Local Hospitality in Crisis
Paul McLaughlin
Hospitality businesses across Hastings and St Leonards are feeling an acute squeeze. With their heavy reliance on part-time and seasonal staff, local restaurants, pubs and cafes are struggling with higher costs related to the increases in National Insurance Contributions (NICs) and the National Living Wage. Add in the sharp rise in energy bills and food inflation because of the war in Iran and it is unsurprising that many small businesses are not just struggling but now fighting for their very survival.
Bill Stacey
In the face of the extremely tough trading conditions, several local pub owners report they are considering reducing midweek opening hours. Many independent cafés and restaurants already do not open midweek, and those that do often close early when business is particularly slow. As a result, the Old Town and the seafront can often resemble a ghost town between Monday and Thursday with shuttered shop fronts and few pedestrians.
Bill Stacey, who runs the Donut Man at the historic Pelham Arcade, blames the cost-of-living crisis for sharply altering how day tourists to Hastings spend their money. Where once visitors would buy up to six doughnuts each, he says they now pick up just one or two, or skip the purchase entirely. “People simply have less money to spend on simple seaside treats,” he notes. Stacey would like the local council and the Foreshore Trust to cut the cost of seafront parking, so as to encourage day visitors to stay longer in the town and spend a little more on traditional treats like doughnuts, ice cream, and fish and chips.
Kim Duke, the owner of the Tonka Restaurant on Marine Parade, agrees that seafront parking charges are “much too high” and believes they discourage families from lingering beyond a few hours. But what angers her even more is the controversial decision of Hastings Borough Council (HBC) to withdraw from the 1066 Country Marketing partnership in early 2023. The council pulled its £50,000 annual contribution, citing the need to make budgetary savings amid wider financial pressures. The move provoked significant local backlash, particularly as no alternative marketing arrangements were put in place to fill the void.
Kim believes HBC’s failure to actively promote Hastings leaves potential day visitors unaware of what the town has to offer. “People don’t know we’re here beyond the pier and the ruins,” she says. In her view, the absence of targeted campaigns means that Hastings loses out to neighbouring towns like Eastbourne or Rye, which continue to market themselves effectively. For independent businesses already squeezed by the cost-of-living crisis, she argues, the lack of promotion is an added blow that makes every quiet midweek feel even emptier.
The government has acknowledged challenges facing local hospitality businesses and unveiled support measures, such as targeted business rates relief for pubs and live music venues, and lower business rates multipliers for retail, hospitality, and leisure properties with rateable values below £500,000.
HBC has announced a new programme of investment designed to strengthen and grow the town’s tourism economy. There are also ambitious plans to celebrate the upcoming Year of the Normans and the return of the Bayeux Tapestry to the UK for the first time in almost 1,000 years. In addition, the council is funding a new Strategic Tourism Lead role as part of a shared services agreement with Eastbourne and Lewes; and a new Visit Hastings website will be launched in the coming months, giving visitors an easy way to discover events and activities happening across the town.
The recent Jack-in-the-Green celebrations gave a much-needed boost to local trade, but a single busy weekend cannot mask the reality – that without further help and support, some of our most cherished pubs, restaurants, cafés and shops will simply not survive.
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We run Summerfields House B&B in Bohemia Road, and business is a little quieter this year. But the guests are still coming from the Netherlands, France, UK, and Germany. What might help restaurants and cafés is to drop off a few leaflets or business cards at all the hotels, B&B’s, and guest houses. Right now we have to make our own lists, so when guests ask where to eat it’s a case of us having to rely on other guests feedback as we haven’t tried everywhere ourselves. Sure people can Google things, but they prefer a more personal recommendation.