The General Havelock

The General Havelock has reopened under new management, OK, this may not be the most new news, as it reopened a wee while ago, following its closure on Jamie's departure, but I thought it would be worth writing about, as it is a very interesting building, indeed. Now I'm not one to frequent the place, certainly not in the evening anyway, but it has a lovely interior and interesting history, and is a pleasant hostelry in which to enjoy a glass or two of ale during the afternoon!   

The General Havelock is situated between Cambridge Road and Havelock Road in Hastings town centre, and is included as one of Britain's Real Heritage Pubs because of its exceptional tiled paintings, indeed, the Tiles & Architectural Ceramics Society describes the interior as being among "the candidates for the best turn-of-the-century pub tile scheme in Britain."  

Following the death of General Sir Henry Havelock, soon after the relief of Lucknow in 1857, Passenger Station Road was renamed Havelock Road. The Havelock Hotel was opened at number 27, and later became the General Havelock pub in the 1880s, at the time covering the larger overall building to the south too.  

In 1889-90 a refit was carried out by the local architect, Henry Ward of Bohemia Road, who also designed many other well known Hastings buildings, eg Hastings Town Hall and the Observer building. Ward brought in A. T. S. Carter of Brockley to fit fantastic pictorial tiles, that were designed by either John Eyre or John McClennan of Doulton of Lambeth; who became Royal Doulton soon after, in 1901.    

At the Havelock Road entrance is the first image, ie of General Havelock himself sitting on a white horse and dressed in ceremonial uniform. Inside, on the east wall, are 3 pictorial panels, with an image of Hastings Pier and the ruins of Hastings Castle in the centre. Either side of the Castle are much larger images of the Battle of Hastings to the left, and local fishermen doing their bit for King and Country, boarding a French vessel, to the right. Indeed, this side of the pub used to be an alleyway between Cambridge Road and Havelock Road, and a public right of way, I'm not so sure about the legality of the right of way these days!    

Although the General Havelock used to be a multi-roomed hostelry, as with many pubs these days, it has been made into a large single room. It was closed for a year in 2011, then originally reopened following sympathetic refurbishment with a new manager, Jamie Butler, who helped to re-establish the pub as one well worth visiting. Now it has reopened again under newer management you can see for yourself the wonderful interior, enjoy!