Hastings in East Sussex in Southern England is very much on the tourist map because of 1066-indeed it is known and marketed as 1066 country. You very soon realize that Hastings is very much into heritage tourism, although the spot where the battle took place is actually outside the town and is appropriately named Battle. It is at Battle where the French William the Conqueror defeated King Harold back in 1066. That event was to significantly change the entire course of history of Great Britain.
Today there are daily tours of the battlefield and there’s an interesting and informative audio-visual exhibition in the Gatehouse of Battle Abbey; the altar marks the very spot where, allegedly, Harold was slain. Battle is just six miles from the fishing port and resort of Hastings. Having been born only 30 miles away at a place called Ashford I have been to Hastings on numerous occasions and this busy fishing town and popular holiday resort is a good spot for a day trip. Actually there are in some senses two parts to the town of Hastings- the quaint old town where the fishing fleet used to land their catch and which is still very interesting and the more modern, brash, part, where most young day trippers make a beeline for.
The picturesque Hastings Old Town has very quaint streets, markets, art galleries, bistros, tea rooms and lots of little shops, including some specializing in antiques. It’s full of intriguing little alleyways and the place still has a strong community spirit. This is the part of Hastings I like the best. In the High Street check out Starr’s Cottages-one of them is painted to look like a wedge of cheese! This is where you will find most of the hotels, seafront guest houses and the bed and breakfast establishments. Hastings is quite well endowed as regards accommodations for visitors with several quite high class hotels and a number of well furnished small hotels and guest houses. The town has around 80 pubs, some of them very traditional hostelries with a congenial atmosphere and friendly patrons.
Hastings also has a number of good restaurants including ethnic eateries such as Chinese, Greek, Italian and French. There are also Chinese and Indian takeaways, as well as Pizza houses. Fish and Chip restaurants are also plentiful in this historic fishing port. There are amusement centres, , bingo, candy floss kiosks and all the other establishments one associates with the traditional English seaside resort.
There are several one stop shopping centres in the town and a vast number of souvenir and holiday gift shops lining the sea front.The latest shopping mall is the Priory Meadow Centre which has a lot of the big High Street names whilst the historic Queen’s Arcade has lots of small shops including a traditional butcher’s shop and a fishmonger.
Among the attractions in the Sussex town are the Hastings Museum which is housed in a Tudor-style building and has a collection of letters by Scotsman John Logie-Baird the inventor of television, who lived in Hastings for a number of years. Other famous residents included Elizabeth Blackwell who was the first woman in England to qualify as a doctor and Henry Rider Haggard who wrote the novel, King Solomon’’s Mines. There is an old Castle overlooking the town and the underground attractions of the Smuggler’s Adventure. Parts of the town are rather tacky and some older residents consider that Hastings has deteriorated badly. There is mention of a drugs trade and on my visits several local residents indicated that some areas were quite dangerous to be out and about in at night.
Hastings is within easy reach of Heathrow Airport, Dover, the International Rail Station at Ashford with its Eurostar services to Paris, Lille, and Brussels, and it is only around one hour and a half’s journey time from London.