What do the words ‘hip’, ‘happening’ and ‘hurry’ have in common? It’s quite simple – they’re all being used to describe Hastings & St Leonards.
Three years ago, all national press coverage said the same thing about our town; run down, a haven for beggars, rocketing social problems – and of course there was THAT headline – Costa Del Dole.
Add to this escalating crime levels, high levels of unemployment and the unenviable title of suicide capital of the south, and it is little wonder that the town has taken a slating from the media, and residents’ opinions have slipped from despondent to downright disillusioned.
But, Hastings is once again in the headlines … and this time it’s all good news.
…It’s a world away from the candyfloss cliché that depicts most English resorts; it’s a blue heaven, it’s better sited than Bath, it’s just 60 miles from London – and property is a steal…
Two newspapers which have repeatedly lambasted the town, have this year printed two incredibly supportive and positive features about Hastings & St Leonards.
the Sunday Telegraph has a circulation of 1,222,000. But that’s just how many are sold. How many of you have picked up a discarded newspaper on the train to pass the time? then there’s the likelihood that someone’s partner, wife, husband or house mate is going to read it too. If you take that into consideration, you could add on half that figure again. So potentially, when the Telegraph ran an article with the headline “Hurry for Hastings”, 1,833,000 people from all walks of life might have seen it!
“Set in a series of tightly wooded valleys that wind their way in from the English Channel, Hastings has a microclimate of its own. the remains of William the Conqueror’s castle, set on top of a steep sandstone promontory, provide a dramatic backdrop to the town, and the sea views from the hills are almost Mediterranean.”
Journalist Ross Clark, wrote that few towns had plunged quite as spectacularly as Hastings, which was once the most genteel resort in the country. But he claims that, “tentative signs are there that Hastings may be about to be reclaimed by the cultured classes for whom it was built”.
the Evening Standard featured Hastings this autumn – and who better to write it than someone who has just bought a second home along St Leonards’ seafront. Compton Miller said: “Today, the pukka ambience of St Leonards and its raffish neighbour, Hastings has been destroyed by some of the worst social problems in the South East.” He goes on to mention the bad press the town has attracted and the lack of investment in the town. But, he writes that Hastings is not the graffiti ridden Blackbird Leys estate near Oxford; nor is it the crack cocaine terraces of Bristol.
“there are already signs of revival. Hastings’ first shopping centre opened in 1997. the long run-down St Mary in the Castle church on the seafront was recently converted into a thriving arts centre. Tycoon Ian Stuart is currently spending £10 million restoring Hastings Pier”. the list goes on.
“So hopefully this neglected seaside Nirvana will soon return to the golden days when Sir Rider Haggard wrote She at North Lodge in Maze Hill, JMW Turner painted seascapes on East Hill and Christina Rossetti composed her poetry in Hastings High Street.”
Hastings town centre
Both these articles appeared in the property sections of their respective newspapers. Maybe you are thinking so what. What indeed? these newspaper sections are specifically aimed to provide information and guidance on where to buy, why and what is available. Quite simply both these articles are a proclamation of faith by experts, who recommend that buying property in this town is an opportunity not to be missed.
their simple message: there is no doubt that Hastings is crawling back up the respectability ladder, therefore, it is a good place to invest – property prices can only rise, £millions are being pumped into the town to regenerate it and social problems are being tackled passionately and pro-actively.
But it is not just in the property sections of newspapers that Hastings is popping up – it is in travel features – “Less speed, more Hastings.” And it even featured on the infamous page three of the Sun – no, not a topless young woman, but a £3.8 million lottery winner.
“the 51 year old tea lady reckons the three day October break at a caravan camp in Hastings will put exotic breaks in the shade. She said: My family won’t want for anything, but all I want is a nice trip to Hastings”
So next time you go along the seafront have a look for yourself. the ‘For Sale’ signs have been replaced by ones boasting that the property is ‘Sold’, the scaffolding is up (indeed there is currently a shortage of it in the town) and the pier’s lights shine out at night again. Hastings & St Leonards is a town in the middle of massive shake up. Just look around you – there are still social problems, there is still plenty of work to be done – except now it seems that both the resources and the commitment are in place to tackle it. So maybe, just maybe – you’re living in a town which is about to become, as one headline claimed “the hippest place on the South Coast.”
Hastings & St Leonards: starting the year with a bang
- Over the last four years £2,650,000 has been spent regenerating Hastings & St Leonards
- Over the next seven years a further £14,256,000 will be invested
- A cash boost from the Government has resulted in a further £3m to be invested in Broomgrove, Hollington, Gensing, Central St Leonards and Castle wards. the money will be spent on teachers, policing, community safety and crime prevention programmes
- Property prices have soared to claim the steepest increase in the country (up 20 per cent on last year)
- Unemployment has dropped 13 per cent to 5.6 per cent
- there are a number of community safety initiatives including focus groups set up to deal with buglary, car crime and domestic violence – all are beginning to reap positive results
- the Council’s commitment to tackling the problem of derelict buildings around the town has resulted in forty one planning enforcement notices being served on owners of buildings which have fallen into disrepair. This compares to just ten served at the same time last year
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This page last updated: 03/01/2001