Lights go on after £25m revamp at Dreamland

Once the enfant terrible of art, now Margate’s very own national treasure, Tracey Emin declared the new-look Dreamland very much open.

Eager families rushed to see the new rides, street food vendors and modern art installations that have been added following a £25 million investment.

The vintage theme remains among the changes, and established features like the scenic railway and Wurlitzer have been restored to their original glory.

Music lovers soaked up the festival feel as Vintage Troubles brought their American rhythm and blues to the all-new Scenic Stage. On Saturday northern rockers Maximo Park hit the stage at the Hall by the Sea.

Speaking after the switch on of the restored historic Dreamland sign, Ms Emin said: “I thought I was going to start crying!

“Just the word Dreamland – it can’t get better than that can it?

“I think Margate is changing. It’s a place where young people want to come, young people want to live.”

She had a dig at Southeastern who she felt needed to drop fares to encourage more visitors. “It’s got to be subsidised,” she added.

But things didn’t go without a hitch on the grand opening evening, as a cart got trapped on the magic mouse ride, and two engineers had to walk up and push start it.

Dreamland chief executive Ste- ven Mitchell said: “We said when we set out on this project that we wanted to make sure we had something that we’d be really proud of when we opened.

“As we went through the project we expanded our ambitions and we tried to make sure we were future proofing the park, installing things like Wi-fi.”

Dreamland is free to enter and is now open for the whole of half term and then weekends only until July 21. From then the park will be open every day through to September.

The inside areas are open all year round and include the roller disco, vintage arcades and the Octopus’ Garden.