Crab Museum

The Crab Museum sits on the first floor of the Pie Factory building in Margate’s Old Town. Above it, the ground floor runs as an art gallery, while below Broad Street hums with Margate’s mix of visitors and locals. The museum has no crab experts on its team, only three founders who chose crabs after considering slugs, worms or hexagons. Their first artefact arrived as a 150-million-year-old shrimp fossil donated before the doors opened in 2021. Since then the space has grown from a blank room to a place where crabs appear in period costumes and cartoon drawings. The founders use humour and philosophy to link crabs with global politics and everyday objects like fidget spinners. Artist Ed Stockham created absurdist displays, including a diorama of three crab species dressed for the 1926 general strike. Visitor numbers jumped from about 20,000 in 2022 to roughly 80,000 in 2023, making it Margate’s highest-rated attraction. In 2023 the team began preservation courses to qualify for government grants and prepare a new roof garden planned for 2025. Inside, crabs appear in costumes, cartoons and unexpected contexts, while outside the museum sits among Margate’s independent shops and galleries. Events range from conservation festivals to joke competitions judged by comedians such as Rose Matafeo and Phil Wang. Pride exhibitions and talks by Robin Ince show how the space links ecology, comedy and social themes. A children’s book on the evolution of bottoms followed in 2025, continuing the museum’s playful approach to learning.