HASTINGS & ST LEONARDS
FOOD SHOPPING & EATING OUT & DRINKING
* = Coope/Lindt favourites
SUPERMARKETS (in order of distance):
Marks & Spencer's - 0.5 miles - food hall in Priory Court shopping centre, with a larger store in Ravenside Retail Park, Bexhill
Sainsbury's Local - 0.5 miles - near Railway Station (open Sunday evenings) PLUS massive out-of-town one
Tesco Express - 0.5 miles - close to the station on Havelock Road (open Sunday evenings)
Morrisons - 0.7miles - Queens Road, Hastings
Co-op - 30-32 London Road, St Leonards (open Sunday evenings)
Aldi (out of town) - 2.5 miles, Bexhill Rd, Bulverhythe TN38 8FA
Lidl (out of town) - on A21 coming into Hastings
Asda (out of town) - Silverhill, St Leonards, just off A21 coming into Hastings
INDEPENDENTS:
Fresh fish & seafood (zero air miles) - eg RX Fisheries, Rock-a-Nore net huts, Hastings Old Town TN34 3DW
*Beak & Tail Butchers - 200m - 34 Robertson Street
Cheese On Sea ie cheese - 200m - 10 Claremont
Trinity Wholefoods organic bread/veg shop - 200m - Trinity Street
Penbuckles Deli - 50 High Street, Old town
Judges Bakery (set up by Green & Blacks/ local organic power couple Jo Fairley/Craig Sams) 51 High St, Old Town
Bakers, butchers, fruit & veg, floristry - London/Norman Roads, St Leonards
OTHER SHOPPING:
Independent BOOK & RECORD SHOP Trinity Street- 200m
Independent BOOKS, GIFTS, HOMEWARES George Street, Old Town - 0.7 miles
Independent ANITQUES, BRIC-A-BRAC, GIFTS, CARDS, BOOKS, REFILLS, ETC Kings Road, St Leonards (to/from Warrior Sq railway station)
PRIORY MEADOW SHOPPING CENTRE - 0.5 miles - WH SMiths, Waterstones, Boots, Robert Dyas, HMV, Poundland, H&M, Primark etc
West St Leonards - 1.7 miles - offers TK MAXX, Poundstretcher TN38 0YX
Ravenside Retail Park, Bexhill - 3.5 miles - on A259 just before Bexhill has Tesco Superstore, large Marks & Spencer (with sea view restaurant) plus Wickes, Halfords, B&Q, Boots, McDonalds etc
EATING & DRINKING (a-z)
OLD TOWN PUBS:
*Albion Seafront pub, with one entrance in George street. Two rooms – one hosts live music. Friendly and good cask beer. With a gastropub style menu (SG)
**The Crown All Saints Street - Popular award-winning hipster joint ales, good food and open fire.
The Dolphin 11-12 Rock a Nore. Small fisherman’s pub. Good cask beer and live music. Lots of freshly caught local fish and seafood on the menu (SG)
*Dragon Bar George St ALSO Blackbox Nightclub/gig venue, Seed, Whistle Trago, Anchor Inn, Babel’s etc
*First in Last Out (FILO), top of High Street - open fire, good ales, live music & a quiz
Jenny Lind, High Street, Old town - A good pub with ten cask beer pumps and minimum of six working at any time. Live music. Garden (SG) Loyalty card scheme! (DC)
**Jolly Fisherman, brilliant micro-pub - 3 E Beach St, Hastings TN34 3AR (opposite Flamingo amusements)
The Royal Standard is a great little pub - they normally do a cheese bingo (you win pieces of cheese!) on Sat at 6pm and they have good bands on around 5pm on Sundays. Mixed crowd but heavier on the middle aged and people are friendly and chat to you - suggesting it as it's a way of 'going out' but not at nighttime LOL! (SG)
The Stag Inn 14 All Saints Street - nice, olde worlde little pub with open fire, a mummified cat and a reasonable food menu
ST LEONARDS PUBS:
**Cactus Hound 33-35 Western Road, St Leonards (near St Leonards Warrior Sq station) - tequila/cocktail bar (inc beers)
Horse & Groom 4 Mercatoria (facing Norman Road), Saint Leonards TN38 0EB - nice, old school boozer
*The Piper - pub with upstairs music venue - corner of Norman Road/Western Road
*The Royal 1 St John’s Rd, directly opposite the station. Great gastro pub, sampled by Jay Rayner for The Guardian who described the food in 2020 as “extremely encouraging”!
The St Leonard - part-time atmospheric pub with a bit of neon - near Co-op, 16-18 London Road
The Marina Fountain 26 Caves Road Hastings, West St Leonards TN38 0BY
TOWN CENTRE PUBS:
The Prince Albert - Nice mixed crowd, food includes good vegan - 28 Cornwallis St TN34 1SS
Brewing Brothers at The Imperial - popular brewery tap with pizza oven - 119 Queens Rd TN34 1RL
The Seadog - opposite Hastings railway station - 32 Station Rd TN34 1NJ
Recommended cafes/restaurants
Hundreds to try so note
OLD TOWN COFFEE SHOPS/CAFES
* Ladle George St, Hastings Old Town - brilliant little award-winning mediterranean cafe 10am-5pm, also open Fri/Sat evenings until 10pm. Probably need to book!
Land of Green Ginger 45 High Street, in the Old Town is great for tea and cake and do nice lunches etc and are veggie/vegan friendly
* Petit Fi, George St - nice little cafe with great kedgeree and massive cake
OLD TOWN RESTAURANTS (best to book)
* The Crown All Saints Street - award-winning hipster gastro pub for lunch or dinner
La Delizia, The Old Custom House, 19 East Parade, Hastings TN34 3AL - Little italian place, atmospheric. Fresh pasta and seafood
** Monelli’s Sourdough Pizza 43 George St, Hastings Old Town - passionate owners and creative menu
TOWN CENTRE/TRINITY TRIANGLE COFFEE SHOPS/CAFES
Bullet Cafe, Robertson St - great hipster cafe (inc veggie/vegan) for breakfast & lunch, only open Thurs-Sat?
* Cake Room, Robertson St - Sandwiches, cakes & coffee
Hanushka Coffee Bar 29 Robertson Street - lunches, cakes and drinks - original branch on George Street in the Old Town
* Stooge Coffee - 4 Trinity St - cool hipster place with some outdoor seating
White Rock Hotel White Rock - fabulous terrace overlooking the sea and pier and pleasant indoor dining room. Excellent breakfasts – either the ‘Little Jill’ £6 (and better value for money) or ‘Big Audrey’ £9. Open early 7am (SG)
TOWN CENTRE/TRINITY TRIANGLE RESTAURANTS
* Calver’s Italian, 25 Castle St, Hastings TN34 3DY - relaxed modern Italian
* Half Man/Half Burger near Morrisons in The Yard, Waterworks Road, Hastings - very good, trendy, popular meat/veggie burgers and chips
Nazar 1 Claremont - Turkish restaurant, best one we've tried so far in Hastings. Good food, friendly staff with a cavern in the back room!
Ocean Spice (on the corner of White Rock and Robertson Street) is an Indian restaurant that was highly recommended by P&D
Rustico Italian, Robertson St - popular Italian, open long hours. Coach loads of Italian students often traipse through to fill up the basement area
Smoke Shack Hastings, St Andrews Market, Waldegrave St, Hastings TN34 1SJ - great burgers, location lacking a bit of atmos.
ST LEONARDS COFFEE SHOPS/CAFES
** Fika cafe & coffee shop, 44 Kings Road, St Leonards - think cold brew coffee, quinoa, dahl and traybakes
* Sleeper Bagels, 47 Kings Road - very nice, upmarket bagels
Dandelion Deli, 14 Kings Road - coffees, paninis, scotch eggs, cakes etc - outdoor seating
** Goat Ledge beach cafe (has a flat fish on the roof!) Lower Promenade, opposite Queen Victoria statue, Warrior Square - Tasty, fresh ‘posh’ fish finger / Halloumi sandwiches, coffees, juices, even Horlicks! (NB no chips before 11am I think lol!)
* Starsky & Hatch in Bottle Alley - coffees and open sandwiches/toasties - outdoor seating
** Sugarpie Honeybuns, don’t be put off by the name, great lunches/coffees/cakes - NB worth the walk, 235 London Rd TN37 6LU
ST LEONARDS RESTAURANTS (best to book)
* Bayte - upmarket but relaxed NEW restaurant (family of famous Petersham Nurseries) 45-46 Kings Road, Thurs-Sun only
* La Bella Vista - Classy, very good italian, not the cheapest, but very good (Roger Daltry’s favourite) - Grand Parade, St Leonards
* Colombo 16, Sri Lankan - 17-19 Marine Court
* Galleria Seafood - Small, classy, special, expensive - 39 London Road
* Gurkha Chef - Nepalese restaurant only open in the evenings from 5pm. Great food including lots of veggie options and their momo dumplings are delicious! (SG)
* Half Man/Half Burger - very good, trendy, popular meat/veggie burgers and chips - 7 Marine Court (also Waterworks Road)
Heist Market - Open 7 days, casual streetfood & drink court in a former bank (Heist, gettit!?) including Three Legs Brewery tap, a few counters of different cuisines and fishy restaurant Boatyard - 22-26 London Road
* Liban Coast, Lebanese - at 13 Marine Court
* Remy’s Kulinarya - family-run Filipino - 21 Kings Road
** The Royal Great gastro pub, sampled by Jay Rayner for The Guardian who described the food in 2020 as “extremely encouraging”! - directly opposite Warrior Sq Railway Station, 1 St John’s Rd
St Clements Expensive. Nice food, but lacking in atmosphere, a bit middle-aged Chingford. Good quality but not quite living up to its reputation (SG) - 3 Mercatoria
** Three Faces of Del Parc - Wonderful spanish-ish tapas, not the cheapest, but defintely need to book! - 1 Western Road (behind The Piper pub)
Recommended fish & chip/seafood places:
The Fish Hut, Rock-a-Nore - excellent budget fish and chips. In or Out service
Maggie’s, Rock-a-Nore - excellent fish and chips, generous, oft-cited local favourite. Upstairs.
Blue Dolphin, High Street - may be cash-only
Rock-a-Nore Kitchen, Rock-a-Nore - YET TO BE TRIED, but getting good reviews, limited menu is based on what the chef takes a fancy to from the day's catch from Hastings' fleet
Blue Fish, 31 London Rd (opposite Co-op), St Leonards-on-sea TN37 6AJ *Linda & Andy recommends