{"id":401978,"date":"2026-02-01T08:02:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T08:02:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/401978\/"},"modified":"2026-02-01T08:02:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T08:02:13","slug":"madonna-says-margate-is-her-idea-of-heaven-heres-what-won-her-over","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/401978\/","title":{"rendered":"Madonna says Margate is \u2018her idea of heaven\u2019 \u2014 here\u2019s what won her over"},"content":{"rendered":"

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When the Queen of Pop called the Kentish town of Margate <\/a>her \u201cidea of heaven\u201d, I knew I had to see it for myself.<\/p>\n

Stepping off the train after an 80-mile trip from London, I was immediately met by a riot of murals, thoughtful graffiti and street art.<\/p>\n

With its dense concentration of studios, galleries and grassroots creative spaces, it is clear art does not just exist here, it\u2019s woven into the town\u2019s fabric.<\/p>\n

That may help explain why Madonna<\/a> has become a regular presence on the southeast coast<\/a>. Her latest visit coincided with Margate<\/a>\u2019s Off Season winter art festival, where the Material Girl singer appeared in support of her friend Dame Tracey Emin.<\/p>\n

\"Madonna<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Madonna posted a series of pictures of her trip to Margate on Instagram (Instagram\/@madonna)<\/p>\n

Maxi Bopp was one of the many artists involved in the weekend of exhibitions and events<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cA lot of people were quite shocked to find out Madonna was here, but what was more shocking and exciting was seeing the post that she made about Margate, sharing her feelings about the town. It very much felt like she was here to enjoy and support the culture.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s special that she came, but it\u2019s also not surprising. It\u2019s deserved, what\u2019s happening here is really special, and it\u2019s great that people are noticing that. The energy is here and people are throwing together shows, making things happen, and I think that\u2019s what she\u2019s picking up on \u2013 this energetic curiosity and spontaneity that Margate really offers at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

But it isn\u2019t just the art that has drawn Madonna to Margate. She also appears to be developing a taste for the town\u2019s food scene \u2013 particularly one standout Italian gem. <\/p>\n

Both times she\u2019s dined at Cantina Caruso<\/a>, the sister restaurant to Bottega Caruso, a small restaurant specialising in authentic Italian cuisine.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

The Queen of Pop with her friend and artist Tracey Emin (Instagram\/@madonna)<\/p>\n

Opened eight years ago by Simona Di Dio and her partner Harry Ryder, it is inspired by the food, recipes and wines from Simona\u2019s hometown, Foglianise, a small village an hour away from Naples.<\/p>\n

Speaking about the singer\u2019s visit, Simona said: \u201cMy children love Madonna, so when my son heard she was coming, he said, \u2018Can I be there with you?\u2019 He was serving, putting things on the table.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt felt like a really lovely family and friends [event], sitting at a big table, eating together and chatting. It felt really unusually relaxed. It was an amazing experience.”<\/p>\n

Madonna\u2019s visits have put Margate in the spotlight, but she is not the only famous face to frequent the town.<\/p>\n

\u201cMadonna is not the only A-list celebrity we have,\u201d says Thanet District councillor Kristian Bright. \u201cI actually came out of a council meeting a couple weeks ago and nearly bumped into Rami Malek who was jogging. I think it\u2019s because we\u2019ve got that really cool, edgy, up-and-coming feel to the district.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cllr Bright believes Madonna\u2019s visit was driven by Margate\u2019s flourishing arts scene, which has thrived over the past 15 to 20 years. <\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

The singer leant her support to the local art scene (Instagram\/@madonna)<\/p>\n

\u201cDame Tracey Emin has brought into the district a lot of that enthusiasm for the town and the culture,\u201d Cllr Bright says. \u201cWe\u2019ve also got the Turner Contemporary, which is standing on the hotel from which JMW Turner learnt how to paint in the early 1900s. So, Margate has an incredibly deep connection with the arts.”<\/p>\n

And the town could be propelled even further into the spotlight with a potential bid for UK City of Culture 2029.<\/p>\n

Cllr Bright explains: \u201cOur local MP, Polly Billington, is working with Dame Tracey Emin on potentially putting in a bid for the UK City of Culture \u2013 we\u2019re going to call it the \u2018UK Isle of Culture\u2019, going across Thanet.\u201d<\/p>\n

And as Madonna wrote in her tribute to the Kentish town: \u201cIt\u2019s good to share something in the news that is not about hatred and killing, but instead celebrates human connection and art\u2019s ability to elevate and bring people together.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":401979,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[96,128,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-401978","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-music","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401978","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=401978"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401978\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/401979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=401978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=401978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=401978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}