Key events 1980 onwards

771 - 1699 | 1700 - 1799 | 1800 - 1849 | 1850 - 1899 | 1900 - 1949 | 1950 - 1979 | 1980 onwards

1980 Early - The Victorian gasometers in Queens Road were demolished.

1980 June - The Central Methodist Church on the corner of Cambridge Road and Cornwallis Gardens was demolished and later replaced by flats.

1980 July - Hastings Council gave permission for a change of use of the White Rock Baths to an ice rink, which opened in December 1980. Much of the ice rink and the baths still survive, although permanently closed and in poor condition.

1980 Aug - Fairlight Glen stream was found to be heavily polluted by slurry from Fairlight Place Farm, which was owned by Hastings Council. In 1984 it was still badly polluted and this problem of irresponsibility by the tenant, Richard Ashworth, persisted until he was bought out in 2001. Ashworth was, and is, an influential member of the Conservative Party, and has been an MEP since 2004.

1980 Aug 18 - The new £1.7 million Hastings Sports Centre at Summerfields was opened to the public, after the Queen Mother unveiled a plaque on July 9. It had a 33.3 metre swimming pool, replacing the White Rock Baths, which closed on August 17.

1980 Nov 25 - The huge new Tesco superstore, in Churchwood Drive, Hollington, opened, creating 350 jobs. Its supermarket in Wellington Square, on the site of the Castle Hotel, closed in October 1982. The Hollington Tesco closed in January 2008 and was rebuilt on the same site over the following months.

1981 April 20 - A rampaging mob of 300 skinheads stoned the Carlisle pub on the seafront and caused other serious disruption around the town on Easter Monday.

1981 May - The town’s first sex shop opened, at 149 Queens Road. The following February it was fined for selling obscene material.

1981 Dec - Opening of the new Broomgrove Community Centre.

1982 - The Broomgrove Power Station was closed down and put on mothballs by the Central Electricity Generating Board. But they briefly re-opened it late in 1984 during the year-long 1984-5 miners’ strike.

1982 Jan 4 - Work started on building the spur road that now connects the Wishing Tree roundabout and the Queensway/Crowhurst Road junction.

1982 Jan 18 - The Hastings Unemployed and Claimants Advice Centre (HUCAC) opened, upstairs in Central Hall, Bank Buildings, as tenants of Hastings Council. With manager Mike Bloxham, the Centre became a base for radical social movements.

1982 Feb 26 - The lease of the dilapidated Queens Hotel, which closed in December 1981, was sold to Francisco Moya. Much of the top floor was unusable because of leaks in the roof.

1982 March - Westminster Press, owners of the Hastings Observer, bought Woods House on the corner of Telford Road and Battle Road. In 1984 this became the main Observer building, replacing 53 Cambridge Road.

1982 April - Fairlight Coastguard Station was downgraded, from being constantly manned to having just two officers.

1982 May - The tall wooden lookout tower at North’s Seat was demolished because of constant vandalism. It was built about
1930, and used by the military for lookout during the war.

1982 July - Hastings Council received government permission to compulsorily purchase Royal Terrace, Warrior Square. This meant they could buy the adjoining old Elite Cinema site and build flats for elderly people.

1982 July - There was much angry protest amongst conservationists at the way Coastal Amusements had got away with demolishing listed Regency shop fronts without being prosecuted. Owner Harry Symonds had been expanding his cash-generating entertainments centre at the De Luxe and adjoining properties in Pelham Place. Councillors and council officers, especially planning chief Tony Fry, were accused of being in his pocket.

1982 July 21 - Hastings Council voted for a shopping centre to be built on the cricket ground, which would move to Summerfields, ending a four-year debate on the issue. An alternative proposal for the centre to be on the gasworks site was defeated.

1982 Sept 21 - The mayor opened two industrial units at the new Roebuck Centre, off Roebuck Street in the Old Town, the site of the old Breeds brewery.

1982 Oct - Local electronics firm Derritron went into receivership, making 110 of the 160 staff redundant.

1982 Oct - The Tesco supermarket in Wellington Square closed, losing 75 jobs.

1982 Nov - Amoco Exploration carried out a seismic survey of the Fairlight area, looking for oil and gas. A survey in 1980 has produced some positive results at Fairlight, so they were extending the survey area, but this was to prove unsuccessful.

1983 March 15 - A month-long public inquiry into the long-running proposal by the local establishment to build a shopping centre on the Central Cricket Ground was held at the Queens Hotel.

1983 March 27 - The 40-bedroom Warrior Hotel, at 16-24 Warrior Square, closed down.

1983 April - Hastings Pier was bought for £195,000 by two local amusements operators from the company that had owned it since it was built in 1872.

1983 April 11 - The Unemployment Benefit Office moved from its base since 1932, in Priory Street on the corner of Cornwallis Terrace, to Ashdown House, at the Harrow.

1983 May - The Hastings-based firm Exchange Travel made 18 people redundant.

1983 Oct - The High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) came into existence, taking in the Country Park.

1984 Jan - The Hastings Observer group of newspapers was sold by Westminster Press to Senews, a company owned by Robert Breare. In July 1984 the business’s long-running move out of 53 Cambridge Road to Woods House in Battle Road was completed and the first Observer (July 26) was produced using photo composition rather than hot metal - modern press technology. Senews bought its rival newspaper group, the Hastings News, in November 1985.

1984 Feb - Judges, the famous local postcard publisher, in the hands of the receiver, was placed on the market.

1984 May - Following the 1983 inquiry into building a shopping centre on the Central Cricket Ground, the government refused planning permission because of unsatisfactory roads, parking and drainage.

1984 June - A residential gypsy site was set up near Pebsham rubbish tip, with 12 places available. Over the following years it caused much controversy and ill-feeling.

1984 Autumn - The White Rock Theatre closed for eight months for nearly £1 million of improvements. At the same time, the Classic Cinema was converted from two screens to three.

1984 Nov - Freak storms cause at least £430,000 worth of damage, with winds exceeding 70mph. The Pier and Hastings Holiday Centre (the old Bathing Pool) were badly hit, and the Marina Pavilion was wrecked.

1985 Jan - Twenty five acres of St Helens Wood was bought for £51,000 by the St Helens Park Preservation Society.

1985 Jan - The Big Freeze produced the worst cold temperatures in Hastings since 1947.

1985 Jan 7 - Work started on building 154 flats for elderly people in a £4 million scheme on the site of the Elite Cinema in Warrior Gardens.

1985 Jan 8 - The post office at 20 George Street was closed down because it was too close to other ones. This left the High Street post office as the only one in the Old Town.

1985 Feb 9 - The famous and popular Dimarco’s café in Wellington Place closed. It had been run by the Dimarco family since it opened in 1919. It was later demolished and replaced by McDonalds.

1985 March - The family grocer GB Britt and Sons, in the heart of Ore Village, was forced to close after 63 years due to supermarket competition.

1985 March 11 - Opening in Trinity Street of the co-operatively owned and run Trinity wholefood shop (which is still there).

1985 April - The proposed redevelopment of Little Ridge Farm as a new district hospital met opposition from the Hastings and St. Leonard’s First Association. Experts said an alternative site would be cheaper.

1985 April - The scheme for 46 sheltered flats at Denmark Place, opposite the Queens Hotel, then a car park which had been a vacant site for four decades, was given the go ahead by Hastings Council. Work started in June 1985.

1985 Early May - A housing development scheme in Barley Lane, above Barley Avenue, was scrapped following the collapse of part of the lane.

1985 May 11 - A professional boxing match was televised for ITV’s World of Sport from Hastings Pier. Local man Paul Huggins was the hero.

1985 May 19 - After £1 million was spent refurbishing the White Rock Theatre, it re-opened with an all-star gala evening. The stars included Little and Large, and Frankie Vaughan.

1985 Late May - Lifeboat cox Joe Martin received an RNLI bronze medal for his bravery in rescuing an injured seaman from a container ship seven miles off Hastings in November 1984.

1985 June 6 - The Hastings United Football Club closed after a ten-year battle for financial survival. The club, formed in
1948, had had poor attendances for many years, and never recovered from the cost of opening a new clubhouse and squash complex in 1980. Rival club Hastings Town refused to consider a merger and they took over the Pilot Field from United.

1985 Mid-June - The derelict listed Castledown House, next to Ladies Parlour, could be demolished and replaced by houses, Hastings Councils decided.

1985 July - Plans to create a World War Two museum in St Mary-in-the-Castle Church were turned down by Hastings Council, which feared it would attract ‘Sieg Heil nutcases’ and offend continental visitors. The Council then decided to buy the church.

1985 July - MFI was given planning permission to build a massive new store, 380 feet long and 33 feet high, on the St Leonards Motors site in Bexhill Road.

1985 July 7 - Local fireman Roger Cragg beat the official world record for the length of time for staying underwater; he managed 112 hours 32 minutes.

1985 Sept 30 - Work began on creating the Shipwreck Heritage Centre in Rock-a-Nore Road from the former Hastings Council stables. They were to be gutted, and the former courtyard roofed over.

1985 Oct 31 - The former gas works site off Queens Road, which had been unused for 11 years, was likely to be sold for development, said the Hastings Observer.

1985 Nov 2 - The new Baldslow Memorial Hall was opened.

1985 Dec 3 - The foundation stone of St Michael’s Hospice was laid by the Bishop of Lewes. Half the £1.5 million cost of the hospice, in Upper Maze Hill, had already been raised.

1985 Dec - The former Curzon Cinema in Norman Road, which closed in 1977, could be partly demolished and used as a shop, Hastings Council told Brookers, the builders’ merchants. In 1986 they opened a large shop fronting onto Norman Road and used the cinema hall for storage (and it’s still there).

1986 Feb - The first ten days of the month saw some of the coldest weather since 1947.

1986 Feb 1 - Butlers Emporium, the famous multi-purpose shop at the east end of George Street, was sold to Tony Hodgson by David Butler, whose grandfather started it in 1888.

1986 Feb 12 - The former school in Mercatoria could be used as a mosque, a Hastings Council meeting decided.

1986 April 2 - American oil giant Amoco was refused permission by the county council to drill for oil in Martineau Lane. Eventually, in November 1989, the environment secretary gave permission for drilling in Rock Lane, but this proved unsuccessful after a month, and Amoco pulled out of the area.

1986 April 9 - Hastings Council agreed to spend £240,000 on replacing the underground toilets at Harold Place with a ‘superloo’ resembling a Roman temple.

1986 May - The replacement of the attractive ‘traditional’ red telephone boxes by unattractive yellow and silver booths began at the Post Office in Cambridge Road.

1986 May - The Liberals became the majority group on Hastings Council for the first time in many years. Cllr Pam Brown was the leader.

1986 May 6 - The Queen Mother opened the newly-electrified Hastings-Tunbridge Wells railway line. Specially designed narrow diesel trains were no longer needed because of the singling of the line through the narrow tunnels from Mountfield northwards. The train depot at Ore railway station closed shortly after, adding to the decline of Ore Valley.

1986 June - The Central Cricket Ground Committee voted in favour of selling up and moving out to Summerfields, on the casting vote of chairman Lord Cornwallis. This resulted in a planning application for the cricket ground scheme being published in December 1986.

1986 July 25 - The new £5.5 million sewage pumping station at Rock-a-Nore opened. It had taken three years to build the sewage mincing plant and lay a new main pipe along the seafront to Bulverhythe, where the sewage is pumped two miles out to sea. Another new pumping station opened in October 1988, at Galley Hill, Bexhill, costing £3.6 million.

1986 July 29 - The new Shipwreck Heritage Centre in Rock-a-Nore Road was opened by Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, chairman of English Heritage. It had been created by Peter Marsden.

1986 Aug 3 - The Royal Victoria Hotel closed after going into receivership in May, owing over half a million pounds. It was the town’s second biggest hotel, after the Queens, with 67 bedrooms; 35 jobs were lost.

1986 Sept - Probably the oldest shop in St Leonards, the milliners Philpots, at 37-40 Marina, closed at the end of September. The shop had opened in 1836 but was now shutting because of the decline of St Leonards. Hampdens Furniture Store opened there on December 27.

1986 Sept 18 - The car sellers St Leonards Motors opened its big new premises at Churchwood Drive, having moved from Bexhill Road (along with its Meteor aircraft standing beside the showroom) to make way for the MFI warehouse.

1986 Oct 22 - The Bathing Pool Holiday Camp closed. Leaseholder Cllr Dennis Carrington sold the last two years of his lease back to the council because they said they wanted to build a marina there. But they did not. The pool was demolished several years later and most of the site was left vacant.

1986 Dec - The Queen Mother, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, made an appeal to save St Mary-in-the-Castle Church from demolition. The owners had failed to carry out the necessary repairs this month, so Hastings Council had to step in.

1986 Dec 1 - British Gas announced they had appointed a contractor to negotiate with Hastings and Rother Councils the construction on the site of the gas works at Glyne Gap of the largest shopping centre in the area. There would initially be eight stores and some form of sports centre on the 17 acres. A roundabout would be built on the A259.

1987 Jan - The second week of January saw the heaviest snowfall since the winter of 1962/3.

1987 Jan - The owner of the Queens Hotel was fined £1,000 in late January for ten food hygiene offences.

1987 Feb 26 - The MFI ‘Furniture Superstore’ in Bexhill Road was opened. There had already been complaints about its appearance.

1987 March - Rother Council gave planning permission for Coghurst Woods to be turned into a holiday centre, with 250 chalets.

1987 March - Hastings Council announced that a massive three-year programme to restore all sea defences from White Rock to West Marina would start in June 1987. Following the severe storms of November 1984, the £5.4 million scheme would include replacing almost all the groynes, plus renewing the ‘bullnosing’ along the edge of the promenade from Warrior Square to the Bathing Pool. The Bathing Pool was the contractor’s headquarters.

1987 April - Hastings Council in early April voted in favour of building a shopping centre on the cricket ground, and on April 14 East Sussex County Council gave approval for the roads scheme it was proposed to build around it.

1987 April 24 - The Duchess of Kent opened St Michael’s Hospice in Upper Maze Hill, in the grounds of the former St Augustine’s Nursing Home. Its foundation stone was laid on December 3 1985 by the Bishop of Lewes. The Duchess also that day opened the Royal Terrace block of 154 flats built behind Warrior Square by Hastings Council for retired people.

1987 April 25 - The newly-pedestrianised George Street was declared open by actor Bernard Bresslaw.

1987 June - The Brassey Institute in Claremont - the tall Victorian Gothic home of Hastings Library - was made a Grade II listed building by the Secretary of State for the Environment. Also listed were the adjoining former Observer print works which were part of the same structure, erected in 1877/8.

1987 June - The first McDonald’s Restaurant in the Hastings area opened, in Wellington Place, on the site of the Dimarco café.

1987 June 20 - The crematorium on the Ridge was re-opened having been refurbished.

1987 Early July - The large new car park on the beach opposite Pelham Crescent opened to the public. It cost £360,000 but there had been a delay in obtaining the Act of Parliament that allowed the council to charge people for the use of the beach, so for the first few weeks there was free parking. The Act also legalised the charging of people to use Rock-a-Nore car park, which the council had been running illegally since the late 1940s.

1987 Late July - Rother Council decided not to pay for work to stop cliff erosion at Fairlight Cove, where houses were falling over the edge.

1987 Mid-Aug - Work got under way on clearing the 6.5 acre site of the former gas works off Queens Road. The first piles for the Safeways (now Morrisons) supermarket were driven on April 13 1988.

1987 Late Aug - Part of the old Bathing Pool was demolished to provide a base site for the large scale sea defence works.

1987 Oct 5 - Hastings Council agreed to compulsorily purchase the cricket ground, meaning the scheme would definitely go-ahead. Plans were published early in November.

1987 Oct 8 - The Observer reported that BT had recently opened a new digital telephone exchange in Havelock Road.

1987 Oct 16 - The worst storm since 1703, with hurricane-force winded, claimed two lives in Hastings and caused millions of pounds of damage. Fisherman Jimmy Read was killed when the roof of a shed on the Stade was blown onto him, and Queens Hotel guest Ronald Davies was crushed by a fall of bricks.

1987 Nov 2 - Rother Council gave the go-ahead for the shopping complex at Glyne Gap, on the site of the old gas works.

1987 Dec 7 - The town’s two leading historic tourist attractions should be privatised, Hastings Council decided. The tourism committee agreed St Clements Caves could be leased to a London company who would spend £350,000 turning it into the ‘Smugglers Adventure’, due to open Easter 1989. And the same company would take over Hastings Castle and install an ‘interpretive centre’ in a mock siege tent.

1987 Dec 10 - The former White Rock Baths would re-open as a world-class ice skating rink in a few weeks, reported the Observer. Top-ranking instructor Colin Bosley had spent £3 million on converting the bigger of the two baths over the last nine months. The smaller one would be converted into a roller disco. They had closed as swimming pools when the Summerfields sports centre and pool opened in August 1980.

1988 Jan - The government gave the go-ahead for the long-term dredging of large quantities of shingle from the seabed five miles south of Hastings. The Hastings Fishermen’s Protection Society had strongly opposed this because of its affects on fish stocks. Some conservation measures were agreed over the following months before dredging started.

1988 Late Jan - The spire of the St Leonards Congregational Church, at the junction of Pevensey Road and London Road, was removed because of the damage caused by the October 1987 storm. It was not replaced.

1988 Late Jan - Two local companies, Hastings Coaches and Davie’s Coaches of Rye, announced they were merging to form the largest coach business in the Hastings area, with 50 vehicles.

1988 Feb - A protective canopy was put over the roof of St Mary-in-the-Castle Church, Pelham Crescent, which Hastings Council had acquired in November 1987. Its future was still uncertain.

1988 Mid-Feb - Work started on a major expansion of the 1969-built YMCA building in St Pauls Road.

1988 Feb 15 - Squatters moved into the old Observer building in Cambridge Road and stayed several weeks.

1988 Feb 26 - A Hastings fisherman, Darren Fox, aged 23, drowned after falling overboard from the boat on which he was working, Grace Georgina RX 150, four miles off Hastings.

1988 Late Feb - Barclays Bank took over Arbuthnot Factors, employer of 180 people at its Breeds Place headquarters office block.

1988 March 9 - The foundation stone of the new Christ Church School was laid in Tower Road.

1988 March 12 - The new 250-seat Jehovah Witness Kingdom Hall in Churchwood Drive was declared open.

1988 March 25 - The well-known army surplus store Malcolm Mitchell’s, in the High Street, closed. It had opened in 1946.

1988 March/April - There were two landslips in a fortnight in West Hill Road, St Leonards, as the cliff gave way, taking gardens with them.

1988 Early April - The town’s first quads were born.

1988 April 15 - Animal rights protestors tipped bags of rubbish inside the McDonalds restaurant in Wellington Place.

1988 April 21 - Anti-nuclear campaigner Lorna Vahey, aged 42, was jailed for 14 days for refusing to pay a £50 fine imposed in September 1987 for cutting wire at Dungeness nuclear power station.

1988 April 26 - Thirty four print workers were made redundant because of the closure of Contract Pre-Print, producers of the Hastings Observer. Parent company IT Matters set up another company, non-union, to do the work. A year later, an industrial tribunal ruled that they were unfairly dismissed.

1988 Early May - The town’s biggest hotel, the Royal Victoria, re-opened after spending £2.2 million on renovations. In early August 1989 it was bought by Universal Leisure Investments plc, who put it up for sale for £4 million six months later.

1988 Mid-June - Building of the first phase of the Conquest Hospital on a 42-acre site on the Ridge began. It was hoped to open to patients in May 1992, at a cost of £45 million. It would become the district’s main general hospital, replacing the Royal East Sussex Hospital in Cambridge Road and some of St Helens Hospital in Frederick Road. The foundation stone was unveiled by health minister Kenneth Clarke on November 30. The second phase would replace the rest of St Helens, plus the Buchanan Hospital in London Road.

1988 July 19 - The 400th anniversary of the defeat of the Spanish Armada was celebrated. A beacon was erected permanently on the East Hill.

1988 Late July - Outspoken welfare rights campaigner Mike Bloxham announced he would be leaving Hastings at the end of August. For many years he had played a leading role in radical political movements in the town; his departure was welcomed by the Labour Party.

1988 Aug 3 - Vandals caused major damage to the model village in White Rock Gardens. Owner Stan DeBoo said that this was the final straw, and he was thinking of closing what had been a popular tourist attraction for many years. But he stayed open. There was more vandalism in late October 1990.

1988 Aug 8 - The first metal-hulled Hastings fishing boat was given trials in the sea. Mark Anthony RX 4 was assembled on Hastings beach by Tony Shipley, landlord of the Lord Nelson pub, for his fisherman son Mark, 22. All other boats at Hastings were wood until this point, apart from one made of fibre-glass.

1988 Sept 8 - Work started on building the new shopping and leisure centre at Glyne Gap, on the gas works site. The 17 acre, £7 million complex would be called Ravenside. Meanwhile, it was expected that the Safeways supermarket in Queens Road would open in April 1989.

1988 Nov 18 - Hastings Council finally granted planning permission for the massive new shopping centre on the Central Cricket Ground, despite opposition to the loss of what many regarded as publicly-owned open land.

1988 Dec 14 - The town’s first new hotel for many decades opened in Bohemia Road. The 40-bed Cinque Ports Hotel cost £1.5 million, including a £375,000 grant from Hastings Council for a publicly-available conference centre.

1988 Dec 30 - The large Brewers Builders Merchants warehouse at the top of White Rock Road was destroyed by fire.

1989 Early Jan - The Congregational Church Hall in London Road became a hostel for up to 15 homeless people a night for six weeks, but without planning permission, sparking some local complaints.

1989 Jan 30 - The new 26,000 sq ft Payless DIY superstore at the top of Sedlescombe Road North, near the Harrow Bridge, opened. It is now called Focus.

1989 Feb 5 - The new commercial radio station Southern Sound, based in Eastbourne, went on air for the first time, on 102.4 FM.

1989 Early Feb - The annual carnival organised by the Round Table was being scrapped, the group announced. The first was held in 1895, and July 1988 was to be the last; they would concentrate on the Beer Festival instead. Critics said the carnival was boring compared with the annual Old Town carnival.

1989 Feb 14 - The town’s new Mersey class lifeboat, the 18 knot Sealink Endeavour, was officially launched. Its predecessor, the Fairlight, saved 156 lives in its 24 years service.

1989 Feb 26 - Hastings Council set up a working party to consider putting up some form of memorial in the town centre, in place of the Albert Memorial clocktower that the council demolished unnecessarily in 1973. But this working party, like several others set up in coming years, achieved very little. Eventually two clocks were put up on the north-west corner of the town hall as a token.

1989 March 27 - The revamped St Clements Caves re-opened as the Smugglers Centre. The publicly-owned caves had been leased to a private company, Hastings Heritage, which spent £350,000 on them. The company had also taken over Hastings Castle, and at Easter 1990 it opened there a £100,000 imitation 11th century siege tent housing a film show called ‘The 1066 Story’. Local historians criticised the way both venues had been trivialised in search of a bigger market.

1989 April 4 - The new Safeways Superstore (now Morrisons) opened in Queens Road, on the site of the former gasworks.

1989 Mid-May - Two metal detector enthusiasts discovered a hoard of about 150 early Roman coins on the Fairview building site in Elphinstone Road. An inquest decided the coins were probably buried by their owner, and they were therefore declared as being treasure trove, making them Crown property. Some went to Hastings Museum, and the finders were rewarded.

1989 May 27 - A 21-year old biker, Patrick Boyle, shot dead 40-year old Bruno Tessaro, leader of the Birmingham Cycle Tramps, on the seafront outside the Carlisle pub, a popular bikers’ venue. He was jailed for life for the murder.

1989 Early July - Over 600 people signed a petition demanding an inquiry into the Cricket Ground re-development.

1989 Early July - One of the town’s oldest shops - the gentlemen’s outfitters Apps & Sons, at Silverhill - closed after 100 years in trade.

1989 Mid-July - Hastings Council gave the go-ahead for the conversion of the neglected cemetery in Wallingers Walk, off Castle Hill Road, into a conservation garden.

1989 July 17 - The new Christ Church School in Woodland Vale Road was opened by the Bishop of Chichester.

1989 July 19 - American oil giant Amoco started work on an oil-drilling site in a field off Rock Lane. Since April 1986 there had been much opposition to Amoco being given official permission for any tests in the Hastings area. The county council refused permission, but in January 1989 environment secretary Nicholas Ridley gave the go-ahead. A massive drilling machine started 24-hour exploration on November 2 1989. This was unsuccessful, however, and a month later Amoco announced it was pulling out.

1989 Aug 11 - The agreement between Hastings Council and speculators Speyhawk Ltd over the highly controversial re-development of the Cricket Ground was signed - in Jersey! Speyhawk flew Hastings Council officers there because it saved the company £400,000 in stamp duty. This infuriated opponents to the scheme even more, sparking many accusations of council incompetence, deceit and corruption.

1989 Late Aug - The first shops opened at the new Glyne Gap shopping centre - Ravenside - on the bank holiday weekend. The official opening ceremony took place on Saturday November 4, by when Tesco, B&Q, Iceland, Halfords, Perrings and ELS were open, and Carpetright was about to start. Coming soon were the McDonalds Drive-Thru Restaurant, a bowling alley and a swimming pool.

1989 Aug 27 - Middlesex beat Sussex in the last Sunday League match held on the Central Cricket Ground, prior to development. The symbolic ‘last match’ was held on Sunday October 1, when Sussex beat Kent in front of 1,000 people, the final chapter in the 125-year history of the town’s most controversial open space. But the money for the ground had still not changed hands, so future matches remained possible.

1989 Sept 28 - TV celebrity Floella Benjamin opened the new Little Ridge Primary School, costing £835,000.

1989 Oct 2 - Work started on demolishing buildings in Queens Road, Middle Street and Russell Street, in preparation for the altered traffic system needed as part of the new shopping centre.

1989 Early Oct - Tory councillor Graeme White resigned from the borough and county councils because of threatened legal action over his failure to report his co-ownership of property in De Cham Road for which he was seeking planning permission. Eventually no action was taken and Mr White, a solicitor, accused rival Lib Dem councillors of mounting a witchhunt against him.

1989 Oct 19 - Iceland - ‘Britain’s No 1 Frozen Food Store’ - opened in Castle Street.

1989 Early Nov - Fractional HP Motors announced they were to close their foundry in Gresley Road in three months time, with the loss of nine jobs.

1989 Nov 11 - A slick of small oil globules hits all beaches in the borough. Council workers cleaned up the slick, the origins of which were unknown.

1989 Nov 13 - The 1.3 miles Robertsbridge bypass on the A21 was declared open. It took 18 months to build.

1990 Jan 12 - The first patients moved into the new £2.2 million St Anne’s Centre for the elderly mentally ill, next to the Conquest Hospital. They were transferred from Hellingly Hospital.

1990 Jan 12 - MK Electric announced it was to close its large Hastings factory on the Ponswood Estate at the end of May, with the loss of almost 200 jobs. The business had been in the town for 23 years, and had already laid off 36 people in June 1989. The management blamed the slump in the housing trade and the general recession in the UK.

1990 Jan 25 - A storm, with winds up to 95 mph, killed a man and damaged many properties, including 1,000 council houses. There were several severe gales in following weeks, including one on February 26 that coincided with high tides and caused damage to the seafront and pier.

1990 Early Feb - The town’s biggest (and only 4-star) hotel, the Royal Victoria, went into receivership two months after being put on the market for £4 million, and two years after being renovated for £2.2 million.

1990 Feb 15 - A severe fire in the Queens Avenue arcade in the town centre wrecked eight shops and caused £1 million damage. The arcade was built in 1882 and is owned by the Went Tree Trust, which uses its surplus income to buy exhibits for Hastings Museum. After major restoration, the arcade re-opened on November 5 1990.

1990 Late March - The large Newtime jam and pickle factory on the Ridge, by Ivyhouse Lane, was to close, with the loss of 200 jobs, announced the management. Its four large buildings were put up for sale, forming what was believed to be the largest single industrial complex ever to have been offered for sale in the Hastings area. Newtime, which came to Hastings in the early 1970s, was moving to Cambridge.

1990 March 31 - The town centre was almost brought to a standstill by what the Hastings Observer thought was the borough’s largest-ever political demonstration. Several thousand people marched from Alexandra Park to a rally in Wellington Square in protest against the poll tax, with which the Tory government was about to replace local rates. The poll tax was widely opposed because it was said to favour the rich at the expense of the poor, and many people stated they would not pay it. There were placards saying “Can’t pay, won’t pay”. The demo was peaceful, with no arrests.

1990 Late March - The Combe Haven Holiday Resort, off Harley Shute Road, completed a five-month redevelopment programme, including the rebuilding of the entertainment complex and creating a new 700-seater club. The 30-year old camp had spent over £3 million on upgrading facilities since 1986. There were 850 caravans on site.

1990 Mid-April - The Leisure Pool and the McDonalds restaurant opened at the new Ravenside shopping centre, Glyne Gap.

1990 April 14 - Harold Place nightclub owner and chairman of Hastings Licensed Victuallers Association Joe Riordan, 49, was caught drink driving in Rock Lane. A fortnight later he was banned from driving for a year. In mid-July 1990 he was declared bankrupt, with debts of £5,846.

1990 April 17 - A new bus company, Hastings Buses, was formed by the merger of the existing Top Line and Hastings & District companies, as a subsidiary of Southdown Motor Services.

1990 May - Hastings Council created a new department - Hastings Contract Services - to take over the running of several council services, including refuse collection, street sweeping, catering and street lighting. This followed government legislation in recent years forcing local authorities to tender for certain services in competition with private contractors. The council was successful in its tendering, and 350 people initially worked for HCS, based in Waterworks Road.

1990 May 11 - The £5 million waste-derived fuel plant at Pebsham was officially opened by environment minister David Trippier - and was immediately put up for sale. The hi-tech, computer-controlled plant was designed and built by East Sussex Enterprises Ltd, a company formed by the county council in 1984. It planned to recover its investment by allowing the buyer to charge for depositing waste, which had been free. It was believed that about 30,000 tonnes of fuel pellets could be produced from 85,000 tonnes of waste a year.

1990 May 25 - The new £750,000 postal sorting office, in Drury Lane on the Ponswood Estate, was opened by Hastings MP Ken Warren.

1990 May 26 - The new Sea Life Centre aquarium in Rock-a-Nore Road opened its doors for the first time. It cost £1.15 million and had 270 fish from 31 species. It was officially declared open on June 8.

1990 Late May - British Gypsum announced that it was to close its 100-year old Mountfield mine. Twenty jobs would be lost, while 16 workers would be transferred to the neighbouring Brightling mine. The big Mountfield gypsum factory would remain in operation.

1990 Early June - The Colorwave photographic processing laboratory on the Churchfield industrial estate closed, losing 21 jobs.

1990 June 2 - A six-week operation to pump ½ million tonnes of shingle onto the town’s beaches began. This was the last stage in the three-year £6.3 million sea defence works Hastings Council had been co-ordinating. A large dredger sucked up the shingle from a dredging bed off Littlehampton and pumped it ashore through huge pipes at high tide to rebuild the beaches.

1990 Late June - Three routes for a proposed Hastings eastern by-pass were unveiled. On September 2 1990 the county council chose the ‘blue route’, from the A21 north of Westfield Lane, then between Westfield and Three Oaks to join the A259 at Guestling Thorn. But over coming years the scheme met increasing opposition and eventually it was scrapped, although plans pressed ahead for a western by-pass (later renamed the ‘link road’).

1990 July 3 - The first four poll tax rebels appeared before magistrates. Liability orders were made against them for not paying fines after failing to fill in and return their poll tax registration forms. On August 31 the first 250 were in court for not actually paying the tax, and another 600 appeared in the following week. Protestors outside had placards saying “Break the law, not the poor”. A fisherman said his rates had been £400 and now he had to pay £2,000.

1990 July 9 - About ¾ of the thousand civil servants at Ashdown House held a one-day strike in protest at the government’s plans to privatise the Property Services Agency.

1990 Mid-July - The battle to save the cliffs, and the houses on top of them, at Fairlight Cove began. A massive barge, with loads of 9,000 tonnes, started dropping granite 20 metres in front of the cliffs to form a 500-metre long breakwater parallel with the shore. Over the coming four months a total of 120,000 tonnes were deposited. Local residents began their fight to save 47 threatened homes in 1979, but only obtained official support and funding recently.

1990 July 23 - A home for young pregnant girls and new single mothers opened at Turner House in Pevensey Road. The Christian Alliance Housing Association raised the £220,000 funding and ran the home.

1990 Sept 18 - The well-known local travel firm Exchange Travel, based in Parker Road, went bust, making 75 people redundant.

1990 Late Sept - A new £55,000 Bowls Pavilion opened in Alexandra Park. It replaced the 80-year old wooden pavilion that had stood on the same site.

1990 Oct 2 - The key to what was thought at the time to be the last house to be built by Hastings Council was handed over ceremoniously to its tenant. Central government restrictions on building by local authorities had ended the council’s construction plans and housing associations were taking over the role, where possible. The house was in Beckley Close, Mayfield, the tenant Ms Julie Lievesley.

1990 Oct 26 - A new £140,000 Coastguard station was opened at Rock-a-Nore by the mayor. It was the headquarters for much of East Sussex, and replaced the former Hastings station (a small shed by the Lifeboat house) and the Fairlight station.

1990 Oct 29 - Hastings Library in Claremont closed for a fortnight for a £571,000 refurbishment.

1990 Early Nov - There was much controversy and uncertainty over the future of the Cricket Ground as developers Speyhawk failed to raise funding for the £43 million scheme because of the poor economic climate. They said they were looking for backing for a smaller project, but the council also looked for other developers. A poll in the Hastings Observer showed 88% of people wanted to save the Cricket Ground.

1990 Early Dec - The new 3.4 mile Hastings and Westham by-pass on the A259 opened. The county council at this time also agreed to explore building an A259 by-pass of Bexhill and St Leonards