In many ways Hastings can best be described as a small Northern town on the South Coast of England. Over the past 150 years the population of the town has grown to roughly 84 000, with this growth strongly driven by inner-city fashions for seaside living, the holiday trade, GLC funding for urban clearance, more general pressures for rural clearance and the retirement industry.
Hastings has been developed right up to the borough boundary, Where the houses stop, the ‘The High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty’ begins. Consequently some things are distinctly urban - like the borough council - and others are distinctly rural - like the county council.
Central St Leonards isthis bit of the map here and roughly speaking is pritty much all the streets from the train track to the sea front east of Maze Hill. If you want to know exactly which ward you live in, you can download a PDF of the Street Index for the whole borough using the link on this page.
