The Old Cottage, Margate
Many visitors to Margate will be familiar with the sight of the eye-catching Old Cottage pub which has been closed since 2007 and is at the lower end of the High Street opposite the Fez. It was bought by David and Denise Gorton in 2009 and seems to have had building works going on ever since.
So, what’s happening, what’s happened? Is it opening? Well, it won’t be opening in 2025 but the goal is set for a 2026 opening.
The Brewery.
In the basement is a ten-barrel capacity brewery which can produce 360 gallons or 2,880 pints per brew, potentially three times a day. This seems pretty large for a brew pub but David explained that “strictly speaking it is not a “brew pub”. Because in planning terms, that would mean producing beer “ancillary to the pub business”. This brewery can and will operate separately and entirely independently”. In kitting out the brewery due to constrains of access he said he realised that starting out smaller would be problematic because if later it was to expand in capacity there would be access problems getting extra tanks in the cellar, adding “We can brew a colossal amount of beer here, a bit like a mini Gadds.”. For tax and duty purposes the brewery is a stand-alone business meaning external sales to other venues will be easier. This part of the business is registered as The Margate Brewery Ltd and David intends to get his beers into other pubs, adding that in addition to their regular beers they will be able to offer other venues their own uniquely designed beers which would include custom-developed brewing yeasts. These beers would not be sold to any other outlets or customers, even his own.
In addition to serving their own beers in the pub there will be occasional guests. Beers from their brewery will be dispensed via tanks containing large beer-bags as well as casks. David explained that his beer “will go through a secondary fermentation and conditioning in the tanks, the same as it would in the more traditionally transportable casks. The advantage being, less ullage and air never comes into contact with the beer, until the moment it drops into your glass.”. These dispense tanks are now in place over the ground floor bar and from there up to three of their four beers will go through a beer font to customers’ glasses. That said, David is also readying self-service points where a card is bought at the bar which then allows customers to access the beer at a special tap and essentially pour it themselves. This is in a section slightly away from the bar and by the upstairs bar. David will not be particularly involved with the actual brewing as this is not his background but has a professional brewmaster from Germany lined up who will be employed to ensure quality production.
But is it Real Ale?
It may be asked will this be real ale then? CAMRA’s Definition of Real Ale (2022) has two separate definitions:
Live beer: CAMRA defines a live beer as any that when first put into its final container contains at least 0.1 million cells of live yeast per millilitre, plus enough fermentable sugar to produce a measurable reduction in its gravity while in that container, whatever it may be.
Cask conditioned beer: CAMRA defines a cask-conditioned beer as a live beer that continues to mature and condition in its cask, any excess of carbon dioxide being vented such that it is served at atmospheric pressure.
From these definitions it is generally accepted that non-pasteurised, non-artificially carbonated beers dispensed via beer-bags in tanks, although not cask conditioned, are real ale.
Building Development.
The planning permission side of this whole project has been long and complex as one might expect with a listed building, the cottage part mainly at the back being from 1650 and the High Street part from the 1750s plus, the centre section is yet a third building, constructed in about 1850. all presenting their own significant challenges. As mentioned the brewery is The Margate Brewery Ltd, but the pub itself is likely to be called “Gorton’s Cottage” although it is registered as The Old Cottage Pub Ltd which incidentally will also have two self- contained flats upstairs rooms for letting as another strand of the business.
David’s background is 24 years as a fireman and latterly a business man concerned with property and renovations, indeed much of the building work he has undertaken himself. He admits these works are taking a little while (11 years plus) but says that he wants all parts of the building completed to a really high standard with the correct planning and building permissions. Obviously much work has been done by commercial trades-people such as the electric and gas supply plus a frequent reliance on his structural engineer, not least when the pathway at the side of the building began to subside into the cellar leading to a court case brought by Thanet Council alleging obstruction of a public highway. The case was found not proved and David was found not guilty.
Over the past few years the building has endured attempted break-ins, plus the theft of outside lanterns which David subsequently saw for sale in a local pawn shop but was able to have returned. In early 2025 David left his front door and fell into an un-barricaded road works dug literally on his doorstep on the High Street. He was unaware it was there as they had been away on holiday and had arrived at night to return to their flat upstairs via the side door. He was knocked unconscious from the fall and lay there on live cables in the rain for some time until removed by the fire service. and taken to hospital.
David & Denise.
On more pleasant matters – David explained “We’re re-designing a vintage piano for the pub. We like fusing the modern with the traditional. All the box and sound boards have been got rid of and its strings will be placed upright and protected by Perspex, the hammers hitting the strings will not produce much volume without the original huge box and sound board so each note will be picked up by a graphic equalizer and re-modulated to produce as near authentically perfect, as possible piano sound via hidden speakers. This piano will not be on legs but will be attached to the wall with brackets with much of its original metalwork gilded in 24ct gold-leaf. Also, we have a warehouse behind B&Q in which we keep things associated with the building and renovation work, this includes our 1924 vintage classic Riley van. This van (he joked – or was he serious? It looked quite small) will be our delivery vehicle.” The photo he showed us on his phone was of a beautifully maintained truck with a conspicuous beer tank on the back apparently due to be sign written.
The thing that stands out from meeting David and Denise is their ambition, tenacity and humour. With them having lived above what is a building site for much of the time, once this project is complete and that’s both the building and the business launch, I’m sure they will spend their time just admiring it and moving from space to space in this beautifully renovated building, and of course we as customers we will be able to as well.