The other day, I stumbled across a video on Facebook of Margate in the mid-1980s. I was rather transfixed.

There’s no commentary, no one telling us what we’re seeing, nothing particularly exciting to witness (there’s not even a glimpse of Dreamland (or Bembom Brothers as it was back then), simply an opportunity to peer through the window of a lens to see how things were 40 years ago. You can see it for yourself if you scroll down.

I mention it because in the great ‘wasn’t everything better back in the day’ debates, 1980s Margate is often touted as something of a golden era; one which its current incarnation falls hopelessly short of, according to many.

In fact, the very mundanity of the six-minute film – scenes of people strolling around the high street, sitting on the beach, seagulls flapping, folk buying some shellfish from a ramshackle seaside stall – is where the magic lies.

It’s as authentic a piece of historic footage as you could wish.

Where every retail unit along the high street was filled with a shop serving the crowds which throng and spill off the pavements. It is a perfect vision of what all our town centres used to be like.

Those of us who remember the era will instantly recognise the make and models of the cars which can be spotted throughout; vehicles we thought were once so cutting edge today looking like they should live only in a museum.

There are also a few golden seconds where one of those little minibuses – which for a period were so popular with Kent bus companies – flashes past. I used to catch them almost daily in my youth. I’d almost completely forgotten about them.

The fashions and haircuts of yesteryear are all present and correct as are some other relics of the town’s past.

The rusting skeleton of its pier (or jetty as it was better known) can still be seen off-shore, decaying in the sun and salt water. It is an era before the steps which today link the promenade with the beach. As for the Turner Contemporary? The Ship Inn can be spotted sitting on the site the art gallery now occupies.

All of which begs a compare and contrast moment.

Was the town busier then than in the summer months today? Certainly, the high street had a vitality and function it can no longer lay claim to. But the beach and promenade is certainly no busier. Quieter even.

Worth noting, too, is its multicultural appeal is very much alive and well in the mid-80s. It provides something of a riposte to those who mutter under their breath or, more often, make snide comments on social media, that the ethnicity of the Margate visitor or resident has somehow changed over the years. This short clip demonstrates, once and for all, it hasn’t. It has long been part of Margate’s rich tapestry which makes for such a vibrant resort.

Indeed, it is the fact so much of the footage is so instantly recognisable that makes it all so refreshing. For all the changes it has gone through, it's only ever been a change of wardrobe rather than alternations to its very skeleton.

The Margate of 2024 is keeping the spirit of 40 years ago alive and kicking.