Beaches information

To make sure everyone enjoys our beaches, please make safety your first priority. We have a team of lifeguards at Pelham and Marina beaches. They patrol the flagged areas on these two beaches daily from 11am-6pm between mid-July and early September to keep to keep people as safe as possible.

Our beach stretches 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.

Byelaws

Byelaws are laws which have been made by local authorities using powers granted by Parliament. They apply locally rather than nationally. 

There are two byelaws which apply to the seafront of Hastings:

• Seashore byelaw (.pdf)
• Promenade byelaw (.pdf)

Clean seas

Visit our Sea Bathing Water Quality page to find out how to check the water quality locally.

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.

Dogs

Information about dog walking on our beaches can be found here.

Barbecues

If you're planning a barbecue or bonfire on the beach always use proper manufactured equipment.  Barbecues are allowed at any time but 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

• Barbeques must be held below high-water mark within the designated area
• Barbeques must be sited away from any structures, such as, boats, groynes, beach huts and the like
• All fires must be extinguished and litter cleared before the site is left
• Only purpose built barbecues to be used before 8.00pm
• To ensure good order is kept and no nuisance is made to other beach users or residents
• 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 - contact us for further details.

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

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.

Beach Barbecue Events - 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:

• Booking the event with us - you'll need to contact our Events Booking Officer to do this
• Reading our guidelines and complete a booking form
• Completing a risk assessment
• Arranging public liability insurance of at least £5 million
• Supplying a name and contact number for the event organiser/supervisor
• Making sure the normal conditions for beach barbecues are observed at all times
• Making sure that any noise from the site doesn't exceed 56db - you'll 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.

Chinese lanterns

Chinese lanterns look very similar in appearance to distress flares when lit and flying and can cause false alarms and cost the Coastguard and RNLI time and money.  Please inform Dover Coastguard on 01304 210008 of any lantern launch.