04/07/2026
Dear All,
It is with much sadness, that this appears to be our last season at the Tollgate Kiosk.
We overcome the issues we had when we took the kiosk over. We kept it looking decorative and spent quite a bit in protecting the wood. We were to bring out a new set of furniture this year and even our 8ft inflatable wavy arm, to prevent our advertising being on the railings. These are merely a dream. In the early years we would be open for the fireworks on New Year’s Eve, but these are now non existent. Two of our major suppliers have gone bust, this meant we lost discounts and with the increase in wages it was becoming more and more difficult to break even. It now takes selling 40 magnums to pay an hours wages. For most of our tenancy we were told we were unable to offer live entertainment or speakers offering their Ramsgate merchandise. This year, it seems we can apply for an entertainment license, but who is going to give up an hour or 2 for nothing. We cannot crowdfund and 5 attempts to obtain staff from the job centre to offer work experience was ignored. However, we do have a good team to keep us going. If this was not enough, many may know that my husband has not been at the kiosk since 2018, he loved to wave at the open top and give the driver a bottle of water. My own health is now also a matter of concern, so if we have to let the kiosk go, where do we put the equipment.
We opened a shop to help offer more choice but this has failed. We are desperate for somewhere in the centre of town to continue to be able to showcase our bespoke handmade gifts, Ramsgate memberobila and vintage items. The best we have found is a £1000 a month.
All I can ask is if any of our loyal customers could make a couple more visits and if anybody knows of a suitable shop then perhaps they can message me, as a matter of urgency.
The kiosk will need to be vacated by mid September, if we are unable to stay. Unless anyone has a brilliant idea in the next few days which would mean we could stay.
The shop would need to be vacated by mid November. If we could find a shop to match our rent then we could probably find 6 months deposit and hope this would be a long term dream.
So bringing this to the end we would like to thank each and everyone who has supported us over the last
11 years and anyone with any ideas for us to keep our dreams alive please contact me. I cannot do anything physical I have even bought a automatic potato peeler as this was even tiring me out and I cannot give Darron a sharp knife.
