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This project successfully funded on 30th September 2025, you can still support them with a donation.
Thanet Smuggler Experience
Ramsgate, Kent, United Kingdom
£761
raised so far
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Aim
Finish the Thanet Smuggler Experience, a self-guided interactive museum and tourist attraction in Ramsgate, Kent
We are Plunder, a newly-opened bookshop, publisher, and pirate-themed tea room in Ramsgate High Street, on the coast of Kent. Launched on a wing and a prayer (or a shanty and a bottle of rum), we have created a space we hope is welcoming, interesting, and fun, and have done so entirely from our own pockets. The final part to complete is the Thanet Smuggler Experience, which is something between a museum and a walk-through interactive installation. Imagine a small museum that ends up being the Goonies and you're on the right lines! We have built a lot but have a little way to go to finish it, and we have spent everything we have, so we need your help.
We are offering tickets to the Smuggler Experience which can be purchased in advance, surprise books and bags of booty, plus special rewards for those looking to support further. It will all help, and the sooner we finish, the faster we can open the Experience!
Plunder is a joint venture by Seb Reilly, Editor of Seaside Gothic, and Melissa Todd, author and columnist. Between us we have invested thousands of pounds and hours of work, and we have done it all without any external funding or outside investment. We have maintained our integrity throughout, crafting a space that is both consistent and surprising. This is no ordinary bookshop or tea room!
The Smuggler Experience is our most asked-about element, and we want it to be as good as everyone imagines it to be when we describe it. We have an exhibition space which will house artefacts including real cannonballs fired by pirates, model ships, a large diorama of local historical smuggling activity, and a row boat to sit in. We have a winding corridor of facts and fancies, with information about local smugglers and pirates, a giant ship's wheel to steer, and plenty to discover and learn.
We have built a smugglers' cave to honour the real ones that exist here, as the Isle of Thanet is one of the few places in the world which actually has real smugglers' caves and tunnels. We have the hold of a pirate ship to board and explore, and a smugglers' tavern to step into. We are incorporating interactive elements and exhibits, and we want this to be a fantastic tourist attraction that brings people to Ramsgate.
When we moved in, 25% of shops in Ramsgate were empty. That was so much higher than the national average it made news headlines. We believe Ramsgate, and the Isle of Thanet, deserve better than businesses fleeing to leave boarded-up shop fronts. We want people to discover the wonders of this place, and we are investing everything we have into what has been known as a dead high street locally. We are opening a door to a new era. To do that, we need some help. Come aboard. Join our crew. Hoist the colours.
Funding method
Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made