Dane John Gardens reopens!

We are pleased to say the Dane John Gardens has fully reopened today (Friday 1 May) – and the park is looking sensational in the spring sunshine!

While the work is not quite finished – more on that below – we are now in a position where the remaining elements of the project can be completed with the park open.

This is obviously really good news and just in time for what looks like a decent weekend of weather coming up.

So, what’s left to be done?

We still have some of the path resurfacing by the houses to complete. The main avenue is finished.

Work continues on the refurbishment of the lighting columns. Some have already been installed and the newly-cast columns have started to arrive.

The power supply cabinet still requires the electrics to be replaced, which will happen later this month.

This powers the lights and the fountain, so these will not be working straight away, but the temporary floodlighting will remain in place until the permanent lights are operational.

And work is nearing completion on the new cafe in the park, which has been built for the tenant to fit out as they wish. Therefore, this is not ready to open yet.

Discussions about the new cafe are underway with the owners of the Don Juan, who ran the unit before.

So while you can still expect to see some limited fencing up in places and workers going about the site completing the tasks listed above, the whole park, including the play area, is available for you to enjoy once more. The public toilets are also be open.

The previous arrangement of locking the park gates overnight, between 10pm and 4am, on Friday and Saturday nights, has been reinstated.

Everything is now building up to our fantastic day celebrating the completion of our transformation of the city’s public spaces with our free Canterbury Unlocked festival on Sunday 24 May.

The line up of events across locations including the Dane John, Westgate Square and the High Street, features:

• live music from Hullabaloo, The Native Oysters Band and Goblin Band
• The Great Escape aerial theatre performances at Westgate Square
• Folk Lore Kent’s Mayhem Fair at the Dane John Gardens complete with big top marquee, folk entertainment, live music and crafting and dance workshops
• food markets, pop-up bars and much more

For the full line up, visit canterburyunlocked.co.uk.

Published: 1 May 2026