Food Champions of Hastings & St Leonards
Wil Hospon Head Chef and Owner of Coquina
What do you do and what’s your mission?
I am the head chef and owner of coquina at Hastings Contemporary. My mission is to spotlight the joy that runs through every part of the food system and to inspire young people to forge their own paths in what I believe is the most important and exciting industry in the world.
When did you get started?
My earliest memories are all food adjacent. Being told off for stealing more sausages than were rightfully mine, smelling tomatoes in my grandfather’s greenhouse, eating pineapple in such quantities my lips bled. I was obsessive from early on.
Professionally, I started about ten years ago at Carousel in London as a commis chef. That first taste kicked off a journey that took me from kitchens to a masters degree in Food and Development, then into a sustainable recipe box start up. In 2021 I came full circle and returned to kitchens, first at Tillingham, then Bayte, and now my own projects, coquina and CHARD, our catering arm. We are also about to open another restaurant, still under wraps but announcing soon.
What is the change you want to see in Hastings when it comes to work?
I would love to see more young people commit to hospitality as the career it can and should be. At Bayte, the restaurant owned by my business partners Ruby Boglione and Silvy Pilkington, and coquina, we have seen incredible young people grow into excellent chefs, operators and front of house staff.
With the job market shrinking, especially for younger generations, and with the growing impact AI is having on employment opportunities, I want to help reposition hospitality not just as a stopgap but as a meaningful long term career rooted in connection to people and the planet.
How do you feel about the food scene in Hastings?
Banging. Exciting. Full of very cool people.
I recently came back from a workshop with Town Grown, run by Anna Locke, who is doing important grassroots work to connect things locally. Having spent much of my adult life in London, it is refreshing to be part of a food scene that feels genuinely alive, propped up by connection rather than capital. There is real opportunity here and so many directions it can go. I am as excited about the present as I am about the future.
What is the best thing about working in food here?
The people, the produce and the beach.
There is a strong sense of intentionality in the Hastings and St Leonards that I’ve come to know. People move with purpose and new projects are constantly emerging. It’s a town with vigour, character and a great barometer for bullshit.
Food production on the South Coast still feels like it is in its infancy, which is so exciting, and you can feel that energy feeding into everything that happens in the kitchen.
When the sun shines there is nowhere better.
How does what you are doing link to others in the community?
As a restauranteur and chef there is less time than I would like for grassroots work. Saying that, we have been developing a relationship with the Refugee Buddy Project and their Dove Cafe, with some cool plans emerging around Refugee Week in June.
In terms of our role at coquina and Bayte, it has largely been about training and creating real career opportunities for young people entering the industry which in turn can help nourish our community in myriad ways.
On a personal level, I see endless opportunities for collaboration and creation. I am always keen to collaborate, so if anyone has ideas, get in touch. I’m all ears.
Who is your food champion locally and why?
It is hard not to say everyone out there right now creating ambitious, intersecting projects in food and beyond during some pretty unique global conditions.
If I had to highlight a couple of people though, I would look a little further along the coast to Harry Dyer and Sam Best of Shrub, based near Brighton. They supply the goods from small and medium-scale farms, many using regenerative practices, with restaurants across the South Coast and into London.
What they have done has made it far easier for restaurants to access exceptional produce year round, while giving farmers more stability to experiment and grow. It has been a joy to watch.
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