Pugin Studios at The Granville Hotel

It's time to save Kent's heritage and we're doing it one step at a time! We're starting with 'Pugin Studios'.

The Vision for Pugin Studios

In recent decades, many of Thanet’s unique heritage assets and landmarks have fallen into disrepair and have been lost forever as community spaces. Ramsgate alone has lost dozens of iconic venues. Heritage Lab is bidding to change this and now needs YOUR help, to get its flagship project open for the public to enjoy next year.

Heritage Lab has launched a crowd funding appeal to raise a minimum £25,000 to bring the Granville back to life as a thriving community and arts hub. Thanks to a generous grant from the Architectural Heritage Fund, for every £1 given by the public, the Architectural Heritage Fund will match it, pound for pound up to a total of £25,000, helping us to hit our £50,000 target!

Heritage Lab’s project- 'Pugin Studios' - is inspired by Edward Welby Pugin, the famous Ramsgate architect who designed & built the Granville Hotel in 1867.

Our vision is that the Granville Bars will once again be a thriving community space with a  restored former ballroom, theatre and bar for uses such as hospitality, exhibitions, performances, interpretation space, community events and conferences. The lower ground floor will see artist studios and co-working spaces. Read about it here. 

Heritage Lab CIC have already secured a £300,000 grant from the UK’s Government's Community Ownership Fund and a further £77,300 from The Architectural Heritage Fund towards buying the lease of the building. 

We now need your support towards phase 1 of the project to bring the ballroom & bars area back into community use and open a creative hub for local artists. 

Why Now:

We are crowdfunding as we have received a Match funding challenge grant of £25,000 from the Architectural Heritage Fund. Our Crowdfunder target is to raise £50,000. 

For every £1 you pledge, the Architectural Heritage Fund will match it, pound for pound. If we raise £25,000, AHF will match it with £25,000, meaning £50,000 could be raised!

Three ways to get involved:

1. Pledge money in return for a variety of rewards. You will see them on this page and they're our way of saying thank you for your support.

2. Spread the word. We need to reach as many people as possible and tell them about this fantastic community project so share the page on your social media pages.

3. Can you help with rewards? If you are a local business, or know someone with one, get in touch and play a part in what we're doing with rewards. This is a community effort and we would love as many people in Ramsgate to get involved. 

Rewards:

We have a number of rewards up for grabs in this crowdfunding campaign from limited edition prints to VIP access, naming rights, limited edition postcards and more. 

Make sure to stay tuned with our crowdfunding for more rewards and exciting updates.

Where is the money we raise going:

This funding is for phase 1 of the project and will go towards buying the lease and the building words to get parts of the space open for the community.

On completion this project could provide support for up to 75 and 100 jobs and apprenticeships and provide a low cost and, where possible, zero cost venue for dozens of local community groups.

Thank you from us:

With your support, we can help save this historic Ramsgate landmark and part of the town’s history by bringing the space back into community use for current and future generations to enjoy. Please consider making a pledge and playing an active role in saving this historical Ramsgate landmark!

We appreciate any support you can give to restore The Granville Hotel to its former glory for the future of Ramsgate.

Supporting regeneration in Ramsgate

We are really excited about this project and have plans to secure the remaining funding to purchase the lease and get the site open for summer 2023. In the unlikely event that circumstance beyond our control means that the project gets delayed or can't go ahead the funds will be protected and used to support another community regeneration project in Ramsgate.

Do you have a question or want to get involved?

Email us: [email protected] or become a member here.

Reward examples - what could you receive from us?

Just so you know, more rewards will be added throughout the duration of the crowdfunding campaign so make sure to stay up to date and get involved.