Emma Corrin reveals their low-key life of boutique coffee shops and beachfront saunas after moving to Margate –  as The Crown star becomes the latest celebrity to fall in love with ‘Shoreditch-On-Sea’

Fish and chip suppers, vintage carnival rides and car boot sales rarely attract the Hollywood elite – just don’t tell Emma Corrin. 

The British star is the latest in a growing line of celebrities to share an unlikely appreciation for the Kent coastline, notably Margate and its assortment of restaurants and boutique coffee shops. 

Corrin, 30, best known for their portrayal of the late Diana, Princess of Wales in Netflix drama The Crown, relocated to the coastal town from London in 2023 and has since become immersed in Margate life. 

‘I really love it,’ they told Jessie and Lennie Ware’s Table Manners podcast of the town and their favourite local haunts. 

‘Curve Coffee is amazing. It’s adjacent to the town, just above the high street, in a little square. Curve does the best Kimchi toastie you will ever try, it’s so good.’ 

Such is the pull of Margate among curious creatives, the town has been playfully nicknamed ‘Shoreditch-On-Sea’ after the notorious hipster enclave in east London. 

But Corrin says they steer clear of nights out in the English capital, preferring instead the close proximity of restaurants and bars on her doorstep.  

‘I’m really bad at eating out in London, I never do it,’ they said. ‘In Margate I do it, because everything’s really close. 

‘Where I always go is High Dive. They started with a tiny little place, on the harbour arm, and it’s tacos and enchiladas and stuff like that. It’s so good. They do the most insane spicy margaritas.’ 

The British star, currently involved in a long-term relationship with Oscar-winning actor Rami Malek, has also taken advantage of the town’s communal activities – among them a coastal sauna.  

‘They’ve got this thing in Margate called the Sea Scrub Sauna – you’ve got these barrels with cold water in, and you’re right on the beach,’ they said. 

‘One of the saunas is wood, one is electric, and the electric one just has glass, so it’s just you and the sea. It’s really amazing.

‘The other day I was there and it was really windy, and we were watching these kite surfers. They must have been super pro, and they were doing these flips and stuff over the tidal pool. I was like, wow.’ 

But Corrin isn’t the only star to fall for Margate’s charms, with pop legend Madonna recently calling the town her ‘idea of heaven.’ 

Paying homage to the town in an Instagram post, she wrote: ‘Whenever I go there, I feel like I’ve entered a dream.’

Madonna, the best selling female recording artist of all time, told how she had visited Margate a number of times and said: ‘The whole town seems to be inhabited and energised by creativity.

‘On top of all that, I get to eat at my favourite Italian restaurant which I’m not giving anyone the name of because then everyone’s going to go there and it only has one table!!’

That restaurant is Cantina Caruso, a small family-run deli that serves a delicious tiramisu, which is one of Madonna’s favourite dishes, we can reveal.

The restaurant – which has just one table – has also been hailed by Masterchef host Grace Dent as having ‘possibly some of the best Italian food in modern Britain’.

In her love letter to Margate the queen of pop, 67, posted a series of photographs of herself out and about in the coastal town on Instagram, saying it was good to share something that was ‘not about hatred and killing’ but which celebrated ‘human connection – and the ability that art had to elevate people and to bring people together’.

The American singer seemed in little doubt about who she believed was responsible for turning around the fortunes of the formerly neglected town – her long-standing close friend Tracey Emin.

The artist, now Dame Tracey, is one of Margate’s most famous residents who has herself frequently championed her hometown.

In her post to her 20million followers this week, Madonna described Emin as ‘a pearl’ and ‘a precious necklace around a seaside town in England called Margate’.

She went on: ‘I have known Tracey for 25 years and I have always been a fan of her extremely personal and provocative work. But what she has created in this community by the sea is quite remarkable’.

Madonna highlights her friend’s artist residency programme where she invites creators from around the world, who would otherwise have no place to go, to live and paint for several months – helping them to develop their talent and be part of ‘the many exhibitions which happen around Margate’.

This, she said, has led to the town being ‘energised by creativity’ with ‘writers, performance artists, photographers and painters’ flocking there.

Originally a small fishing village, its popularity grew in the Victorian era when the wealthy arrived on paddle-ships to escape the smog-filled capital and when many of its grand hotels and homes were built.

It was Margate that established the tradition of donkey rides way back in 1790 and was the first seaside resort in Britain to introduce deckchairs on the beach in 1898.

For decades it continued to flourish with crowds of holidaymakers annually flocking to the resort – until the arrival of the cheap package holiday.

Seduced by the prospect of guaranteed sun in seemingly exotic locations, Britons began flying off abroad instead and Margate, like other British seaside towns, began to fall into an alarming decline.