The adjacent towns of Hastings and St Leonards, on England’s south coast, are often twinned; yet each has a distinct character. Hastings grew out of an ancient fishing village, replete with smugglers, ne’er-do-wells and narrow alleyways known as “twittens”. It fanned out around the now ruined 11th-century motte and bailey castle that sits atop the area’s highest point. St Leonards, in contrast, is a planned town conceived and designed by the Victorian architect James Burton, in the Greek revival style.
The two meet at a point around the pier on the promenade that stretches for a couple of miles along the seafront. They are in the midst of a long overdue makeover, having become dilapidated during the past couple of decades. Warrior Square, with sea views and now attractively planted and neatly tended, was not so long ago so much frequented by drug users that it was considered to be a no-go area. In the 1990s Hastings became notorious as one of the country’s heroin hot spots.
The turnround began in about 2002, when £38m in government grants was awarded to the twin towns, sparking a resurgence in civic pride and a change of cultural outlook. Resident Mark Golding, founder of ethical online supermarket The Organic Home, says: “St Leonards is a town on the cusp of a creative and financial explosion. There are so many writers, artists, musicians and healers descending on the area that it feels like Notting Hill [west London] 30 years ago.”
The new cultural approach is evident at One Priory Square, a recently completed seven-storey commercial building of high-spec offices, where an exhibition of artworks provided under the special loan scheme organised by F-ISH gallery and run by ex-Saatchi curator Simon Hedges is on display.
 |
| A computer image of the architect-designed Shoreline complex in St Leonards |
“Already many Londoners are moving down here; it’s only 60 miles away. Currently we are receiving around 50-65 applications weekly and about one-third of those are from people living in London who are looking to relocate to Hastings to reduce their mortgage payments and improve their quality of life.”
Another big boost for the area will be the £100m development of Sussex Coast College, which is due to open later this year.
The regeneration over the past decade has already boosted the local housing market, which for many years was in the doldrums. Even today house prices are a fraction of those in other south coast locations such as Brighton (30 miles away) and Eastbourne (20 miles along the coast to the west). According to the UK Land Registry, the average house price in Hastings is £145,225 while in Brighton and Hove it is £243,168 and in Eastbourne £176,799.
Housebuilder Phoenix Trinity sees this environment of comparatively low prices as an opportunity to develop eco-homes and attract buyers from areas with higher property prices. Led by managing director Simon Hinton, the company recently launched Shoreline, a complex of 10 architect-designed, five-storey townhouses located one street back from the St Leonards seafront. Prices start from £399,950.
“All our homes are carbon neutral through development – and we even promise to offset the homeowners’ CO2 emissions for the first three years after they move in,” Hinton says. “We think it’s the developer’s responsibility to build in a responsible and environmentally friendly way and that the house-buying public will respond to the initiative.” The contemporary residences each have sea views from a decked top-floor terrace and green features include a combined air-transfer and solar-tubing energy system, biomass burners to heat the main living room and galleried areas, and LED and low-energy lighting.
“We recently had an open day at Shoreline and we had people come to view from all over the south-east [of England],” says Piers Armstrong of estate agency Smart Property, adding that, although there is scope for improvement of transport connections, “There’s always been a strong link between London and Hastings and I expect buyers will be a mix of Londoners and locals, perhaps in a 70/30 ratio. We also expect there will be strong interest from people living in Brighton, which is much more expensive than Hastings. There’s nothing else like Shoreline in the area.”
Armstrong notes the property market has been busy in Hastings this summer. “It’s been easily as good as spring 2006,” he says. Property portal Zoopla, however, reports that prices have fallen 18.5 per cent year-on-year. Elsewhere in Hastings, Smart Property is selling a three-storey, five-bedroom Victorian terraced house for £295,000, Rush Witt & Wilson is selling a three/four-bedroom, 1930s, semi-detached house at £187,500 and a chain-free, one-bedroom flat for £69,950, while a three-bedroom terraced home is priced £129,950 with Andrews.
Golding says St Leonards and Hastings remain relatively undiscovered and have great potential. “In contrast, Brighton is overcooked and very expensive ... and Eastbourne is simply dull,” he says. “There are great places to eat in St Leonards, like Kassa café and St Clements restaurant. In Hastings, the Pomegranate restaurant is one to visit too. Favourite bars include the Horse and Groom, and Bar Blah in St Leonards and the Hastings Arms in Hastings. The towns have got loads going for them.”
Actress Charlotte Avery, who is also a director of Phoenix Trinity, has become a devotee of the twin towns. “Simon [Hinton] and I live in London but we regularly visit Hastings and St Leonards with the children,” she says. “It’s a lovely old-fashioned seaside town but there’s a real happening feeling.”
....................
Developer
Phoenix Trinity, tel: +44 (0)207460 0772, www.phoenixtrinity.co.uk
Estate agencies
Smart Property, tel: +44 (0)1424712 555, www.smartpropertyonline.co.uk
Rush Witt & Wilson, tel: +44 (0)1424442 443, www.rushwittwilson.co.uk
Andrews, tel: +44 (0)1424722 122, www.andrewsonline.co.uk
