When did a museum last make you LOL? The brainchild of brothers Bertie Terrilliams and Ned Suesat-Williams, with their friend Chase Coley, it’s hard to explain this place – essentially an idiosyncratic joke with a serious message, which uses crab facts to explore climate change, capitalism and the history of pretty much everything. Imagine a spotted reef crab moonlighting as a trade unionist, or a video of a human failing to shed armour in the way a crab would. Or just go and see for yourself.   

A love letter to rustic Campanian cucina povera isn’t exactly what you expect by the seaside – but there’s no questioning the provenance of this spot run by Harry Ryder and Simona Di dio, who mined her nonna’s cookbook for simple but wondrous staples like the verdura e fagioli greens and beans or bread balls cooked in the family’s rich red sauce. The tiramisu and house-made limoncello cream are sublime, and if you get there early you can sometimes bag an outside seat. 

Ex-London music industry types Kelly Love and Dan Williams reopened the Grade II-listed George and Heart in late 2019, and have created a much-loved pub with rooms that happily sits somewhere between cosy and anarchic – laying on Sunday roasts, pumping Pride events and quizzes over Pink Palomar cocktails with similar panache. Each of the six rooms and two suites is an artful one-off, like the warm-toned, 70s-inspired Poodle and Blonde suite by the design duo of the same name.     

Okay, Margate has more great restaurants than we can mention here, but at a certain point you need to sit on the steps overlooking the Harbour Arm  with a fish supper from Peter’s, which never fails – even when the deals get eyebrow-raisingly good, like £4.50 for flaky haddock and chips. Don’t worry: as the seagull’s also know, it’s still good. If you want to be classy, pair with a Little Swift cocktail or beer from the Xylo microbrewery.