Part 1: Sir Roger De Haan – Is he or isn’t he gentrifying Folkestone?

“Anybody normal who had the opportunity to retire having sold Saga for one and half billion pounds in 2004, most normal people would have left and run a million miles to the Cayman Islands“, said Peter Betley, Sir Roger’s head of communications in 2011. But Sir Roger De Haan didn’t go offshore, he got into the regeneration of Folkestone. And ever since he has done so, he has caused controversy about his grand vision for Folkestone.

“He doesn’t understand the word No, and he doesn’t understand the word can’t” said Trevor “Ming the Merciless” Minter OBE DL in 2011. And he is a man who certainly “puts his money where his mouth is, and he’s a doer” said the former Leader of KCC Sir Paul Carter.

These are just  a number of quotes about Sir Roger De Haan in 2011.

Love him or loathe him, Sir Roger De Haan’s money has changed Folkestone. His Harbour group of companies, The Roger De Haan Charitiable Trust (RDHCT), of which he is the Chair, and Creative Folkestone; which is a charity, chaired by Sir Roger, and it is a company as well, polarize opinion, but without his cash, Folkestone would be a totally different place. 

Recently Sir Roger was interviewed by KMTV’s Oliver Leonard who asked him if he was “trying to gentrify Folkestone“. Sir Roger’s response was “No! No I don’t think so.” He goes onto say “It’s a sort of gentrification because the houses on the seafront are going to be pretty pricey.”

So we decided to take a look at a man who “puts his money where his mouth is”, and leave you to decide, if his plans which began in 2002, have “gentrified” Folkestone.

Since 2003 the RDHCT has acquired and refurbished £48.4m worth of properties in what is known as the Creative Quarter, which compromises the Old High Street & Tontine Street. As of April 2022, the project was almost complete. The Land Registry says there are 83 building in total owned, or leased by the RDHCT

Of course, more than £5m has been spent on properties but the Land Registry does not always record the price.

The properties are then granted long leases and passed over to The Creative Folkestone (TCF) at a peppercorn rent. TCF then rent these refurbed properties at “affordable rents” to artists, education providers and a wide range of creative and other organisations.

On August 24, 2004, Sir Roger purchased Folkestone Harbour for £11m, from Sea Containers Ltd, then slowly began to invest into refurbing the port opening the Harbour Arm in late 2015. The Harbour Arm renovation cost £3.5m

On the 24 April 2007, Folkestone Harbour Nominee (1) Ltd purchased the former Rotunda site from Jimmy Gooden for £21,339,500, according to the land registry. At the time of purchase Sir Roger was the owner of the company by virtue of his ownership of Folkestone Harbour (GP) Ltd, who was the sole shareholder of Folkestone Harbour Nominee (1) Ltd.

Four days after purchasing the former Rotunda site, Folkestone was shaken to its foundations. At 8am, an earthquake measuring 4.2 on the Richter scale struck just off the coast, cutting power to thousands of homes, leaking gas into the streets, evacuating hundreds and closing schools. 

From the outset of Sir Roger’s idea to regenerate Folkestone in 2002, there have been people for and against his proposals. This is still the case today, 21 years later. 

In Feb 2008, less than a year after sir Roger had purchased the Habour, Retired RAF officer David Simpson, a Folkestone resident for more than 40 years, informed Catherine Shoard of the Financial Times, “Folkestone is going to the dogs,”

Nick Ewbank, then Sir Roger’s right hand man informed the FT, “It’s an experiment in how far you can push the boundaries of the arts in affecting socio- and economic regeneration. I think it will work. But you never know.”

Others included in the FT article were more sceptical. “Nobody goes to Gateshead to see the ‘Angel of the North’,” says David Lee, editor of modern arts magazine Jackal. “It’s just something you glance at on the way. Visitors simply aren’t drawn by modern art, and locals will only get the most infinitesimal benefit. It’s all bluster to get lottery funding.”

Ex-mayor Janet Andrews, a long-time resident of Folkestone’s less wealthy east end and a former member of the Saga catering staff wouldn’t hear a word against De Haan, but did say plenty, mostly unprintable, about the people she believes surrounded him at the time.

Local history enthusiast Brian McBride, said in Feb 2008: “these ideas, and the people suggesting them, are alien. Second, we’ve learnt that these changes are often transient, and that what’s promised isn’t always delivered. After the newcomers have left, the locals are left to sort out the mess.”

“Folkestone will be transformed,” said Paul Rennie, who owns a shop in the Old High Street, “but it will be transformed by the railway. Roger De Haan …is a good man and a good landlord but Folkestone will realise its potential anyway. It only needs a little push; in fact, it’s going to get the most enormous kick.”

And as Paul Rennie claimed in 2008, HS1 has had a major impact on Folkestone. Prior to its arrival in 2009, per square foot prices were languishing around the £160 – £170 mark. Now they have doubled, and are on average around the £320 – £340 mark. Doubling in the last 15 years. Lets not forget, Sir Roger along with Lord Howard and former SDC Leader Cllr Rory Love, lobbied for HS1 to come to Folkestone. Sir Roger even mentions HS1 has “helped enormously” since its arrival in 2009.

We’ll leave the article here for now.

In part 2 we’ll move forward in time and see how much has been spent by Sir Roger’s companies and his charities on helping the HS1 effect. We’ll see if his millions have been responsible for the gentrification of Folkestone. Oh an we’ll see if the town has unified behind his idea of regeneration, or whether it remains a town of two halves.

The Shepway Vox Team

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