Folkestone in 60 photos: beach scenes, Charivari Day parade, boats, bars and night life -

Here’s some more photos from a recent visit to Folkestone in Kent, featuring the Charivari Day parade, beach scenes, boats and bars.

Seagulls circle for snacks.

Space is an independent bar & kitchen on the Old High Street, serving craft beers and Kentish cider, housed in an old Chiropody shop.

We enjoyed several beers here in the outdoor area at the back.

A colourful cartoon bungalow floats in the harbour, created by artist Richard Woods to encourage people to think more carefully about the social implications of multiple-home ownership.

The installation forms part of the Folkestone Triennial, and is one of six bungalows installed in unusual locations. Read more about this work here.

Looking east from the harbour arm.

Beach scene.

Man and a dog look out to sea.

Walking up the Old High Street.

Customer has a chat with Ken.

Vintage cigarette dispensing machine.

Seagull artwork.

Lighthouse at the end of the harbour arm.

There’s often live music playing around the harbour.

Large boozing area by the harbour arm.

Gentrification ahoy!

Originally installed in Folkestone in 1885, and a Grade II* listed water-balanced funicular railway, the Leas Lift has been out of action since 2017 although it is hoped to reopen in the near future.

The official website says:

The Folkestone Leas Lift is a grade II* listed funicular railway that carried passengers between the seafront and the promenade in Folkestone, Kent.

Originally installed in 1885, it carried 2,389 passengers on the first day!

It is one of only three remaining water-balanced lifts in the UK, and the only remaining cliff lift in Folkestone (there were two more along the Leas; The Metropole Lift and the Sandgate Hill Lift).

The Folkestone Leas Lift Company Charity hope to restore and reopen the Leas Lift in 2025.

Since 1997, Charivari Day has proved a popular annual fixture in Folkestone.

The parade sees massive head sculptures balanced on the shoulders of local young people and adults moving though the town, moving from The Stade, up through town to The Leas Bandstand.

More info here

Here’s some more views around town.

Ghost sign.

‘Art Buff’ by Banksy was created in Folkestone in 2014, and depicts a woman wearing headphones and staring at a plinth, upon which rests a patch of painted-out graffiti.

The name of the piece is a play on words, “buff” being a slang term for the painting over of graffiti.

A mod and his dog on the old platform of Folkestone Harbour station.

Inside the palatial Samual Peto Wetherspoons pub, formerly the Salem Chapel.

Night scenes around the town.

The lovely staff at the Old Buoy, an authentic Belgian Bar on Tontine Street.

To commemorate the centenary of Folkestone Central station, there’s a display of casts of hands from Folkestone residents, aged from one to one hundred running along the station entrance.