Folkestone

Grand Burstin Hotel Investigation: Britannia Hotels, Alexander Langsam and the Moravcik Trust

September 27, 2026 // 0 Comments

At 1.06am on Saturday 19 September 2026, Kent Fire and Rescue Service was called to the Grand Burstin Hotel in Folkestone. At the height of the incident, 26 fire engines and [...]

Grand Burstin Fire: How Hundreds Got Out Alive — and Why Folkestone’s Crisis Isn’t Over

September 24, 2026 // 2 Comments

Four days after flames and thick smoke poured from beneath Folkestone’s Grand Burstin Hotel, firefighters were back. At 8.36am on Wednesday, Kent Fire and Rescue Service [...]

Lower Leas Coastal Park Playground: How a £750,000 Budget Grew to More Than £1.38 Million

September 23, 2026 // 1 Comment

It was supposed to be a £750,000 playground. That was the budget Folkestone & Hythe District Council approved in May 2025 for the long-awaited replacement of the ageing [...]

Sunningdale House Collapse: The Folkestone Land Is Sold, but £13m in Subsidiary Debts Remains

September 21, 2026 // 0 Comments

£378,000 bought the land at Tram Road. It did not buy an end to the Sunningdale story. Buried in the sixth administrators’ progress report for Sunningdale House [...]

Folca 2 Planning Application: Two GP Surgeries Drawn In, Commercial Space To Let — But NHS Sign-Off Is Still Pending

September 15, 2026 // 0 Comments

Walk past Folca 2 on Sandgate Road today and there’s a fairly blunt message hanging from the scaffolding: “SUBSTANTIAL COMMERCIAL PREMISES – TO LET.” Behind that [...]

Petticoat Lane Emporium Folkestone: ‘No Refund’ Sign, £77,580 Loss and £246,787 Short-Term Creditors

August 30, 2026 // 1 Comment

“Sorry — NO REFUND — ALL SALES FINAL.” That’s the notice facing customers at Petticoat Lane Emporium. The photograph supplied to The Shepway Vox Team shows it [...]

John Logie Baird in Folkestone: Was It the Birthplace of Television?

August 14, 2026 // 0 Comments

A small wooden plaque inside 26 Guildhall Street is about to put Folkestone into an argument with history. On 3 September, local filmmaker Ben Barton will screen Is [...]

Folkestone Town Mayor Jackie Meade on Community, Charity and Civic Pride

August 6, 2026 // 0 Comments

Folkestone’s Town Mayor for 2026/27 talks to The Shepway Vox Team about unfinished business after Covid, residents priced out of the town’s success, unheard unpaid [...]

Why KCC’s Folkestone Library Footfall Comparison Is Nonsense: Grace Hill v Sandgate Road

July 23, 2026 // 0 Comments

Brian Collins arrived at KCC’s Cabinet meeting brandishing two figures as though he’d just cracked the Enigma code. Grace Hill library received 4,613 visits in June 2022; [...]

Ship Street Folkestone: Enabling Costs Could Reach £1.43m as Land Value Remains Hidden

July 20, 2026 // 0 Comments

Open Folkestone & Hythe District Council’s latest Ship Street report and one detail does all the talking: a blank where the developer’s calculated land value should [...]

Folkestone A Brighter Future: £22m Project Delayed by at Least 17 Months

July 16, 2026 // 0 Comments

Folkestone & Hythe District Council says Folkestone – A Brighter Future is now “80% complete”. It’s a neat little figure, polished until it shines: the sort of [...]

Leas Pavilion Folkestone: £4m Hole, Receivers And Vanishing Buyers Leave Rescue On The Brink

July 2, 2026 // 0 Comments

The latest Friends Of The Leas Pavilion meeting points to a Leas Pavilion scheme that isn’t easing back to life, but wobbling badly: the historic fabric is said to be safe, [...]

FHDC Housing Account: Millions Unspent on Council Homes

June 26, 2026 // 0 Comments

Folkestone & Hythe District Council’s council-housing account ended 2025/26 with a much bigger reserve than expected. That’s the good news. The less comfortable [...]

Folkestone & Hythe District Council Spent Less, Delivered Less, But Borrowed More

June 25, 2026 // 1 Comment

Folkestone & Hythe District Council’s capital programme ended 2025/26 with a headline underspend of £3.649m, but that doesn’t mean the council simply saved money. [...]

Folkestone Tennis Courts: Historic Davis Cup Town Faces Public Access Gap

June 11, 2026 // 0 Comments

As Queen’s gets under way and Wimbledon looms, Folkestone doesn’t lack tennis history. It doesn’t even lack tennis courts. What it lacks is the simple thing that [...]

Folca: The £5.6m Former Debenhams Bill and the 25-Year Payback Question

May 29, 2026 // 0 Comments

Folkestone & Hythe District Council bought the former Debenhams building in May 2020 for £2.05m. Six years later, the public trail points to at least £2.419m paid or [...]

Folkestone Town Centre Plan: Can New Markets Bring Shoppers Back?

May 28, 2026 // 3 Comments

A new Town Centre Operating Model aims to turn Folkestone’s public-realm works into a living, trading, event-filled town centre. Scrutiny councillors liked the idea, but [...]

Folkestone Folca 1 Flats Approved as Council-Owned Building Sale Questions Remain

May 21, 2026 // 0 Comments

Folkestone’s former Debenhams has taken another step out of limbo. On Tuesday evening, Folkestone & Hythe District Council’s Planning and Licensing Committee approved [...]

Lib Dems And Greens Break Martello Lakes Pool Promise

May 18, 2026 // 0 Comments

The Liberal Democrats said they’d “immediately start work” on a swimming pool at Martello Lakes. The Greens said the Conservatives could have built one there by now. [...]

Folkestone Folca 1 Flats Plan: Planning Law and Noise Risks

May 15, 2026 // 2 Comments

Folca 1 is heading towards retail and flats, not the medical centre once promised. But this isn’t a normal planning application. It’s a narrow Class MA prior approval [...]

Section 21 Eviction: When Missing Landlord Paperwork Can Stop Possession

May 6, 2026 // 0 Comments

A Folkestone tenant facing a steep rent rise and a no-fault eviction notice may have more protection than the landlord appears to think There’s an old truth in housing law: [...]

New Folkestone Society Chair Matthew Jones on Heritage, Regeneration and Folkestone’s Future

May 5, 2026 // 3 Comments

A conversation with Matthew Jones, Chair of the New Folkestone Society, with Tony Quarrington also joining the discussion, on Folkestone’s past, present and future — from [...]

Folkestone’s Got Its Hat On

May 1, 2026 // 0 Comments

There are days when Folkestone can look like it’s had a hard paper round. We know the issues. We write about them often enough. Empty shops. Rough sleeping. Public money [...]

Epstein Files: Folkestone Reference Leads to Turner Painting, Not Local Scandal

April 27, 2026 // 0 Comments

The Jeffrey Epstein files are not entertainment. They’re part of the public record of a man accused and prosecuted by US prosecutors of sexually exploiting and abusing [...]

Folkestone’s Grace Hill Library Rescue: Who Pays the Bill?

April 26, 2026 // 0 Comments

Nearly three years after campaigners stood outside Grace Hill demanding that Folkestone Library be repaired, retained and reopened, the building has been saved from the [...]

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