{"id":398118,"date":"2026-01-30T04:47:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T04:47:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/398118\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T04:47:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T04:47:11","slug":"my-idea-of-heaven-madonna-sings-the-praises-of-seaside-resort-margate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/398118\/","title":{"rendered":"“My idea of heaven”: Madonna sings the praises of seaside resort Margate"},"content":{"rendered":"

Madonna visited the town to see her artist pal Dame Tracey Emin, who her studio there and runs an artist residency programme for young people\""My<\/p>\n

“My idea of heaven”; Madonna visits Margate(Image: madonna\/Instagram)<\/p>\n

IT was Chas and Dave\u2019s favourite seaside resort and the location for Del Boy and Rodney\u2019s Jolly Boys\u2019 Outing on Only Fools and Horses.<\/p>\n

But the Kent coastal town of Margate, once the go-to holiday spot for working class Londoners, now has the Queen of Pop as a fan. Madonna was so blown away by a recent visit<\/a> that she gushed: \u201cI feel like I\u2019ve entered a dream.\u201d The 67-year-old went to visit her artist pal Dame Tracey Emin, 62, who has her TKE Studios there and runs an artist residency programme for young people.<\/p>\n

Madge, who visited exhibitions, posted: \u201cThe whole town seems to be inhabited and energized by creativity. This is my idea of heaven. I\u2019ve been there a few times now and I\u2019m always struck by the commitment and passion of all of these artists. On top of all of that, I get to eat at my favourite Italian restaurant which I\u2019m not giving anyone the name of because then everyone\u2019s going to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE: ‘Margate is Venice Beach without the sunshine, I know exactly why Madonna can’t get enough’<\/a>READ MORE: Beautiful seaside town now ‘dying a death’ and ‘depressing’ as 1 in 4 shops lie empty<\/a>\"Madonna<\/p>\n

Madonna visits Margate(Image: madonna\/Instagram)<\/p>\n

The Mirror<\/a> can reveal the Holiday superstar dined at Cantina Caruso and enjoyed a plate of Cacio e pepe \u2013 spaghetti, pecorino cheese and pepper. Owner Simona Di Dio told us: \u201cMadonna was here for a private dinner so we prepared a set menu.<\/p>\n

\u201cCacio e pepe is not something we do all the time but we heard she liked it so we made it for her. It was a very lovely family-style dinner. It felt really intimate. She was very easy going.\u201d Her business partner Harry Ryder added: \u201cShe was super nice and very into what we do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Simona<\/p>\n

Simona Di Dio Left and business partner Harry Ryder<\/p>\n

Locals hope the superstar\u2019s visit will bring a summer tourism boom. Charlotte Kimber, 38, who co-owns the Little Swift bar on the seafront, said: \u201cAnything that puts Margate on the map is always a good thing. It\u2019s her second time in Margate so it\u2019s nice to see her return. It might make people think, instead of Benidorm I\u2019m going to give Margate a go.\u201d The Madonna fan added: \u201cIf she fancies a margarita I\u2019ll sort her out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Charlotte<\/p>\n

Charlotte Kimber, Co owner of Little Swift wine bar(Image: PHIL HARRIS)<\/p>\n

\"Jimmy<\/p>\n

Jimmy Edwards, who works at Peter\u2019s Fish and Chip Factory(Image: PHIL HARRIS)<\/p>\n

Jimmy Edwards, 25, who works at Peter\u2019s Fish and Chip Factory, said he\u2019d welcome the singer but added: \u201cMadonna would be treated as everyone else gets treated.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had multiple celebrities in here from Rick Stein to Alan Carr and it\u2019s always the same \u2013 here at Peters everyone is served with compliments and to the same standard.\u201d<\/p>\n

The resort town had suffered a lean spell in recent decades but visitors still flock to its Dreamland amusement park while its music festivals and Turner Contemporary gallery are part of a now-thriving arts scene.<\/p>\n

Musician Pete Doherty and his Libertines banddmates also set up a boutique hotel and arts space The Albion Rooms there.<\/p>\n

Fashion icons Kate Moss and the late Vivienne Westwood visited while graffiti artist Banksy created a spray-painting there. Chris McGuire, who owns Hoffs cafe bar, said: \u201cMargate has a population of 64,000 people, it\u2019s not huge but it packs a punch.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Madonna visited the town to see her artist pal Dame Tracey Emin, who her studio there and runs…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":398119,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[57951,1897,7170,64627,6491,96,1991,149170,39742,10868,50689,149169,59486,56,54,55,46550],"class_list":["post-398118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-alan-carr","tag-art","tag-banksy","tag-benidorm","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-food","tag-jimmy-edwards","tag-kate-moss","tag-madonna","tag-only-fools-and-horses","tag-rick-stein","tag-tracey-emin","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-vivienne-westwood"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=398118"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398118\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/398119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=398118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=398118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=398118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}