Leisure and Culture >> Beaches

Beaches: General Information

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Introduction

Here in Hastings, we're lucky enough to have miles of beautiful beach for residents and visitors to enjoy all year round.

Everyone is welcome on our beaches, we just ask that you follow a few simple guidelines and make safety your first priority.  We have a team of lifeguards, who patrol the beach between May and September to keep to keep people as safe as possible.

With such a long stretch of beach to patrol and thousands of visitors to look after, our lifeguards can't be in all places at once, so read our Beach Safety Information and look after yourself and others.

Our beach stretches all the way from Hastings Old Town to beyond the other end of the promenade at Bulverhythe. Different parts of the beach vary in a number of ways.  Some are used more heavily than others, some are used for water sports, some are favoured by families and some are more suitable for dog walkers than others.

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Pelham Beach

Pelham Beach is our specially designed family beach with eight colourful characters to help children identify their location on the beach.

The beach is zoned into eight parts.  Each zone has a named character landmark so children can find their way to back to their family if they lose their bearings.  Pelham Beach is also close to the facilities in the town centre and the Old Town and a car park is only minutes away.

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Dogs

To make sure everyone can enjoy our beaches, we ask that dog walkers use certain parts of the beach, particularly during busy periods.

We have two 'Dog Free Zones', one between the Harbour Arm and Hastings Pier and one in St Leonards, between Warrior Square and the car park at Grand Parade, near the Royal Victoria Hotel.  The zones are marked on the Beach Map.

• Never leave your dog in a hot car
• Clear up after your dog
• Keep your dog on a lead

Map of the Beach with the Dog Free Zones highlighted

Clicking on the map will open a larger version

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Barbecues

Here are some guidelines if you're planning a barbecue or bonfire on the beach.

Proper (manufactured equipment) barbecues are allowed at any time and open fires or bonfire type barbecues are only permitted after 8pm or dusk if earlier.  We encourage people to use the beach between groynes 47 and 51a at Sea Road in St. Leonards (adjacent to West Marina Gardens).

Beach Barbecue Conditions

1. To be held below high-water mark within the designated area
2. To be sited away from any structures i.e. boats, groynes, beach huts etc
3. All fires to be extinguished and litter cleared before the site is left
4. Only purpose built barbecues to be used before 8.00pm
5. To ensure good order is kept and no nuisance is made to other beach users or residents
6. To indemnify Hastings Borough Council against all actions, claims, demands and liabilities, which may arise directly or indirectly as a consequence of this permission.  If it is an organised event you must have public liability insurance of £5 million.  This can be provided by the Council, please contact us for details.

If an organised event or large beach barbecue/party is being considered please contact this department for further advice, as other conditions will have to be met before permission can be considered.

Please remember the damage and personal injury that fires of any type can cause and also that stones on the beach can explode when heated during a bonfire.

Please take care!

Beach Barbecue Events - Foreign Language Schools

If you're planning a large beach barbecue or party for a language school, there's certain things you'll need to do, these include:

• Book the event with us. You'll need to contact our Events Booking Officer to do this
• Read our guidelines and complete a booking form
• Complete a risk assessment
• Arrange public liability insurance of at least £5 million
• Supply a name and contact number for the event organiser/supervisor
• Make sure the normal conditions for beach barbecues are kept to at all times
• Make sure that any noise from the site doesn't exceed 56db.  You will need to measure this yourself

If we get enough notice of your event, we will inspect the area directly beforehand and make sure it's safe for it to go ahead.

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