By the Kent Event Centre Events Team. Written from the Kent Showground at Detling, near Maidstone, where the interiors of Pearl’s restaurant were built and filmed in autumn 2020.
Quick answer
Whitstable Pearl was filmed almost entirely in Kent. Exterior scenes were shot on location in Whitstable itself, including Whitstable Harbour, West Beach, Tankerton Beach and Whitstable Yacht Club, with further filming across east Kent in Canterbury, Faversham, Herne Bay, Margate, Westgate-on-Sea, Ramsgate, Reculver and Dover.
The interiors of Pearl’s seafood restaurant were not filmed in a real restaurant at all. They were a purpose-built studio set, constructed inside the Clive Emson Hall at the Kent Event Centre in Detling, Maidstone, where the production filmed for several weeks from October 2020.
If you are a location manager or producer looking for the same kind of space, the Kent Event Centre offers 7,000 square metres of indoor space and 200 acres of grounds available as a film location, unit base or studio build. See our film location spaces or call 01622 630975.
Where is Whitstable Pearl set?
Whitstable Pearl is set in Whitstable, the oyster town on the north Kent coast between Faversham and Herne Bay. The series follows Pearl Nolan, a restaurant owner and former police officer who sets up her own detective agency, played by Kerry Godliman. It is based on the murder mystery novels by Julie Wassmer, who lives in Whitstable herself.
Unlike many dramas that use one town to stand in for another, Whitstable Pearl really is set and largely shot in the place it is named after. That is unusual, and it is a big part of why the show has sent so many people searching for the filming locations.
Where was Whitstable Pearl filmed? Location by location
Production took place across Kent, with Whitstable providing most of the on-screen exteriors and neighbouring towns doubling for other settings. The table below summarises the locations most often reported by the Kent Film Office and KentOnline.
| Location | Used for |
|---|---|
| Whitstable Harbour, West Beach and Tankerton Beach | The town’s seafront, harbour and beach hut scenes |
| Whitstable Yacht Club and town centre businesses | Waterfront and high street exteriors |
| Kent Event Centre, Detling | Studio set build for the interiors of Pearl’s restaurant |
| Former St Martin’s Hospital, Canterbury | Police station and hospital interiors |
| Margate seafront and the Walpole Bay Hotel | Additional seaside scenes in series one |
| Westgate-on-Sea | Church and residential street scenes |
| Port of Ramsgate and Royal Harbour Marina | Doubling for the Port of Dover and Dover Marina |
| Herne Bay, Faversham, Reculver and Rochester | Additional exteriors, countryside and private residences |
Locations vary between series, so not every setting above appears in all three runs of the show.
Was Pearl’s restaurant a real restaurant?
No. The exterior most viewers recognise as Pearl’s Restaurant is a real building on the Whitstable seafront, and fans regularly point to the Pearson’s Arms on Sea Wall as the on-screen frontage. The interior, however, was a set.
This is completely normal in television drama and it is worth understanding if you have ever wondered why a location looks slightly different inside and out. Filming inside a working restaurant means closing a business for weeks, working around fixed walls that cannot be removed for a camera, fighting low ceilings that leave no room for lighting rigs, and dealing with noise you cannot control. Building the same room as a set gives the crew removable walls, proper lighting positions, silence, and the ability to shoot at any hour without a landlord waiting for their keys back.
Where were the Whitstable Pearl interiors filmed?
The interiors of Pearl’s seafood restaurant were built and filmed at the Kent Event Centre at the Kent Showground in Detling, near Maidstone.
In October 2020, the production arrived at the venue and transformed the Clive Emson Hall into the restaurant, filming there for several weeks. It was one of the first significant productions to work in the county after filming resumed following the pandemic shutdown.
The hall was chosen for reasons that have nothing to do with how it looks on camera and everything to do with how a set gets built:
- 1,700 square metres of self-contained, clear floor space, so a set can be built freestanding with room for camera, lighting and crew all around it
- Underfloor cabling, which keeps power and data runs off the studio floor
- Multiple cargo doors, so scenery, flats and equipment can be driven straight in
- A large commercial kitchen on site, useful both for catering the unit and for practical restaurant scenes
- Free parking across 200 acres for unit vehicles, trucks, trailers and crew cars
That last point is the one production teams tend to raise first. A stage is no use if the trucks cannot get near it.
How many series of Whitstable Pearl are there?
There are three series. Whitstable Pearl launched on Acorn TV in 2021, returned for a second series, and a third six-episode series premiered on 21 October 2024. All three were made in Kent.
Can you visit the Whitstable Pearl filming locations?
Most of the exteriors are public places you can walk to in an afternoon. Whitstable Harbour, the beach huts along Tankerton slopes, West Beach and the working high street are all open to the public and within easy walking distance of Whitstable railway station.
The Kent Event Centre is a working conference and exhibition venue rather than a visitor attraction, so the restaurant set is long gone. The building it was built in is very much still here, and it hosts everything from trade exhibitions to conferences and the Kent County Show. You can see what is on at the Kent Showground if you want to visit while an event is running.
Why do so many productions film in Kent?
Kent has become one of the busiest filming counties outside London, and the reasons are practical rather than romantic.
The county sits inside the M25 travel radius that governs crew rates and daily travel, so a Kent location can often be serviced from London studios and crew bases without incurring overnight accommodation. It also offers an unusually wide range of looks within a short drive: working harbours, chalk cliffs, Georgian and medieval streets, marshland, orchards, motorway corridors, industrial estates and country estates.
Kent County Council also runs the Kent Film Office, which marked 20 years in 2026. It offers a free location finding service, a searchable locations database, and help with permissions, road closures, crew and facilities. For a production scouting the county for the first time, it is the fastest starting point and it costs nothing.
Recent productions shot in Kent include Spider-Man: Brand New Day at The Historic Dockyard Chatham, Wuthering Heights at Knole Park, and Heartstopper Forever in Herne Bay.
What do productions actually need from a filming location?
Whether you are scouting a hero location or somewhere to park a unit base, the questions that decide a booking are usually the same. From hosting productions alongside more than 30 large public events a year, these are the ones that come up first:
- Can we get vehicles in? Wide gates, hard standing, ground level access and doors big enough for a scenery truck matter more than aesthetics.
- How much power is available, and where? Set builds, lighting and unit catering all draw heavily. Existing three phase supply saves the cost of generators.
- Is it self-contained? A space that can be locked off from the public, with its own entrance, keeps a shoot secure and avoids sightseers in shot.
- Can we hold it for long enough? Set builds are not day hires. A build, shoot and strike period typically runs for weeks, so the venue has to be able to release the space that long.
- Where do the trucks, trailers and crew park? Unit base space is often the reason a location is rejected.
- Is there sound control? Flight paths, main roads and neighbouring tenants all cost takes.
- Who is on site to fix problems? A permanent grounds and operations team beats a keyholder who has to drive over.
Which Kent Event Centre spaces work as a film location?
The site is made up of linked halls and open ground, so a production can take a single building or combine indoor space with a large outdoor unit base. The table below shows the spaces most often used for filming.
| Space | Size | Best suited to |
|---|---|---|
| Clive Emson Hall | 1,700 m² | Studio set builds, self-contained interiors, commercial kitchen access |
| The Brachers Building | 3,000 m² | Large builds, vehicle work, stunt and rehearsal space, storage |
| John Hendry Pavilion | 1,752 m² | Second stage space, art department, wardrobe and green room |
| Astor Pavilion and Cornwallis | 151 m² and 110 m² | Production office, casting, auditions, read-throughs |
| Outdoor space | 200 acres | Unit base, truck and trailer parking, exterior sets, downland and open field backdrops |
The venue sits on the A249 at Detling, between junction 7 of the M20 and junction 5 of the M2, roughly an hour from central London by road, with the North Downs immediately behind the site.
How do you hire a film location in Kent?
- Brief the location first. Size, ceiling height, power, access dimensions, lock-off requirements and your build, shoot and strike dates. Get these on the table before anyone worries about the look.
- Recce properly. Walk the vehicle route in, not just the room. Measure the doors.
- Check availability against the venue’s event diary. Showgrounds and exhibition venues run to a fixed annual calendar, so long holds need early conversations.
- Agree what is included. Parking, power, wifi, security, waste, welfare facilities and catering are often the difference between two quotes that look identical.
- Talk to the Kent Film Office if you need permissions, road closures or additional locations nearby.
If you are scouting for a Kent stage, unit base or studio build, the Kent Event Centre team can talk you through availability, access and power. Contact us or call 01622 630975.
Frequently asked questions
Where was Whitstable Pearl filmed? Whitstable Pearl was filmed on location in Whitstable, Kent, with additional filming in Canterbury, Faversham, Herne Bay, Margate, Westgate-on-Sea, Ramsgate, Reculver, Rochester and Dover. The interiors of Pearl’s restaurant were a studio set built at the Kent Event Centre in Detling, near Maidstone.
Is Whitstable Pearl filmed in the real Whitstable? Yes. Unlike many dramas, Whitstable Pearl is both set and largely filmed in the real Whitstable, including Whitstable Harbour, West Beach, Tankerton Beach and the town centre.
Where is Pearl’s restaurant in real life? The exterior is a real seafront building in Whitstable, widely identified by fans as the Pearson’s Arms on Sea Wall. The interior was a purpose-built set constructed at the Kent Event Centre in Detling and is no longer standing.
How many series of Whitstable Pearl are there? Three. The series ran on Acorn TV from 2021, with the third six-episode series premiering on 21 October 2024.
Who wrote the Whitstable Pearl books? Julie Wassmer, a Whitstable-based novelist and former EastEnders scriptwriter.
Can you hire the Kent Event Centre as a film location? Yes. The venue offers 7,000 square metres of indoor space and 200 acres of grounds for filming, studio set builds and unit bases, with free parking and easy access from the M20 and M2. See the film location spaces or call 01622 630975.
How much does it cost to hire a film location in Kent? Costs depend on the space, the length of the hold, and whether you need power, security, catering or a unit base alongside the location itself. Set builds are quoted by the week rather than by the day. Contact the venue with your build, shoot and strike dates for an accurate quote.
