Margate Bookshop event

6th November 2025

Fort Road Hotel Bar

Author Holly Smith discusses her new book Up in the Air, a panoramic human history of high-rise council housing in Britain at the Fort Road Hotel Bar

7pm - 9pm

In conversation with Dan Thompson, author Holly Smith discusses the story of Britain’s multistorey council housing from its beginnings to the present day.

Across the decades, the high rise has symbolised the welfare state for better or worse. Holly Smith takes the residents’ perspective, capturing the human side of high-rise Britain. Interrogating the complex inheritance of mid-century urban reconstruction, Smith shows how these buildings became a crucible in which the welfare state was shaped and reimagined.

The wonderful Fort Road Hotel host these meet-ups in their basement bar with a delicious selection of drinks and snacks.

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