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Seaside town in Kent, England

Westgate on Sea is a seaside town and civil parish on the north east coast of Kent, England. It is within the Thanet local government district and borders the larger seaside resort of Margate. Its two sandy beaches have remained a popular tourist attraction since the town's development in the 1860s from a small farming community. The town had a population of 6,996 at the 2011 Census. The town is notable for once being the location of a Royal Naval Air Service seaplane base at St Mildred's Bay, which defended the Thames Estuary coastal towns during World War I. The town is the subject of Sir John Betjeman's poem, "Westgate on Sea". Residents have included the 19th century surgeon Sir Erasmus Wilson and former archbishop of Canterbury William Temple. The artist Sir William Quiller Orchardson painted several of his best known pictures whilst living in Westgate on Sea. The British artist Louis Wain and his family. The British composer Arnold Cooke attended the town's Streete Preparatory School in the early 20th century, and Eton headmaster Anthony Chenevix Trench spent the earliest few years of his education in the town.

The town inherited its name from the Westgate Manor, which was located in the area in medieval times. In the early 20th century, the remains of a Roman villa were discovered in what is now Beach Road, where a stream once used to flow. Fresh water can still be seen rising from the sand at low tide. In later years Roman villa in the field surrounding Westgate has also been found with strong archaeological evidence of Roman activity between Quex Park East Side in Birchington and the Dent de Lion medieval gatehouse at Garlinge. Before the 1860s, Westgate consisted of only a farm, a coastguard station (built 1791 and still standing in Old Boundary Road) and a few cottages for the crew that surrounded it. These were located beside the coast at St Mildred's Bay, named after Mildrith, Thanet's patron saint and a one time Abbess of Minster. During the late 1860s, businessmen developed the area into a seaside resort for the upper to middle classes. A stretch of sea wall, with promenade on top, was constructed around the beaches at St Mildred's Bay and West Bay, and the land divided into plots to be sold for what would become an exclusive development by the sea for wealthy metropolitan families within a gated community, rather than for occasional tourists. The opening of a railway station, in 1871, led to the rapid expansion of the population, The demands of the increasing population led to the building of the parish churches of St. James in 1872 and St. Saviour in 1884. St. Saviour's was designed by the architect C. N. Beazley. In 1884, ownership of most of the resort passed to Coutts Bank, after the previous proprietors had gone bankrupt. Around twenty schools were opened during the late 19th century, although many had only a few pupils or closed within a few years. The largest of the schools were Streete Court School, Wellington House Preparatory School and St Michael's School. An early experiment with electric lighting took place in December 1878. Six Yablochkoff lamps – a type of arc light – were installed, they were powered by a Garrett engine and were lit for 96 hours. The running costs proved to be uneconomic: they cost £40 9s 5d compared to £16 15s 2d for gas lighting, and there were technical problems. A school, Westgate College was established in 1877 by William Bullock. Old boys included Doctor Who actor Jon Pertwee and cabinet minister John Profumo, known for his involvement in the Profumo affair. Streete Court School was opened in 1894 by John Vine Milne, the father of the author A. A. Milne. In the 1890s, the school was attended by St John Philby, the father of the spy Kim Philby. The Coronation Bandstand was built by the cliff edge in 1903, at a cost of £350, to celebrate the coronation of King Edward VII. The following year, a group of French Ursuline nuns, who were banned from teaching in France, fled with some of their pupils to Westgate on Sea and established the Ursuline Convent School, which in 1995 was re established as Ursuline College. In 1910, a Swiss Gothic styled town hall was built. However, it was soon decided that the building could be put to better use, and in 1912, it was transformed into the Town Hall Cinema. In 1932, it was renamed the Carlton Cinema. On 1 August 1914, after the outbreak of World War I, a Royal Navy seaplane base was opened by the coast to defend the Thames Estuary naval towns against attack. It was at first used for both seaplanes and landplanes, but due to landing problems, a separate landplane base was opened in Manston in 1916. After the war, the seaplane base was decommissioned, and the landplane base in Manston eventually became Kent International Airport. During the war, the Coronation Bandstand was converted into sleeping quarters for use by the Royal West Kent Regiment. In 1925, the bandstand was refurbished and reopened as the 600 seat Westgate Pavilion theatre. with some, such as Streete Court School, leaving the town permanently. On 27 April 1944 a Liberator aircraft from the 392nd USAAF bombing group based in East Anglia near Wendling, Norfolk, crashed off the beach, adjacent to the Westgate Pavilion, with five of the crew killed and four injured in the crash. A special memorial service was held for the crew by the Mayor of Margate and veterans' organisations on 27 April 2009 at the war memorial overlooking the crash site. Near the end of the war a shmit was seen to crash land in the fields along Minster Road out side closes Cottages, the anti aircraft poles can be seen in the concrete tracks today. In 1975, five historic church bells were transferred to St Saviour's Church from the Holy Cross Church in Canterbury, which had closed in 1972. Three of the bells date back to the early 17th century and one was cast in the 14th century. From the 1970s to the 1990s, the Westgate Pavilion was a bingo hall, after which it closed and became derelict. In 2001, a group of volunteers formed a charitable trust to repair the pavilion and it was eventually reopened as a theatre. The town lies on the Isle of Thanet, a separate island from mainland Kent until around two hundred years ago, when the channel in between silted up. The geology of Thanet consists mainly of chalk, deposited when the area was below the sea. The Isle of Thanet was formed when the English Channel was formed by the sea breaking through, an island of chalk being left on the east side of the county. It was separated from the rest of Kent by the Wantsum Channel.

Westgate on Sea railway station is on the Chatham Main Line, which runs between Ramsgate in East Kent and London Victoria. Other stations on this line include Broadstairs, Margate, Herne Bay, Faversham, Gillingham, Rochester and Bromley South. Westgate on Sea is around 1 hour and 45 minutes to London by fast service train. A National Express coach service runs between London Victoria and Ramsgate, and a selection of trains run to London's Cannon Street station, primarily for business commuting. There is a Stagecoach bus service running to neighbouring Birchington and Margate, and a service running between Broadstairs and Canterbury via Westgate on Sea. The A28 road runs between Hastings and Margate via Ashford, Canterbury, Birchington and Westgate on Sea. 4 mile (6 km) southwest of Westgate on Sea, the A28 crosses the A299 road, which leads along North Kent towards London, becoming the M2 motorway at Faversham.

As a seaside resort and border rural, the economy is mainly based around tourism; there are several hotels and guest houses near the seafront, to accommodate the influx of visitors during the summer. Many visitors often enjoy the coast, fields and shops. The High Street has a variety of shops and services, and there are a small number of factories. The elderly population has led to many health and social care jobs at local care homes. At the 2001 UK census, 6.9% of the population resided in a medical or care establishment, compared with the national average of only 0.8%. The industry of employment of residents, at the 2001 census, was 16% retail, 16% health and social work, 13% manufacturing, 9% construction, 9% real estate, 9% education, 7% transport and communications, 5% public administration, 5% hotels and restaurants, 3% finance, 1% agriculture and 6% other community, social or personal services. Compared with national figures, there was a relatively high number of workers in the construction and health and social care industries and a relatively low number in finance and real estate. The town is in the Thanet local government district. It is within the electoral ward of Westgate on Sea, which has three of the fifty six seats on the Thanet District Council. At the 2007 local elections, two of those seats were won by the Conservative Party and one by an independent candidate. Conservative candidates in the ward won 45.8% of the vote, independent candidates won 27.0%, Labour Party candidates 17.6% and a Grey Party candidate 4.6%. The turnout was 34.5%. In 2015 Thanet Council set up a parish council for the Westgate on Sea ward. The new council took office at its first meeting in May 2015 as Westgate on Sea Town Council. It used to meet in Westgate on Sea's Town Hall, but has now moved twice since then.

The town's secondary school is Ursuline College, a specialist Sports College and Roman Catholic aided comprehensive school, with nearly 800 pupils and facilities for boarding students. In 2005, 32% of its pupils gained at least five GCSEs at grades A*–C including English and maths, ranking it 71st out of Kent's 120 secondary schools. Many secondary students commute to schools in other nearby towns, especially to the grammar schools in Ramsgate and Broadstairs. The Westgate College For Deaf People for students aged 16 and over closed on 11 December 2015. An inspection the previous month by the Care Quality Commission uncovered what the inspectors called "shocking examples of institutionalised failings and abuse" and the trust running the schools subsequently went into administration. The London House School of English provides English language courses for foreign students. The primary state schools are St Crispin's Infant School and St Saviour's Church of England Primary School, which is owned by the church but run by Kent County Council. Chartfield School is an independent primary school, educating children from 3 to 11 years.

The town has sandy beaches at both St Mildred's Bay and West Bay. The larger of the beaches is at St Mildred's Bay, where it is possible to hire beach huts, deck chairs and jet skis. The beach is a short distance from tennis courts and a golf putting course. At West Bay, there are many small rock pools, which are popular with children. Each beach has nearby cafés, restaurants and public houses, and a European Blue Flag Award is shared between them due to their cleanliness and safety. The town centre has several Victorian canopied shops, a library and the three screen Carlton Cinema. In addition to the theatre, the Westgate Pavilion is a venue for discos, yoga, indoor bowls and dance classes. Formed in 1896, Westgate and Birchington Golf Club has an 18 hole course on the cliff tops between Westgate and Birchington. Based at Hawtreys Field, Westgate on Sea Cricket Club runs two Saturday teams and two Sunday teams. In the 2007 season, both Saturday teams played in the Kent Cricket Feeder League East; the Saturday 1st XI team in Division 1C and the Saturday 2nd XI in Division 2C. The Sunday teams do not play in competitive matches. In 2006, Thanet Council opened a free skatepark at the Lymington Road recreation ground. Designed by local young people, the park caters for skateboarders and in line skaters of all ages and skill levels.

There are four local weekly newspapers providing news on the Thanet district area. Isle Of Thanet KM Extra is owned by the KM Group, and the Isle of Thanet Gazette, Thanet Adscene and Thanet Times are owned by Trinity Mirror. Isle Of Thanet KM Extra and Thanet Adscene are free newspapers, whereas the other two are paid for. Kent on Sunday published newspapers covering this area until 2017.

Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC South East and ITV Meridian. Television signals are received from the Dover TV transmitter and the Margate relay transmitter.

Local radio stations are BBC Radio Kent on 104.2 FM, Heart South on 95.9 FM and KMFM Thanet is a radio station on frequency 107.2FM, owned by the KM Group and previously known as TLR (Thanet Local Radio). Community radio station Academy FM (Thanet) launched in 2010 on 107.8.