This iconic British seaside hotel is getting a £20 million revamp

In March, Time Out reported that cool Kentish seaside town Margate would soon get even hipper thanks to a new £1.1 million skatepark. Well, it turns out that’s not the only glow-up planned for the artsy hub. A fresh project to do up one of its most iconic buildings has been revealed.

The Nayland Rock Hotel is a Victorian-era landmark which overlooks the sea on Margate’s Royal Crescent. Just a couple of minutes’ walk from the train station, it’s a stone’s throw (well, a sizeable launch of a stone) from the town’s tidal swimming pool.

In its heyday, the Nayland Rock welcomed famous guests including TS Eliot, Charlie Chaplin and Mick Jagger. Its life as a hotel ended around 2008, at which time it entered a new era as a filming location for productions including Michael Caine’s King of Thieves and Killing Eve. Now, developers are hoping to make the Nayland Rock Hotel the star of the show once again.

Arcvelop and Brede Hotels have published plans for a £20 million revamp, which they describe as a ‘heritage-led regeneration project that restores one of Margate’s most significant seafront landmarks’.

Plans include building 50 flats, 16 short-stay apartments and a two-storey commercial unit. The Nayland Rock Hotel wouldn’t be the only building getting an overhaul, either. In papers sent to Thanet District Council, the developers said they want to convert the five adjoining properties that make up the hotel, as well as the next three buildings along Royal Crescent.

The restoration project would remove the existing ground-floor extension and reintroduce historic features like the hotel’s entrance pillars. Plus, the developers even want to add a new seafront restaurant to the building.

‘The integration of high-quality residential apartments, serviced accommodation, and a seafront restaurant ensures the building remains viable, vibrant, and connected to Margate’s growing cultural and tourism economy,’ developers said of the project, according to Kent Online.

As for next steps, it’s now up to Thanet Council to decide whether to give the developers the green light on the project. Arcvelop told Time Out that it anticipates work to start on the project later this year, with construction lasting 30 months.

Here’s our guide to the best things to do in Margate in 2026.

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