Ukip candidate for Thanet North Piers Wauchope has described the condition of Margate’s Winter Gardens as an embarrassment.

The claim follows the Ukip spring conference held at the venue last week.

He said: “It was a great pleasure to welcome the conference to Margate.

“But the condition of the Winter Gardens is tired, unkempt and needs a good lick of paint and a general clean up.

“Once it was the pride of Margate but Thanet District Council (TDC) seems intent on running it down."

Mr Wauchope highlighted problems in the lobby, where paint is peeling from the walls.

The Winter Gardens is managed for Thanet District Council (TDC) by Your Leisure.

Managing director Steve Davis said: “I am not going to disagree with anything he has said about the building.

“Funding is tight and we are working together with TDC and Kent County Council (KCC) to come up with an investment plan, although any assistance would be welcome to speed things up.

“At the moment we have a constant patchwork until we get some proper investment but it is about time we had some money spent on it and move things forward."

Mr Davis agreed that the building required urgent refurbishment.

He said: “We have had a problem with the lobby, we need to strip out all the walls and redo it.

“We have also had problems with the roof like most old buildings.

“There is also a quote to repair the walls and we have recently spent money on an extra fire exit.

“But the Winter Gardens did everything required of it [for the Ukip conference], guests were happy and I heard no complaints from the event last week.”

Thanet District Council were unavailable to comment at this stage.