Folkestone has been crowned the best place to live in the south east of England, with Sunday Times judges gushing over its cool shops, excellent schools and transport links.

Our reporter Rhys Griffiths says it is a well-deserved accolade, but worries the soaring popularity of his hometown could eventually lead to locals being priced out…

So that's it, we've finally arrived. After years of breathless broadsheet features branding us the 'new Whitstable' or the 'new Brighton', Folkestone has been crowned the best place to live in the south east of England by The Sunday Times.

Having long been a cheerleader for my wonderful hometown, you would expect me to be delighted at this accolade, but I’ll freely admit to mixed emotions. Folkestone is brilliant, definitely one of the best places to live in Kent, but the best in the whole of the south east? Maybe, if you say so. But the transition from plucky upstart to established coastal hotspot comes with its own challenges.

Let’s start with the good news: here’s what the judges have to say about the town. Of course there’s the obligatory mention of our “eye-catching culture-led regeneration”. We’re praised for our “artists’ studios, the cool shops on the Old High Street”. And of course there’s “the chance to sip cocktails” down at the harbour. All the usual boxes ticked.

On a more prosaic level, the judges also note the town’s “impressive schools, state-of-the-art sports facilities and high-speed trains to London”. All in all a fine package, it isn’t hard to see why Folkestone has become something of a magnet for people looking to swap life in the city for a more laid-back yet still buzzy existence by the sea.

And yet I still have my concerns for how the next few years will play out, now we have become one of the go-to destinations for people to relocate to.

The transformation of the Creative Quarter and the harbour has been impressive. Sipping cocktails on the harbour arm is a wonderful way to spend a sunny summer’s day, but it is less of an attraction in the depths of winter when a bitter wind is whipping the drizzle into your face. Cool and quirky independent shops are fantastic, but walk away from the seafront and you’ll find a town centre that is facing the struggles plaguing high streets across the land. As for the high-speed trains, brilliant if you can afford them. But an annual season ticket for the commute to London will set you back more than £8,000. Ouch!

Then there’s the effect on house prices. Much has been made of the high-rise development at Shoreline and the planned Leas Pavilion, with their multi-million pound properties priced way beyond the reach of the average resident on an average wage. But the new-found fashionable status of Folkestone is having a dramatic impact across the board.

According to Land Registry data, in March 2014 the average price of a property in Folkestone stood at £186,227. By August 2023 that figure had peaked at £343,808, and despite a small dip since then it looks like that number will start ticking up again. It’s great news for those of us lucky enough to have already clambered onto the ladder, but tricky for those younger generations looking to secure a home in the community they have been brought up in.

This is where my concerns really kick in. Be in no doubt that the turnaround in Folkestone’s fortunes in the last few years has been an overall win for the town. But we’re no longer at the stage where Folkestone is ‘up and coming’ – we’ve arrived. The challenge now is to ensure that the community doesn’t become too deeply divided between the haves and the have nots.

Data from the Office for National Statistics shows that in 2019, 14.5% of the population of the Folkestone and Hythe district was classed as ‘income-deprived’. Of the 67 neighbourhoods in the district, 14 were among the poorest 20% in England.

Last year, when the town was similarly crowned the best place to live in Kent, I toured one of Folkestone’s most deprived neighbourhoods – just a stone’s throw from those cool shops and cocktail bars – and saw for myself the challenges that persist. In an enduring cost-of-living crisis, those pricey drinks, quirky boutiques and soaring house prices will seem little consolation to those on the outside looking in.

All of this is to say that there is a delicate balance to be struck here. During the years in which Folkestone dusted itself down and tarted itself up, there may have been some unease at the way things were going – change is always going to be unsettling. But there was still a sense that the rising tide was, by and large, going to lift all boats with it.

The vast majority of the newcomers, in my experience, loved Folkestone for what it is – a slightly ramshackle and faded old seaside town with an awful lot of potential. Will the next wave of new residents see the less polished side of the town as part of its charm, or will they be able to shut themselves off from it in their more exclusive enclaves? The divide could open up even further.

Who knows, maybe a decade from now Dover will be lauded as the 'new Folkestone'. By then perhaps the cool kids will be looking for a new place to gentrify after being priced out of the current DFLs' darling of the Kent coast. Because that's how it happens. One minute you're the plucky upstart, next you’re over-priced, over-developed and just over.