With £20m to spend over the next ten years, Hastings is one of around 75 towns across the country with an opportunity to put communities in control of significant budgets that might make a real difference to high steeets, through regeneration, safety, and transport interventions. Broadly speaking this can be put under the umbrella term…
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What is the ‘Long Term Plan for Towns? The plan was launched in October 2023, and the Prime Minister has stated it is to help deal with run-down town centres, empty, boarded-up shops, discarded rubbish, appalling antisocial behaviour and people left angry and frustrated by the neglect. Fifty towns around the UK were selected to…
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If you own or are responsible for a building in the Trinity Triangle you could benefit from the upcoming Trinity Triangle Historic Action Zone (TTHAZ) Maintenance Club winter clean. The winter clean is scheduled for 4th December for around one week, where Sam and his team from Eco Clean East Sussex have been contracted to…
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Time for an updated diary blog By John Bownas – Hastings BID / Town Centre Manager A while back, during the COVID crisis, I wrote a detailed blog post about what I’d been doing over a two-week period. Some of it was unique to that time, and some was still day-to-day business as usual. Now…
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With over 500 respondents, this is probably the most detailed and accurate survey ever carried out of the gig-going habits and preferences of Hastings’ many live-music lovers. Based on statistical assessments the results from a survey of this size ought to be accurate indicators of most people’s views to within around +/- 3%. The survey…
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Reasons to vote YES for a second Love Hastings BID term Baseline services agreement
Pictured: Peter Rolfe, Business Ambassador and John Bownas, BID Manager (click links for what we do) During March, local businesses get the chance to vote on proposals for a second term of the Business Improvement District – ‘Love Hastings’. Love Hastings is promising: Levy bills reduced by 16% to 50% (depending on rateable values) An…
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December 2021 – Hastings Observer column So, it’s Christmas Eve 2021, and as things stand it’s hard to predict just what the UK will be doing with regards to COVID when this column goes to print in a week or two’s time. What new restrictions (if any) will be in place? Will Omicron cases still…
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Action is needed NOW on business rates, VAT, and grants for businesses in the retail and hospitality sectors, as well as for freelancers and the self-employed. We are facing a crisis point, with trade in tatters for tens of thousands of shops and leisure businesses across the country. Losses are estimated at £4bn. Do the…
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In a snap survey carried out by Love Hastings over half of the hospitality businesses who responded said the current ‘Plan B’ restrictions may cost them an average of around £10,000 each in lost takings over the Christmas period alone. The survey was triggered by a call from the UK Hospitality trade association to ask…
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A recent national poll found that an alarming 38% of shoppers have witnessed violence against shop staff, and this goes alongside industry data showing 450 recorded incidents every day in the UK – a figure expected to rise significantly in the run-up to Christmas. John Bownas, manager of Hastings Shopwatch, said: “Hastings stores regularly experience…
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Saturday 26th February 2022 8pmThe Brass, Hastings GET TICKETS The Magic Numbers are a UK-based four-piece formed in late 2002 in Hanwell, west London. Comprising two pairs of brothers and sisters (Romeo and Michele Stodart and Angela and Sean Gannon) they are known for their unique harmonies, melodic hooks, song-writing craftsmanship and their timeless sound.…
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Priory Meadow Shopping Centre has joined the flock to sponsor a duck as part of Follow That Duck, a live art trail taking place in Summer 2022 from Hastings Old Town to Bexhill On Sea. Brought to Hastings by St Michael’s Hospice and Wild in Art. Priory Meadow Centre Manager, Andy Harvey, said ‘We would…
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Love Hastings levy payers are invited to the 2021 AGM of Love Hastings (Hastings Business Improvement District). Alongside the usual business of confirming directors and board responsibilities plus the annual report we will also be consulting on proposals to go to ballot for a second five-year term. The location of the meeting will be confirmed…
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Hastings Observer column November 2021 Over the last two days, as I’ve been swinging above the town centre in the basket of a cherry-picker helping programme the town Christmas lights, I’ve been thinking about how the town has changed and how it continues to evolve. Not only did the high vantage point change my perspective…
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October 2021 – Hastings Observer column As Love Hastings gets closer to a second-term ballot to decide whether the project should extend another five years, more and more people are showing an interest in what we do for the town on a daily basis. And it’s a fair question, because, after all, we’re funded by…
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Hastings Observer column – September 2021 ‘Love Hastings’ is a great – but currently flawed – brand. We all love Hastings, there’s no doubt about that. But right now, ‘Love Hastings’ (the company behind the ‘business improvement district’) only represents just over a third of the businesses that make Hastings such a great place. …
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Hastings Observer – August 2021 A few months ago a BBC headline screamed the bad news that one in seven shops across the UK were standing empty. The stark fact, published by the British Retail Consortium, showed that retail vacancies had gone up nationally to 14.1% since the same time in 2020. This was a…
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Hastings Pirate weekend saw one lucky buccaneer walk away with the grand prize of an X-Box X after she cracked the crafty ‘Q-Arrr code’ to find where ‘X marked the spot’. The Pirate Parrot Treasure trail was put on by Love Hastings to encourage visitors to the town to explore more of the shops from…
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WIN AN X-BOX by following the treasure trail around the town and collecting all ten letters to crack the pirate code! Friday 16th July In Ye Taverns Nags Head 8.30pm – Lovinia Belle ‘The Drag Pirate Queen’ Goats Ledge – Evening Pirate Shenanigans – pirate cocktails & food specials The Fountain on Queens 8.00pm –…
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