Hastings Deserves Better: Let’s Makeover Midtown
ANTHONY STANBRIDGE
While on my usual pleasant walk along the seafront from the Old Town to the town centre the other morning, I couldn’t help being made aware yet again that there was no way of avoiding being greeted or confronted by what must be one of the drabbest and most depressing sights in Hastings, the Sports Direct building.
Cheering up Leyton
In a town that is so rich in architectural heritage, I despair that such a building in such a prominent position has been allowed to become an eyesore, and worse, to get away with looking like an eyesore for so long. For from whichever direction you approach this building, it is a draining blot of drab cream negative energy hanging over Hastings.
By contrast, I couldn’t help but remember my excitement a few years ago, when after being ‘numbed’ by seeing so much drab cream paint on so many of the buildings of Hastings, I came across the work of Camille Walala on Leyton High Road in east London. I’d read about the project, and I’d seen the odd photo, but nothing could compare to the real thing. Just imagine almost an entire block of buildings on a high street with their facades painted in primary colours in a style inspired by Mondrian and the Memphis Group, transferred onto a parade of shops, and with each of their architectural details picked out in blocks and grids and pattern and colour. Wow!
Why can’t this happen here in Hastings?
Apart from transforming the town centre aesthetically, like the street in Leyton, it too could become a catalyst for attracting new investment and jobs to the town. What is at present one of the most miserable buildings in Hastings would become a landmark and icon; a ‘three-dimensional sculptural piece’ and one of the largest public artworks on the south coast as well as a positive symbol for the new Hastings.
I think it would also help instil a sense of pride, it would attract more visitors to this part of Hastings and would help the town centre to become a vibrant meeting place. It would showcase in our very own ‘Midtown Makeover’ that Hastings is full of creativity and new ideas and ripe for attracting even more new investment and employment opportunities for all.
Sometimes it takes bold ideas such as this which initially seem completely off the chart to kick-start new thinking. Hastings needs someone like Camille to design a scheme for the Sports Direct building and draw on her proven experience working on and completing projects on a large scale, transforming rundown stretches of town centres into places of wonder.
It CAN happen here too
I’m sure this idea will have detractors who for their own reasons like to talk the town down and keep it looking shabby and they might even sneer at this idea and call it ‘gentrification’, but they probably don’t need the money, investment or employment that such a project would help create.
If there is any money left from the Town Deal, or other government pots of money, couldn’t some of it go towards funding this project? In one stroke it would transform this tired and quite depressing part of town into a place of wonder and awe.
Come on, Hastings, let’s do it.
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I wholeheartedly agree, and let those who sneer continue to ingest yesterday’s sustenance.