The Ramsgate not-for-profit is now looking for Expressions of Interest to take on three of the shelters.
Heritage Lab Ramsgate announced in June 2025 plans to renovate and refurbish eight Art Deco shelters on Ramsgate’s East Cliff lower promenade for a variety of uses and asked the public for their views and ideas.
The not-for-profit received an overwhelming public response with over 240 online survey submissions, 1,200 votes and over 60,000 views of the announcement video. The story was picked up by several media outlets, including local press, BBC News and The Sun. Public engagement events, funded by the Architectural Heritage Fund, were also held where people could give their views and vote for initial ideas for the shelters at POW in the Park in Ellington Park, Ramsgate, onsite at the shelters and at Happy Mondays at Arts in Ramsgate.
Results from the survey show 93.5% of respondents were in favour of the shelters being converted into new facilities for the community and visitors (with 1.2% against and 5.3% unsure).
The majority of respondents expressing a preference were supportive of initial ideas including a café, bar, public toilet, restoring a shelter to its original use, something describing the history of the shelters, a sauna, an art maker or exhibition space and a water sports hub; though most were either neutral or against a fishing tackle shop. Similar results were found with voting boards at the public engagement events, with a café being the most popular and a fishing tackle shop the least popular.
A large number of alternative ideas for the shelters were submitted through the survey and social media comments, including a yoga and meditation space, accessible beach huts, a library/book swap, pop-ups for charities or diversity initiatives, a performance and storytelling space, an art/craft shop, murals and exhibitions, an ice cream parlour, a micro-pub, a plant shop, a beach shop, living roofs, water fountains, an aquarium, an environment and conservation education hub, showers, changing facilities, a dog wash, a defibrillator, a micro-hotel, tourist information and bike/deckchair hire.
Children at POW in the Park in Ellington Park and people from Happy Mondays at Arts in Ramsgate, were asked to draw what they thought the shelters should be and came up with a number of ideas including a laser maze, skate park, gig venue, a cat space and 50p ice cream shop.
While it won’t be possible to take forward some of the suggestions because they are unlikely to get the necessary consents, Heritage Lab Ramsgate will be investigating how to incorporate many of the ideas into the shelter units. These include living roofs, public water fountains, a defibrillator, beach shop, showers and a dog wash, performance and storytelling, and a general-purpose space for a variety of potential activities.
“We’ve been blown away with the level of support from our shelters consultation, which demonstrates huge public interest in the project and our coastal environment. We’re really grateful to everyone that took the time to give their thoughts and ideas. The feedback has led to direct changes to some of our plans and we’ve had so many good ideas that we will try to incorporate into the scheme.
Rob Kenyon, CEO, Heritage Lab CIC
“We’re delighted to continue to support Heritage Lab Ramsgate with this project. Our viability grants are designed to help organisations test out how best to make spaces work, and the level of public response shows how passionate the people of Ramsgate are about these quirky shelters and that they want to be involved in their future.”
Gavin Richards, Heritage Development Trusts Programme Manager, Architectural Heritage Fund.
The next steps for the project include undertaking all necessary reports and investigations, applying for grant funding and developing final designs with an aim to launch in Summer 2026.
Heritage Lab Ramsgate is now inviting Expressions of Interest from individuals, community organisations and private operators to run one or more of three commercial units at the shelters: a café/bar, a watersports facility and a sauna. The deadline is 5pm on Friday 26th October 2025 and more details can be found at heritagelab.org.uk/shelters. A breakdown of survey results can also be found at this web address.
Image credit: Steve Morgan
