Smugglers, ghost ships and Dickensian shopping - winter weekend breaks in Deal, Kent

During the winter nights whilst the stars are shining bright why not spend an inspirational weekend in Deal on the East Kent coast. With cosy warm traditional pubs overlooking glorious views across the English Channel and the treacherous Goodwin Sands, this once notorious smugglers paradise is rich in history and mystery.

The Goodwin Sands lying six miles of the coast of Deal have been responsible for over 1000 recorded shipwrecks. Some of the most famous ghost ships sail the waters which has caused countless tales of strange sights, lights and sounds from the sea mist.

Travel on Britain's first highspeed train service direct to Deal from London St Pancras on Friday night (Depart 17.40pm or 18.40pm) and return back in the capital early Monday morning (Depart from Deal 05.56am, 06.24am or 06.56am).

Stay in a world class B&B like Number One (Travellers Choice 2011 Top 10 B&B in the world), The Royal Hotel which was frequently visited by Lord Nelson or the renowned Dunkerleys Restaurant & Hotel.

Sample the delights of The Black Douglas Coffee House (Telegraph Best British Cafe with view), Deal Beach Parlour, the unique Dining Club, Middle Street Fish Bar (The Times Third best fish & chip shop in Britain), 81 Beach Street or The Court Yard Oyster Bar and Restaurant. Fancy a traditional pint? The Berry (CAMRA Branch Pub of the Year 2011), The Kings Head (10th Best seaside Pub in England) or the extremely popular The Bohemian and the new The Just Reproach (Micro Pub).

Browse the quaint boutiques and shops along Dickensian Deal High Street (Greencades, The Sugar Boy, Borough Wines, Poppy Belle) to list a few, you may find a real treasure item in one of the antique shops or find that perfect gift.

Deal Castle one of the finest Tudor artillery castles in England is now open weekends throughout the winter months and Tides modern indoor swimming pool with wave machine plus brand new tennis centre offer great leisure activities.

The recently refurbished, Astor Community Theatre provides a great source of  live music, theatre, exhibitions and films.

Once a naval stronghold. today the seaside town of Deal has a burgeoning? café scene. The Evening Standard 7th September 2011

Map of Deal
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The review of the year 2011 (top 10)

1. The Pfizer closure announcement

On the 1st February Pfizer announced that it would be closing its research & development centre in Sandwich with a direct loss of 2,400 jobs and another 2,400 indirectly, in contractors.

Pfizer job losses: Anger and shock in ancient port

Local MPs Charlie Elphicke, Laura Sandys and Kent County Council led a task force to ease the impact of the closure. Subsequently Pfizer have announced they will retain 650 jobs, the site has been awarded enterprise zone status and rebranded Discovery Park and has been awarded a Regional Growth Fund.

Pfizer site in Sandwich set to retain 650 jobs

New enterprise zones announced

East Kent to get £40m to fund jobs growth

2. The Open

Party time for quaint corner of England as Sandwich and Deal welcome the golfing elite

The BBC's Dan Walker tweeted "Highlight of the day: just seen Jim Carver from The Bill in a curry house in Deal #SmallThings". For several barmy nights Deal came alive like never before, it was a great championship.

The Open 2011 photostream

3. HM Royal Marines concert

A fly over by a Spitfire and a Hurricane, Deal opera singer Rebecca Robinson and huge crowds remembered the 11 soldiers who were killed by the IRA in the bombing of the Deal Barracks on September 22 1989.

Royal Marines Band delights thousands

4. Deal and Sandwich go highspeed

Two days after the launch of this service returning to Deal at 140mph via HS1 I opened the Evening Standard and was delighted to read: Here's the Deal

A momentous day but the fight for a full service goes on.

High speed rail services launched from Sandwich & Deal

5. Deal, Walmer and Kingsdown Carnival and Regatta Week

This is always a great week for the town which attracts huge numbers of visitors, but this year many agreed the fireworks from the pier were exceptional.

Deal Carnival 2011

6. Deal Festival of Music and Arts

It just gets better every year

7. The Deal beach seal

This summer a young common seal pup was washed up on Deal beach which led a local celeb on an astonishing adventure.

Secret seals of the south-east

8. Deal Town FC

Fire breaks out at Deal Town football club

9. Mystery man wakes on Deal beach

On August 17th a man walked into the Victoria Hospital suffering from head pains and amnesia.

Mystery Man Wakes On Beach Without Memory

10. The Big Deal

Forget the "Big Society" we have always had a strong community in Deal but this year it felt as though a renaissance locally and afar had rediscovered our truly great, historic and progressive town.

My top Kent predictions for 2012 (Sorry West Kent!)

Folkestone (Growth)
Ramsgate (Regeneration)

Deal (Tourism)

Canterbury (Prosperity)



A request to the new Secretary of State for Transport for a full highspeed service to Deal and Sandwich before 2014.

The 06.24 highspeed service arrives at Deal station

Southeastern claimed there was no business case for it, yet the new highspeed train service for Deal and Sandwich has been keenly subscribed. Journey times have been slashed to 80 minutes with improved reliability and punctuation compared to the notoriously slow and intermittent classic service.

The population of Deal & Sandwich with its surrounding villages is on a par with Folkestone and higher than Dover, more significantly it has one of the lowest jobs to population ratios in Kent even before considering the Pfizer closure implications.

The area has huge tourism potential and many people have already used the Friday night highspeed service to Deal from St Pancras to take a weekend break on the Kent coast. Equally important is the support highspeed services can bring to the new Enterprise Zone on the post Pfizer site at Sandwich - The Discovery Park.

The Kent Rail Action Plan presented to Theresa Villiers calls for all day highspeed services to Deal and Sandwich when the new rail franchise is awarded in 2014.

However it is clear from passenger demand that the current service needs increasing before 2014. There are only 3 trains serving Deal and Sandwich in the morning and 2 in the evening. By the time the peak morning trains reach Ashford International they are almost full which means many passengers boarding at Ashford now have to stand for the remainder of the journey.

The new Secretary of State for Transport, Justine Greening MP has already shown with the recent rail cap reduction success that she is willing to listen to reason and common sense. Roger Gale MP for Thanet North has recently stated the highspeed service on the North Kent line is of no use to East Kent.

Therefore I have written to the Secretary of State for Transport asking her to consider reviewing the current Southeastern highspeed specification with the objective of bringing a full highspeed service to Deal and Sandwich before 2014.

Smugglers, ghost ships and Christmas shopping - winter weekend breaks in Deal, Kent

Whilst the winter nights grow long and the stars are shining bright why not spend an inspirational weekend in Deal on the East Kent coast. With cosy warm traditional pubs overlooking glorious views across the English Channel and the treacherous Goodwin Sands, this once notorious smugglers paradise is rich in history and mystery.

The Goodwin Sands lying six miles of the coast of Deal have been responsible for over 1000 recorded shipwrecks. Some of the most famous ghost ships sail the waters which has caused countless tales of strange sights, lights and sounds from the sea mist.

Travel on Britain's first highspeed train service direct to Deal from London St Pancras on Friday night (Depart 17.40pm or 18.40pm) and return back in the capital early Monday morning (Depart from Deal 05.56am, 06.24am or 06.56am).

Stay in a world class B&B like Number One (Travellers Choice 2011 Top 10 B&B in the world), The Royal Hotel which was frequently visited by Lord Nelson or the renowned Dunkerleys Restaurant & Hotel.

Sample the delights of The Black Douglas Coffee House (Telegraph Best British Cafe with view), Deal Beach Parlour, the unique Dining Club, Middle Street Fish Bar (The Times Third best fish & chip shop in Britain), 81 Beach Street or The Court Yard Oyster Bar and Restaurant. Fancy a traditional pint? The Berry (CAMRA Branch Pub of the Year 2011), The Kings Head (10th Best seaside Pub in England) or the extremely popular The Bohemian and the soon to open The Just Reproach (Micro Pub).

Browse the quaint boutiques and shops of the High Street (Greencades, The Sugar Boy, Borough Wines, Poppy Belle) to list a few, you may find a real treasure item in one of the antique shops or find that perfect Christmas gift.

Deal Castle one of the finest Tudor artillery castles in England is now open weekends throughout the winter months and Tides modern indoor swimming pool with wave machine plus brand new tennis centre offer great leisure activities.

Once a naval stronghold. today the seaside town of Deal has a burgeoning? café scene. The Evening Standard 7th September 2011

Map of Deal
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Opportunity is the new Deal

On the 5th September 2011 Southeastern extended Britain's first highspeed rail service to Deal station in Kent. It's hard not to be impressed with the Hitatchi Class 395 "Javelin" trains and there is a renaissance of commuters now arriving at Deal train station in the mornings to board the trains to London St Pancras.

Journeys times have been slashed (Stratford: 74mins) (St Pancras: 80mins) and the reliability of the service has been proven to be far superior to Classic mainline services. The service does cost a premium but an annual season ticket from Deal to London St Pancras equates to £20.15 a day which is competitive to road fuel prices, but admittedly it should be more competitive.

Although unemployment is rising alarmingly there are still plenty of job opportunities in London which has a vast and diverse career market. If you have skills which London companies can use and the right attitude there are always job opportunities. Commuting is not for everyone but when you consider the higher salaries and career options it can be appealing. It is in the interest of everyone in Deal that the highspeed commuter service grows, as Kent County Council who are funding this service have stressed "use it or lose it". Commuters earning higher salaries in London bring additional money into our local economy and it also increases the likelihood of a full highspeed service being introduced.

It's not one way traffic either! Friday night services from St Pancras to Deal have seen the highest passenger numbers as people have taken the opportunity to travel down direct to Deal via highspeed for a weekend break, which has taken Southeastern a little by surprise. This is fantastic news for our shops, hotels, restaurants, pubs, attractions... etc and should be encouraged as we have a unique identity in Deal which should be shared and capitalised on. I can't help conclude the noticeable improvement and investment into our High Street recently has been helped by the introduction of the highspeed service.
 

 

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Jobs within 1 mile radius of St Pancras

Deal station

I am sorry that the toilets at Deal station have been closed for a few weeks. I can confirm that the toilets were closed due to a burst water main. I understand that the water main has been repaired, but there remains insufficient water pressure to adequately feed the toilet systems which has resulted in a two hour wait between flushes. As this is unacceptable for public use, we are in negotiation with the local water company to address this fault.

Unfortunately, experience tells us that such problems can take a number of months to resolve, so I regret to say that it is unlikely that we will be able to open the toilets in the short term, and we cannot provide a timescale for when the problem will be rectified at this point in time. However, the local Station Manager, is only too aware of the problem and he is making every effort to ensure that it is resolved as quickly as possible.

Having said this, I understand that there is a separate disabled toilet at the station which is possible to flush more frequently, so we have been using this toilet on an emergency basis for those in desperate need of toilet facilities. In the mean time, the main toilets will need to remain closed until they are in a fit condition to use and passengers are advised to use on-train facilities wherever possible. I am sorry for any inconvenience or discomfort that may result whilst the toilets are out of action.

On a separate matter raised, I can confirm that Deal is covered by CCTV. Rolling out Secure Station Accreditation is split into 14 phases, with 9 completed to date. Deal is in phase 14, so there are no immediate plans to seek secure station accreditation at this location, but this will occur in due course.


I hope this information is helpful and thank you for your enquiry.


Yours sincerely

Daniel Westlake

Customer Relations Officer
Southeastern

A transport hub is key to the future of Deal

On the 5th September 2011 Southeastern commenced operating a highspeed commuter service from Deal train station bringing journey times to the Capital down to 82 minutes. Argueably one of the most momentous events for the town in recent years.

Initial passeneger takeup has been good and continues to grow, perhaps not surprisingly the highest passenger numbers have been on the Friday evening service from London St Pancras to Deal.

An estimated 18 million people pass through London St Pancras every year and many will now see the Kent town name of Deal displayed on its destination boards. The huge London jobs market has become accessible to the residents of Deal which helps the local economy to grow. Equally important; visitors to Deal have modern direct access to the town which brings a huge boost to tourism.

Recently Deal train station has had a welcome facelift. However complacency does not secure the increased passenger numbers we need to make sure the highspeed service remains after the one year trial and to ensure the introduction of all day services.

Deal train station can suffer from anti social behaviour and needs CCTV coverage. The Department for Transport and British Transport Police have a Secure Stations Scheme which has already accredited some Southeastern stations. If you witness any anti social behaviour I urge you to inform Dover District Council and ask for secure station accreditation. The popularity of cycling to the station is also increasing and this would be encouraged with CCTV monitoring.

An increase to station staffing hours would also be of huge benefit, the recent suggestion by the McNulty report that station ticket offices such as Deal should close is pure madness in fact we need the reverse. Another seated shelter towards the Sainsburys end of platform 1 would be desirable. A review of bus services and how they can be integrated with the new highspeed service should also be investigated and a modern electronic notice board outside the station, detailing local facilities and attractions could also pay dividends.

If the funds are not available for these modest improvements then perhaps any agreement to allow further housing development in areas such as Sholden should include the provision to pay for them.