Central Hastings

Central Hastings is the commercial and civic heart of the town, running from the seafront up to the railway station. Main shopping streets include George Street and Robertson Street, with Priory Meadow Shopping Centre occupying the low-lying site where the medieval priory once stood. Council offices, banks and high street stores cluster here, and regular street markets use pedestrian routes around the centre. Hastings railway station and bus services provide links across the town and along the coast, making the area a transport hub as well as a shopping district.

Cultural facilities include White Rock Theatre on the seafront and Hastings Museum & Art Gallery on Bohemia Road, which records local maritime and geological history. The seafront beside the town centre includes the restored Hastings Pier and promenades that rise into rows of 19th-century terraces. Independent retailers, cafes and evening venues fill the back streets, and civic events often start from the central squares and promenades, reflecting the town’s long sequence of development and changing uses.