Dreamland opens on June 19 and the theme park’s creative designer Wayne Hemingway told the 2015 Tourism Society Symposium how ‘culture has come to Margate’.

Wayne Hemingway, the founder of fashion label Red or Dead, pulled no punches at the event, hosted by Visit Kent on June 1-2.

The creative designer behind Dreamland’s £1.8m restoration project now specialises in breathing new life into old concepts with a focus on affordable aspects of design.

He told the 150 delegates at the University of Kent: “Culture has come to Margate. Over the last five years it has come on amazingly.

“I am down here every two weeks and each time there is new shop, café or boutique hotel opening.

“But these things take time –there is no quick fix; there needs to be supporting council, the people’s backing - and to kick out Nigel Farrage which has been done!”

“Margate needs good things to be happening. The high street still has a lot of problems but so what if Woolworth’s is still empty? Do we want to fill it with another pic’n’mix? Why not wait for something better?

“We don’t need video shops either. That’s the past.We need to forget about the past and close them. Yes, some jobs will be lost but a new generation will come along and repurpose them. It may take five, 10 or 20 years but it will happen. Don’t worry about it, human beings are very resourceful.”

Hemingway highlighted the tsunami of publicity for Margate and its global reach. He said: “Margate is on everyone’s lips.

“We, Margate, are in the top five places to visit according to Lonely Planet. You can’t manufacture that.

“We are in the New York Times, across all of the international press – you can’t stop it. Turner Contemporary has done a massive amount for the Kent. It was the start of the regeneration.

“It would have been very difficult for Dreamland to come back and be a success on its own but Margate is on the lips of so many people.

“There is an interest in the British seaside scene and Margate has got a history of being east London’s playground - and a lot of people know east London has become the epi-centre of cool over the last 10 years.

“But what’s also going on is that property price increases are forcing creative people out. The nearest place to what they want, more space and somewhere grittier, is Margate. It is an obvious choice, attracting the same kind of people, the same artists, designers and freethinkers who colonised and changed east London.”

Hemingway and his team have been working to preserve the cultural heritage of the Dreamland project while bringing the attraction up to date for a modern audience.

He said: “We are not making a heritage theme park. When we bid for this my team asked ‘what would we build if we happened to be in the seaside but wanted a forward-looking retro, vintage, but cool and fiercely independent park?

“The whole budget for Dreamland will be around about the same as Chessington or Thorpe Park spends on one ride. We were taken on for our creativity - we can make a silk purse out of sow’s backside.”

Cool but cheeky will clearly be theme. Hemingway said: “The staff will be wearing badges with ‘Do You Want Sauce on it?’ It has to be cheeky Charlie but it has to be cool and should say 1950s,60s, 70s, 80s - I can’t quite place it.

“The staff will be quirky; the more tattoos and piercings the better and if they scare granny, then good. We want to appeal to a new, younger generation.”

With a tight budget there has been a lot of ‘repurposing’. Hemingway said: “We’re using the old bins from Blackpool and wood from the old burned down Scenic Railway to make seating and jewellery.

“Well, come and see it - we are due to open in 17 days."

To find out more go to www.visitkent.co.uk or click here.