Folkestone Sea Front (Now & Then).

Here is a video I Filmed at Folkestone Sea Front during a visit on Thursday August 6th this year (2015) I have also added photographs that I took back in 2001 & 2003 when the Rotunda Fun Park was the place to visit !
Music :- Last Kiss Goodnight by Kevin MacLeod.

[@sharonbeckett721]

I loved my home town, it was always so busy down at the seafront, not just the Rotunda and swimming pool etc but the ferries you could go on for a day in France. Anyone remember the "Dance to France" at the weekends? Good times but so sad now 😣😞

[@pauldrewery4841]

So sad to see all that gone, things get worse not better.

[@shamiemcguire1588]

I was born in Folkstone. The Rotunda and the leas are vivid memories. Thanks for uploading 👍👍👍😅

[@afchoratio]

I loved the old boating pool. I can still remember the smell of the little boats. And the outdoor swimming pool, and the indoor one too, where I learned to swim.

[@davidjellis]

It's as if it never existed - very sad loss (especially the wooden wild mouse)

[@psyclonesteve]

+davidjellis It is very sad David, spent many an enjoyable day at Rotunda and loved the old wooden coaster. It's very sad to see it now ! :-(

[@48yani]

I lived in Folkestone from age 5 to 11. I,m 57 now and live up north.Spent many a time at the old rotunda when we had the old pennies and thripenny bits ha ha. Going back darn sarf this year to look how its changed and see our old house and school etc and see whats changed and whats not.

[@sallyburgess8856]

Well, I am an old Folkestonian too, I spent old pennies in the Rotunda machines in the 60s and had a flat in Marine Parade when I left school. Very sad to see it now..I miss my home town as it was!!!!!

[@susieporter5239]

so do I my aunt uncle lived in Hythe and mum and dad used to visit oftenfor holidays much spent in folkestone on the beach,but my siter stole my will and gordon Brown treasurer leaving me in need so cruel !!!!

[@colincocks1335]

I loved those machines, memories

[@ry-ryjacobs138]

I have wonderful memories of going on the old waltzer and runaway train there, is a shame it's gone, but at least seaside resorts are on the rise, look at dreamland in margate for example!

[@TheVickersDoorter]

I recall it with affection as a child holidaying there through the 1960's, when it was a vibrant and relatively unspoilt town. Went back a few years ago and was aghast at the destruction of myriad fine Victorian and Edwardian buildings, replaced by the likes of the Grand Burstin. Successive borough planners and developers have committed architecturally-criminal acts.

[@escormillos]

its like a massive bomb hit it, at some point in its life. had so many memories there, from 1955, 2 shillings got me a few rides, and an ice cream :-) Lost for ever, (is this what the council call progress ???) :-(

[@psyclonesteve]

+Nervous Wreck Progress or Death of a Great Seaside !

[@escormillos]

+psyclonesteve yep you're right, id say Death, but old Folkestonians like me, will always remember its hey day, ( beautiful )

[@bernardbarton972]

I used to be proud of Folkestone. But those days are long gone.

[@jvadee8678]

It's a real shame they had to take the funfair away for kids now a days who live in Folkestone as I'm one of them R.I.P FOLKESTONE FUNFAIR 😂🎡🎢🎠🎪

[@rebekahburnett4877]

I want the old Folkestone back it looks a hole lot better even thought I'm only in my teens I still want to experience the old Folkestone

[@psyclonesteve]

It Was and I'm sure your not the only one ! :-(

[@hounslowgigiholidayfun2982]

I spent many years visiting st Mary’s bay and then it was followed by a drive down to Folkestone to go in the rides and then dinner I was born in 1989 but my parents were doing this before I was around as well I was so sad when I went about 2001 or 2 and most of the rides were dissapering and the mini arcade was being knocked down at that point to then hearing it had completely gone... we still make sure we have our drive down to Folkestone after st Mary’s bay for dinner at the chippy and we walk across the area feeling quite sad

[@SuperDancingdevil]

I have very happy memories of the Rotunda it looks so sad and desolate now, Why did Folkestone ever get rid of it?, It's a real crying shame, Thanks for the memories.

[@alandavies1866]

Folkestone didnt get rid of it Jimmy Goddens bad management did..

[@BigMacMick]

the place looks desolate now, such a shame, any idea if they are going to be building anything new on the site? i heard a rumor some years ago that they were going to build a Cinema/Bowling complex there

[@alandavies1866]

Folkestone and Ramsgate have one thing in common.. Jimmy Godden... Rotunda went under so did the amusements and rides at Ramsgate..

[@gemmamiddleton4394]

makes me unbelievably sad

[@Jo1066milton]

I remember brief trips to the Rotunda around 1965. I was disappointed only to be allowed on a few rides. My parents didn't spend money on funfairs - a day at the Warren was more to their liking. I was sorry to see it had gone. It seems to me that Folkestone does not aim to attract "day trippers" - there are so few beach amenities.

[@VickersDoorter]

Likewise, we loved the funfair in the 1960s, but our parents took us for long walks around the Warren and far beyond, which is not what us children wanted at all.

[@faezahhelen6049]

😭😭😭😭 this video make I'm cried,good job psyclonesteve 👍👍

[@psyclonesteve]

+Faezah Helen sorry you cried .. but glad you enjoyed the video .. thank you ! :-)

[@mark-1rc502]

Didn’t there used to be a ferry terminal there ? Sure I sailed on a sealink ferry when I was young, I remember it was white with big letters I thought it was well nice and massive ship at the time , and we used to go on the fair , ☹️ I went Their a couple of years ago as I drove down that big hill I couldn’t believe what I was seeing . It’s very sad .

[@leepearson7860]

I miss the arcades playing street fighter 2 , all day, best times as a teenager. In the 90,s.

[@stephenwebb8286]

love the old arcades

[@ben07643]

What Year did it shutdown?

[@bernardbarton972]

I used to be proud of Folkestone as a seaside resort. Now? I am ashamed of what the council has done to it.

[@elliottterenzio144]

I wish they rebuild it one day😢

[@faezahhelen6049]

nice 😄😄😄😄

[@christinedrylie8017]

I remember when it was Thames park

[@Truthseeker1515]

Seriously, how profitable was the Rotunda? Same with the ferries, except the odd French day-tripper from Boulogne, there was no one else. How could Folkestone compete with Dover? The harbour was too small. I am even surprised these companies have operated for so long with a service from/to Folkestone....

[@MissRandomwriter]

How 'profitable' was the Rotunda? Profitable enough for it to have survived 70 years. Jimmy Godden said he was getting old and just couldn't be bothered to run it any more. Of course a massive Asda, multi-screen cinema, bowling alley and masses of housing would be more 'profitable'... if that's the sort of place you want to live.

[@ronw11]

Folkestone will never be the same shame

[@mikechick221]

so sad but they can never get ride off the sea wich is always a must do

[@psyclonesteve]

+michael chick very true ! :-)

[@unmea69l8er]

The Rotunda and amusement area was demolished to make way for new development, it still hasn't happened and the town is losing a fortune in visitor revenue.

[@psyclonesteve]

It is such a shame, we had some great times there in the past but to go back and see it now was really sad.

[@unmea69l8er]

@@psyclonesteve I agree and can't see the sense in demolishing it and then just to lay bare for all these years when it could still be running like it was and bringing loads of people to the town.

[@philluvschips3787]

Only the seagulls visit now.

[@paulkazjack]

So whos actual fault is it that folkestone has ended up in this dire state?

[@faezahhelen6049]

I'm born in 2003

[@psyclonesteve]

+Faezah Helen you missed it ! :-(

[@SuperDancingdevil]

No one to blame apart from Folkestone council who over the years have allowed Folkestone to decay without a care as long as their pockets were lined everything was fine, Then with the Ferries gone they just let the place fall into rack and ruin, Shame on Folkestone council.

[@MissRandomwriter]

lance allison - I don't think that's strictly true... there's been a mountain of 'regeneration' going on in Folkestone for the last decade. Problem is, the council want to scrub out all Folkestone's history and turn it into a posh, hippy, arty, 'cultural hub' (which it never has been, and never truly will be). The council saw the Rotunda as "SOOOO last century!"... so should be got rid of... along with the rest of Folkestone's iconic history :(

[@SuperDancingdevil]

MissRandomwriter Like most councils if there was something in it for them the Rotunda would still be standing, It’s a shame when the arty farty set move in and start throwing cash around as councils are on that like a dog on a bone and a lot of councillors end up getting new cars suddenly and planning permission is given for stuff nobody that is born and bred there wants while what is seen as old and outdated by the arty crowd is swept aside, I used to love Folkestone and my Mother was born and grew up there so I have an emotional attachment to the place and it’s sad to see what is happening to the place.

[@MissRandomwriter]

@@SuperDancingdevil - Me too, me too! My mum grew up there, and I grew up a little further away in Kent. We weren't that well off, and visits to the Rotunda throughout summers of the 80s very much made up for foreign holidays. I spent a few adult years in Folkestone too, watching this sad decline. Although it seems to me the council have been spending a lot of money on 'regenerating' Folkestone... their idea of 'regeneration' was originally to put that massive, horrific 'Asda' in place of the Rotunda, along with a cinema and housing!!! - Just horrendous!!! - Thank God that didn't happen. I would much rather watch a Victorian seaside town in ghostly decay than see it bulldozed to make way for more concrete jungle. Now Debenhams (known as 'Bobbys' to your mum, I bet!) is to close in January... so much for regeneration! How elegant and charming Folkestone must have been once!

[@SuperDancingdevil]

@@MissRandomwriter My Mother went to Maundella school and my Grandfather worked on the ferries before and after WW1, The place when I was a kid was great to visit on weekends in the 60's and early 70's then it slowly died especially after the ferries went it was such a shame, It's all so very sad I think.

[@purplesunflower8242]

They wrecked Morecomb in the North West too.......

[@markshaw5835]

So sad

[@splodgersplodgy1362]

The Rotunda was very dodgy and very ugly