Crab Museum
About
On the first floor above the Pie Factory Gallery on Broad Street, reached by its own entrance, is Europe's first and only museum of the decapod. It is funny on purpose and serious underneath: the crab is the vehicle for a genuinely pointed argument about ecology, extraction and the sea, delivered with jokes. It is a not-for-profit, it will never charge an entry fee, and it says so on its own homepage in the same breath as noting that it might go bankrupt, which tells you most of what you need to know about the tone. It is small, it takes half an hour, and it is the most Margate thing in Margate: a serious institution that refuses to behave like one. Check the opening days before you climb the stairs, because they are shorter than most museums and they change between the summer and the rest of the year.
Photos
Highlights
- ✓Free entry, permanently, by policy
- ✓Europe's first and only museum dedicated to the decapod
- ✓Not-for-profit, environmental focus
- ✓Small enough to do in half an hour
- ✓Ninety seconds from Bottega Caruso and Market Place
Tips
- →It is on the first floor above the Pie Factory Gallery with its own entrance on Broad Street. There is no ground-floor frontage to look for.
- →Summer hours are Wednesday to Sunday 11:00 to 17:00 with last entry at 16:30; they narrow outside the summer, so check.
- →It is free by policy and funded by donations. Bring some.
- →Combine it with the Old Town in one loop: Crab Museum, Market Place, Bottega Caruso, the Margate Bookshop.
Best Season
Accessibility
The museum is on the first floor above the Pie Factory Gallery and publishes its own accessibility page. Stair access to the first floor should be assumed; check with the museum before travelling.
More Attraction Activities
Turner Contemporary
Free contemporary art gallery on the seafront, on the site of Turner's Margate lodgings. Open Tuesday to Sunday, closed Mondays.
Dreamland
Free to enter, pay per ride. Vintage rides, a roller disco and a summer outdoor gig season. The Scenic Railway still stands but is retired and cannot be ridden. Opening pattern changes constantly.
The Shell Grotto
4.6 million shells in a tunnel under a Cliftonville side street. Discovered in 1835 and never explained. Grade I listed.