The first thing you notice about Modern Love isn’t the bar. It’s the enormous window, stretching the full width and almost the entire height of the room, framing Margate’s ever-changing sea and sky. When Broadsheet visits, the palette is all chalky blues, light spilling inside to catch shell-pink walls, accents of green and purple, polished chrome and honeyed wood. Modern Love is also the opening track on Bowie’s 1983 album Let's Dance, owner Jen Riley tells Broadsheet.
Riley has just moved to Margate after more than a decade in Paris, first behind the bar at the much-loved Red House in the 11th arrondissement, and then opening Sister Midnight – the queer-friendly Pigalle institution that regularly tops lists of the city’s best bars – with her partner Joe Boley. Shaped by the neighbourhood’s musical history, drag scene and wonderfully camp sensibility, Sister Midnight is a bar that couldn’t exist anywhere else. Riley clearly has form when it comes to creating neighbourhood bars, places that feel inseparable from the communities around them. But how easily can building that sense of place travel to a British seaside town? And specifically Cliftonville, a coastal spot near Margate’s town centre known for its quirky cafes, record shops, vintage emporiums and thriving creative community?
One of the first things she changed when redesigning the space in Margate wasn’t the bar or the lighting, but the seating. Every spot in the bar is now angled towards the giant view of the sea, “well, what else would you want to look at?" Riley says.
Looking down the cocktail list, the drinks sit around £10 to £12 and there’s space for beers, wines and non-alcoholic creations that don’t feel like an afterthought. A £6 mini Martini is served for anyone who's never tried one before. “Why should someone have to spend £12 just to find out they don't like a Martini?” Riley says.
The house cocktail, Modern Love, arrives the colour of a late Margate sunset: strawberry-infused Aperol, coconut fat-washed tequila, prosecco and a juicy green olive perched improbably on top. Its counterpart, Peaches, takes a quieter approach: milk-clarified with white peach, tarragon and Lillet, the painstaking clarifying technique leaves the drink silky, fragrant and beautifully balanced. Beside them a plate of creamy Bleu d'Auvergne is accompanied by a satisfyingly smoky harissa, made by the mother of the couple’s greengrocer in Paris and carried back across the Channel along with the best parts of French apéro culture: shared plates, great conversation and every excuse to linger.
“I think people can forget that we’re bartenders,” Riley says. “It’s a verb. You tend the bar. You tend the people in front of you. You make sure they’re comfortable. You make sure they're having a good time.”
Aside from a few pieces nodding to the pair’s Paris heritage, the walls of the bar are mostly bare. “We’'re not trying to arrive with a finished product,” Riley says. Instead, she hopes they’ll gradually fill with work by local artists, giving the space the freedom to become whatever the neighbourhood needs it to be.
Modern Love
19 Cliff Terrace, Margate CT9 1RU.
Hours:
Thu 4pm–10pm
Fri 4pm–11.30pm
Sat 1pm–11.30pm
Sun 2pm–6.30pm
