Although the football club was able to return to the stadium in 2005, redevelopment work is still at a very early stage, and many of the ground's facilities are still of a temporary nature.

[3] The local council had purchased the former grounds of Hartsdown House for public use and built a stadium which it was agreed the football club would lease, initially at a charge of £200 per year.

At around the same time the club added a new terrace next to the main stand, where supporters had previously stood on banked earth.

[4] A new covered terrace was installed at the Tivoli Park Avenue end of the ground in the late 1950s, officially named the Cornhill Stand but more usually known to fans as the Coffin End,[2] the name deriving from a prominent piece of graffiti which adorned its rear wall for many years.

[5][6] The club's first set of floodlights was erected in September 1959 and inaugurated with a friendly match against West Ham United.

The club moved out and the old stadium, which was constructed mainly from timber and corrugated iron,[8] was demolished in early 2003, but the local council disputed the plans submitted.

[14] Five years later, plans for the redevelopment of the north end of the ground, reportedly including the construction of a new terrace, a bar, and a three-storey hotel, were approved.

Club chairman Keith Piper also announced that companies had expressed interest in paying for the naming rights of individual stands or even the entire stadium.

[26] The highest attendance recorded for a Margate match at Hartsdown Park was 14,169 for the visit of Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Cup on 13 January 1973.