Hastings has a huge number of small hotels, guest houses and bed and breakfasts, most of which are along the seafront where there is no mercy from the weather which races across the Channel and buffets our coastline.
The constant maintenance is one financial drain, but imagine the costs and upheaval of installing bathrooms and other facilities into almost every room of your building!
Since the up-grading of facilities to cater for the modern tourist market was simply beyond most of the local hotels, guest houses and B & B’s, there was the very real threat that our tourists would choose other resorts. As Jeremy Green of 1066 Enterprise said,
"Losing our tourists would mean that our shops, cafes, entertainment centres and the hotels would struggle. Business would suffer and people might lose their jobs. In short, the loss of the tourist would affect everyone in Hastings and that is something the town could not afford to happen. The time and the opportunity had come to make real improvements."
Ten Sixty Six Enterprise, the local chamber of commerce, presented this problem to the Hastings Regeneration Partnership and SEEDA (South East England Development Agency). Funds now are available to help businesses carry out the building, plastering, electrical, plumbing and decorating services needed to lift the existing accommodation and provide what has become expected modern standards.
In the year that the project has been operating, 12 premises have received grants for improvements and 24 more are being considered. The Partnership has pledged £1/4 million to contribute to this work, it has pulled-in an additional £375,000 of European funding to the scheme and the private hotels and developers will be contributing £625,000; bringing the expected total improvements over the four years of the project to £11/4 million.
One of the first businesses to take advantage of the scheme was the Hotel Lindum. Natasha Joyce, a director of the Hotel Lindum says,
"The hotel had been stuck in a 1970’s time warp. Nothing had changed in all that time. It was horrid. It took us a year to do, but we gutted, refurbished and refitted the building. All the rooms have bathrooms, refreshment facilities, hairdryers and televisions; a monumental breakthrough for the Lindum. We opened in July and we have just received the English Tourism Council’s Four Diamond Award. - We’re thrilled."
The Space to Stay project is one of many initiatives rippling along the Promenade. For visitors to town, it has meant they can relax in great facilities and for the tourism business, the project has helped with a new lease of life. A new lease of life which was recognised at the end of the summer when Hastings and St Leonards won the Silver Award for the most improved UK resort.
For more information about Space to Stay grants, please contact Jeremy Green on 781860 or email jeremy.green@sussexenterprise.co.uk www.sussexenterprise.co.uk
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This page last updated: 14/04/2003