleged kitten killer - Ed] Ted Watt-Ruffell. He seemed fine as he strode to open two heavy security gates.

Also on Wednesday a very hot and flushed Latchford came rushing over to Ezekiel with the Yourthanet. Page 2 (the report of the ECR poll to find a new leader for Thanet Tories) has got him rattled. This was in the middle of the conference!

The conference was okay, but repeating everything we all know already. The book was £20 but free to delegates. Steve Ladyman had not been on the list to speak as they didn't really want Labour there, but as the Labour national spokesperson Gordon Marsden couldn’t get there they asked Steve to fill in. He was excellent. Roger Gale chaired the session and referred to Laura Sandys, his fellow Tory candidate for South Thanet, as ‘the lady over there’, as if he had never seen her before!

I put them straight on all the Government has been doing for Thanet… Surestart, Building Schools for the Future, doctors' surgeries, better hospital and promised poly clinics. As it was the Tories in Lincolnshire who suggested to the Tories in Thanet that they should run the event, the last thing some of them wanted was a good news Labour story.

I have been to much better conferences and fortunately some of the people there knew how Thanet has gone down under the Tories. The good news items were done in our time.

I had complaints about Smith Court Hotel from 4 people. The rooms were freezing and apparently the radiators that were working were on timers, and this was the recommended hotel for delegates!!

Culture Vulture

Er, sorry about that last post. However, I am now much restored and neurie dust sprinkled on Kelloggs appears to have done the trick again this morning.

So, thanks to Bertie Biggles' excellent Thanet Strife blog, we now know the Culture Minister Margaret Hodge will be touring Margate tomorrow morning apropos of doling out £3.7m worth of state aid to prop up the town's festering Dreamland hole. As the island's premier blogger, I have every intention of attending in the press corps. But what questions should I put to Ms Hodge? I've drafted a few here:

- Ms Hodge, do you know you are shaking hands with a man who is currently being prosecuted by the RSPCA for causing unnecessary suffering to a kitten?

- Ms Hodge, are you aware that this other man you are shaking hands with has been up before the Standards people twice? Once for calling another politician a 'f*cking tosser' and on a second occasion for causing upset when a petition he disapproved of was being handed over?

- Ms Hodge, would you like to comment on the fact that several buildings along Margate front, along with the Dreamland Scenic Railway itself, have been subjected to arson over the past six years, and that the local woodentops have yet to prosecute anyone?

- Ms Hodge, what would your view be of a company that received EU grants to enhance an attraction that was pulling in 100s of 1000s of visitors, which then had to close a few years later due to 'lack of interest'?

- Ms Hodge, do you honestly think it is in the taxpayers' interest to hand over almost £4m of their mazoomah to help regenerate a town which is clearly suffering because of the local authority's madcap scheme to build an entirely new town from scratch at Westwood Cross?

There. That should do the trick!

Click here for Margaret Hodge's seaside tour in The Sunday Times
Click here to read about £3.7m Dreamland grant in the Daily Wail

Indian Princess To Pull Out Of Margate?

My oh my, it would be a total tragedy if the jewel in Margate's admittedly tawdry crown were to fall out and roll across the Kentish floor to destinations west. But that's what the Indian Princess has been hinting on its Facebook pages recently.

Voted one of the top restaurants in Kent, and supposedly council leader Sandy Ezekiel's favourite restaurant in the whole wide world, the Indian Princess is a superb eatery. In the three or so years since they established themselves here in Thanet, the delightful Vik and Dev have worked tirelessly to gain an unrivalled reputation for fine dining based on Indian fusion cuisine. But on Monday they posted on their Facebook account:

'Indian Princess wonders if it's in the wrong location.' And after supportive comments from Facebook friends added: 'Thank you for the kind words. We want to stay in Margate but despite hard work it doesn't seem to be happening for us. We are in the Michelin guide book next year and hope the publicity will give us a lift but its unlikely we will last through the winter with these poor sales. Canterbury, Broadstairs, Whitstable, Tunbridge Wells????'

If the restaurant did relocate it would be a massive blow for Margate's regeneration chances. But if they do decide to set up somewhere more upmarket, we'd be delighted to welcome them in Ramsgate!

*On a brighter note for Margate, the lovely Louise Oldfield has declared her new boutique B&B in Hawley Square well and truly open for business. Click here to go to the Reading Rooms website. Looks fab!

Sxx

More BS About Margate

I'm indebted to a comment from 'Turner Burner' for alerting me to the fact that the Arsonists' Playground was featured in yesterday's Times.

This latest coverage from a national newspaper follows the same, tired old format. And I have to say it makes my blood boil. For those of you unfamiliar with the grubby world of press and PR, here's the formula:

- Thanet Council's press office rings umpteen old hacks muttering mystical keywords like 'Turner', 'Emin', 'regeneration', 'Bilbao', 'St Ives' and now 'Sir Alan Sugar'.

- Eventually one of the old hacks, who can no longer sustain a career by recycling the three ideas they've ever had, thinks it might be nice to have a day at the seaside.

- Hack arrives at seaside and is, er, treated by the press office to lunch with Our Sandy at one of his mates' cafés.

- Hack is then given the two-minute tour of the hole where the Turner Centre will eventually be, and introduced to Derek Harding from the Margate Renewal Partnership for a chat about 'regeneration' and the £60m being spent. (By the way, is it just me who thinks that figure's been plucked out of the air?)

- Hack heads back off to town on the rattler, mashing together 500 words on his laptop from Sandy and Derek's quotes and a load of other old tosh culled from the internet, and arrives home in time for G&T's at his local. Job's a good 'un.

Now, having said that, Fiona Hamilton who wrote yesterday's effort appears to have taken a few minutes from her hectic schedule to do some original research - by walking along the seafront and up the high street. During her tour she spotted 'rundown shops, fast food outlets and derelict arcades' and Dreamland which 'closed after an arson attack' (forgive me, Fiona, but Jimmy Godden had already closed it way before the, er, unfortunate fire). Later in her piece she spots 'fast-food outlets, deserted arcades and sex shops' again, along with 'gangs of youths wandering the streets'. 'Local newspapers often carry reports on knife crimes and assaults,' she adds. Yes, Fiona, they do. But probably not as often as they do in that London.

Eventually Fiona stumbles upon one Maureen Collington, who has lived in Margate for more than 20 years, and describes the approach by the council as a disgrace. 'They’re wasting all this money on art and it’s not what people want. Margate is proper seaside. But they’ve let it die.'

And a young mother shopping in the high street tells her: 'That Turner centre - it’s the biggest load of f***ing rubbish that I’ve ever heard of. What a waste of money. Most of our 15-year-olds are illiterate, they couldn’t give a stuff about going to an art gallery.'

Which only goes to prove, a little original research can go a long, long way!

The Times goes to the seaside
The Apprentice does Margate

Harbour Armageddon?

After that last post about Ramsgate being a non-event this year powerboatwise (which I've since had confirmed by sources in the know), it cheers me up no end to report that some of the cultural gloss could be rubbing off mARgaTe™ too!

The rumour that Gallery IOTA is leaving the new, super-duperised harbour arm only a few short months after they moved in has been doing the rounds for some weeks. Now I hear that the there's been quite a contretemps over who is liable for maintaining the building. Clearly the bills could be quite substantial, given that the flippin' thing is sticking right out in the middle of the North Sea. IOTA have now, apparently, got the right royal hump and are about to leg it toute de suite. Which they presumably will have every right to do, given that there's reportedly no ink on any contract yet. Let's hope they return to the Millionaires' Playground where they belong!

If they do exit, it would leave the project looking rather under-subscribed with just a shop, an empty gallery, and a putative restaurant on the end that's yet to come to fruitation (©2000 Kevin Keegan). And, um, just how much taxpayers' money has been thrown at it? I think we should be told! [Cue FOI request]

Ramsgate Culture Goes West Via The North

Off island reader Veronica writes:

So sad to read that the museums are due to be closed. Is the UK's history no longer of interest? What is wrong with the local government there, have they no idea how to raise funds to keep important places open?

I think the key words there, Veronica, are 'no' and 'idea'. Let's take the Millionaires' Playground as an example. Wikipedia can only manage two lines on Ramsgate under the heading 'Arts and Media':

The Gallery IOTA (Isle Of Thanet Arts) is based on the towns west cliff. Ramsgate Maritime Museum near the harbour quayside has exhibits showing the evolution of Ramsgate Harbour and East Kent maritime history. Ramsgate's sole cinema and theatre is the Granville Cinema, situated on Victoria Parade, in the town's Eastcliff area.

Hmmm. Now, can anyone spot the deliberate errors? Yes, that's right, IOTA skedaddled almost two years ago and are now based on Margate Pier/Harbour Arm/Jetty whatever it's called these days (where they're currently exhibiting the wondrous works of Baldwin and Bushell). Ramsgate Maritime Museum is about to close so that it can be flogged off to developers by the nuff-nuffs at the council. That leaves the Granville Theatre and Cinem who try their hardest, poor loves, but, really, I think most people would struggle to describe a rolling programme of 'psychic nights' and amdram productions as 'culture'. I guess our library, oops, sorry, 'gateway', which got toasted in 2004 is currently being rebuilt, but there's no sign yet of when it's going to re-open.

Still, there's no point feigning surprise that Ramsgate's culture has disappeared or gone 'oop north'. It's all in the Politburo's 5 year plan, which they published last year, and which can be summarised thus:

Margate - Turner Centre, arts and culture
Ramsgate - Port and flight path
Broadstairs - Don't for gawd sake touch this as most of us live there and we like it the way it is
The Rest - Concrete.

The Writing's On The Window For Council

Tooling around the grubby back streets here in the Millionaires' Playground last night, on my way to an assignation with one of our lovely local authors, I spotted this notice in the window of a derelict shop:

Further along, I happened to glance over the cliff at the Pleasurama aka Royal Sands development:

Pants definitely pulled down, but not much rogering going on!

A Chance In A Pavilion

The ongoing row over whether Wetherspoons should get planning permission to turn some old church/cinema in a back alley here in the Millionaires' Playground into a pub aptly demonstrates the lack of joined up thinking in these parts when it comes to planning for a sustainable, seaside future.

In a prime pozzy on the seafront we have an edifice that would make an excellent hostelry - the Royal Pavilion, which has been empty all season since those Rankers upped sticks and relocated their casino to a shed at Westwood Chaos. Trouble is it's in a parlous state, as the council never saw fit to enforce the repairing terms of Rank's lease over the last 40 years. Which makes it a distinctly unattractive proposition for even an imaginative outfit like Wetherspoons, who recently opened a pub in Oxford called The Four Candles in honour of a former nearby resident, the late, great, dearly departed Ronnie Barker.

So now we have a rapidly deteriorating eyesore which will probably go the way of all our heritage bricks and mortar (West Cliff Hall, Marina Restaurant, Kent Terrace, the list goes on). If Wetherspoons do open an establishment in Ramsgate, perhaps they should name it the We'll Run This Place Into The Ground 'Cos The Council Don't Give A Toss And Then Bugger Off To Westwood At Which Point It'll Burn Down Or Be Accidentally Demolished and be done with it!

Click here to read about the Pavilion and Rank hypocrisy
Click here to read about Wetherspoons on Cllr Green's blog

Fannit Under Fret

In my capacity as Professor of Seasideology at the Ramsgate Institute of Coastscape Studies, I've been giving a lot of thought to the way forward for our septic isle. Also I haven't had a job for weeks, so it passes the time.

Now, do we really want our lovely lump of chalk concreted over willy-nilly under the battle cry 'JOBS!'? It ain't necessarily so. Sheringham, a quaint seaside town in Norfolk, finally saw off a Tesco mega-barn yesterday after their district council opposed the development and stood up to the retailer that accounts for one in every eight pounds spent in this country. The planning inspector said: 'While the store would have some benefits for the town, they were outweighed by irreparable damage it could do to existing traders and the character of the lively resort.' Sound familiar?

On the other side of the coin, idle hands generally make friends with Mr Swan and Mr Vesta. It never ceases to amaze me how easily things burst into flames in towns that are surrounded by water! Only today, Fleetwood's historic pier went up in a suspected arson attack after being bought recently by a businessman who wanted to turn it into flats, against the wishes of the locals. Sound familiar?

Maybe there's a third way. Maybe a strong council, which put our coastal, rural and built environment top of its list, and stood up for sustainable and sympathetic development to create jobs, would get your electoral juices flowing. That's why, dear reader, I've added another of my 7 day polls to the sidebar on the right!

Click here to read Sheringham story in North Norfolk News
Click here to read Fleetwood Pier story on BBC website

Tongue Set To Get Tongues Wagging

Just a quick reminder that Boredstares will be the venue for a public meeting this evening to discuss the China Gateway project. Organised by local campaigner Chiristine Tongue, it kicks off at the Red Hall at 7.30pm and all are welcome.

And as if by magic, Ms Tongue's film Thanet Under Threat has appeared on BoobTube to coincide with the gathering. I've added it to this post, but to be honest I haven't watched more than a minute as the thought of enduring over an hour of Ms Tongue's dreary voiceover had me reaching for the phone to dial the Samaritans. That and her opening gambit: 'Thanet is in East Kent and has three historic seaside resorts, the most popular of which is Broadstairs'. Kuh!

Still, there is a very amusing, Noggin the Nog style opening animation which condenses the last thousand years of island history into a few seconds. I wonder if Our Greatest Living Thanetian, Oliver Postgate, had a hand in that? If anyone sticks with it as far as the end credits, perhaps they'd be kind enough to let us know!

Regen Gallery Costs Council £17m+

I'm indebted to regular contributor Millicent for winkling out a news item about a regeneration project in West Bromwich, based on an art gallery, which on the face of it seems to have gone horribly wrong.

The Public in West Bromwich opened recently, three years late and £20m over budget. The centre has attracted very few visitors, with one concert drawing an audience of just 17 people. Despite the Arts Council coughing up £30m for the project, the local council has now been forced to donate a further £3m on top of the £500,000 a year it already contributes to the running costs and the £14m it paid out in the first place. A new architect had to be appointed during construction when the first went bust, but the whole thing still had to be put into administration in 2006 and only threw open the doors six weeks ago. According to the article:

A local newspaper counted 12 people walking into the centre during a quarter-hour period at Friday lunchtime. Five went straight through and out the other side; three were contractors; two went in to use the toilet and two sat down for a tea.

Sound familiar? Well before you get all hot and steamy under the proverbial, the story was in the dreaded Daily Mail, which is not a paper known for its, er, appreciation of the arts. Nonetheless I have to say it sent a bit of a shudder down my spine!

Click here to read full story in the Daily Mail. And don't forget to wash your eyes out with soap afterwards.

Thanet Thunder In The Thunderer

Crikey! I see our glorious leader Sandy Beach has written a joint letter in today's Times (that's The Times, not the Thanet Times) with that ruddy-faced man from Kent County Council!

It follows a row over seaside regeneration that's been rumbling on in the Thunderer's letters pages ever since Weston-super-Mud's pier burnt down last month. On Tuesday Ramsgate DFL Steve Higgins had a scathing letter published complaining of a 'total disregard for the town’s heritage by its rulers, Thanet District Council', which even attracted a comment from Plain Simon, viz:

As a local councillor and Margate Charter Trustee, I can assure readers that every effort is being made to preserve local heritage and local history. The council can encourage development and new projects but it can't dictate what should take place on what is often privately owned property.

Not unless the council's 'privately owned' too, eh Simon? Now Sandy and the R-FM have waded in with their size 12s and the paper has, er, ironically illustrated their missive with a photo of long-gone Dreamland's long-gone Looping Star:

Sir, Contrary to Steve Higgins’s letter, there is a lot going on to improve Kent’s coastal towns — you only need to look at Whitstable as a successful example. Margate, Ramsgate and Broadstairs have received heritage lottery funds to restore Victorian buildings to their former glory and Pugin’s Grange on the cliff top at Ramsgate has been renovated recently. We will soon be starting work on the building for Turner Contemporary, designed by the Stirling Prize-winner David Chipperfield etc etc blah blah yackety schmack blah

(As an added bonus, there's a letter on the same page from a Mr Anthony Hodges of Broadstairs who's counted the number of red traffic lights he's encountered recently. And you wonder why they call it Boredstares.)

Anyhoo, this got me wondering how many of our super-duper attractions we've lost on the island since our beloved council came into being on 1 April (I kid you not) 1974. Let's make a definitive list, eh? Just click on the comments link below to add your two pennorth!

Thanet Misses Seaside Gravy Train

I see the government's just handed out 10 million smackers to help English coastal resorts regenerate and update their attractions. So, eyes down, who are the lucky winners?

Blackpool (£4m for a 22,000 seat arena and promenade)
Dover (£4m for castle and cable car)
Torbay (£2.2m for the 'English Riviera Geopark')

No mention of Thanet, which could probably do with £10m being spent on Margate alone, in addition to the £17.4m+ that's going on the Turnip. And while I'm at it, since when was Dover a 'resort'? It's just a corridor of foul smelling, brown guff pumped out by ferries and foreign lorries as far as I can see. Which isn't very far when you're walking along the front down there.

Still, who knows, maybe one of the duffers at our beloved council will put in for some of the £15m a year promised in 'Sea Change' grants before the well runs dry in 2011!

Click here to for full story on BBC website

Sea Bathing Firm Goes Down The Plughole

It's official! And you read it first in your super, soaraway Eastcliff Richard! Splashed over the front page of today's Thanet Times is the news that Paigle Properties Ltd and Paigle (Margate) Ltd have gone down the gurgler. According to the administrators appointed to liquidate the companies' assets, work on Margate's Royal Sea Bathing Hospital development will continue. But they were unable to comment on the future of Paigle's proposed development at the Cliftonville Lido.

Actually it gives me no pleasure to be proved right on this. I have a nasty feeling that Paigle won't be the last developer on the island to cash in their chips. I can't honestly say that the prospect of swapping ten years of hideous eyesores for another ten years of half built, hideous eyesores is filling the old Eastcliff cockles with joy!

Plug Pulled On Royal Sea Bathing Hospital?

With the entire country deafened by the sound of credit being crunched, I wasn't entirely surprised to hear from a reliable source today that Paigle Properties, who've been tarting up Margate's Royal Sea Bathing Hospital for the past couple of years, have, er, gone down the gurgler. Although the news should strictly be filed under 'unconfirmed rumour', I have to say I heard it from somebody who really should be in the know.

It won't come as a surprise to Margatonians, who've reported little activity on the site for the past few months, although this was put down by some optimists to Paigle's pending planning application for yet more luxury apartments on the site. A while back the local papers told how the developer had locked its builders out in an apparent dispute. Last year Paigle's driving force, Jane Debliek, told the Times the work would cost £60m, and that everyone had said: ‘You’re mad, you’ll go bankrupt!’ I think the larger cry around Margate had always been: 'You're mad, it should be the Turner Centre!', but there you go.

The tide of Thanet developers in difficulties seems to be rising rapidly, and the fear must be that the island will be blighted for yet another decade by half-finished developments, much like parts of Spain and Turkey. It's a particular shame if the news about the Sea Bathing is true. To my way of thinking, Paigle had done a lovely job, and did at least appear to have some sympathy and passion for the place. What happens now, I wonder, to the Cliftonville Lido which Paigle also bought to redevelop, in line with our council's plans to 'book end' Margate front with swish new properties?

Click here to read interview with Jane Debliek in the Times
Click here to see Bignews Margate's recent tour of the site

Update: This story has now been confirmed. Paigle called in the receivers on 15 July. Click here to read more.

Royal Sands Of Time Running Out?

Last month I brought you the news that tiny Terence Painter, the Ile's dapper, diminutive developer and estate agent, had closed his office opposite the Royal Harbour. TP, if you recall, is the lead agent for selling the seven, 12 star hotels and 9 million luxury apartments at the planned Pleasurama Development (aka Royal Sands aka Titanic aka Elsbels Palace Hotel).

Word has now reached the old Eastcliff lugholes that the bankers for the developer, SFP Ventures (UK) Ltd., have withdrawn their funding for the project, no doubt because their credit has been well and truly crunched. If confirmed, this would be a serious blow to the future of Ramsgate's seafront, which has already suffered a decade of eyesore blight, following the mysterious fire that destroyed Pleasurama in the late 90s. Should the development not be in position to go forward, may I humbly suggest that our friends on Uranus somehow wrest the site back from SFP and flipping well do something useful with it? Heritage theme park, anyone?

Realty Check

Reader Bull Terrier Gal writes to inform me that tiny Terence Painter, the Ile's dapper, diminutive developer and estate agent, has closed his office opposite the Royal Harbour. After tooling down there, I can indeed confirm this to be the case:

Despite being a relatively recent Ramsgatonian (eat your heart out Wossie), even I can remember the days when these premises were a dingy drinking dive, before our Terry came along and turned it into a place for millionaires to invest in the Thanet property boom. But with a number of local developments now seemingly at a standstill, can we now assume the boom has turned to bust?

Even more worrying is that TP is i/c flogging the Pleasurama development (aka Royal Sands, aka Titanic), should it ever be built. At a meeting of the Eastcliff Residents Association only last September, he said there was 'lots of interest' and that one hotel chain was on the point of signing up for the site. Upping sticks and buggering off doesn't really do much to confirm that, does it?