Walley's and Pickled, Queens Road.

Opened a couple of months ago, Walley's, 191 Queens Road, Hastings TN34 1RG (website - my image), where the laundrette used to be, sells plants, stuff to do with plants, and some less perishable Greek foodstuffs. It opens from 11.00-20.00 Wednesdays to Saturdays and 11.00-17.00 Sundays; closed Mondays and Tuesdays. Downstairs, is Pickled, their Greek restaurant:

This is a bar too, and the style of food served in Pickled (facebook) is meze/mezze, the Greek equivalent to Spanish tapas. The reason why I have posted this blog is, not just that it's new, but that a number of different groups of people I know have eaten there and have all shared glowing reports. The images immediately above and below are from their facebook page.

I've been told that the food quality is very good, and at a reasonable price too; the meze/side dishes range in price from £6.50 to £7.50, and 'Pickled Classics' from £7.00 to £10.00. The image above looks toward the attractive garden area, which can be accessed from St Andrews Mews whilst open, and will become a great boon during warmer months I have no doubt, nice one!

The outside garden area peaking in from St Andrews Mews,

Town Centre, Police Hub and HMV Open

Indeed, as I said recently (blog), we appear to be getting more of a police presence in the town centre, now added to with this 'Police Hub.'

As the notice says, this Police Hub (POD) is for community engagement and queries and will be open Mon-Saturday, 12-13.00 and 15-16.00 hours. It is not a police station so they'll not be able to take crime reports. As usual, if you need to report a crime "please phone 999 in an emergency or 101 for non emergency calls."

You may have realised that I had a bit of a wander around earlier today and I visited the HMV shop as it's opened again following more refurbishment, and yes, I made a couple of purchases as I'm happier to buy from a shop than online, good to be back! 👍

Police Presence in Town Centre!

Indeed, yes, a police presence in the town centre, had a chat and we may see more, it appears.

Strangely, it was very peaceful...

Donut and Coffee Shops...

Right in the town centre/Harold Place, and yet another place to drink coffee sitting outside, but this time with doughnuts! On opposite corners we already had Jempson's (website), Costa Coffee (website), and Caffe Nero (website), and now we have Honeybee Donuts (website) at 1a Robertson Street!

Old toilets block to come too?

Town centre, cafes and charity shops, hmmm...

Covid Pop-Up Vaccine Clinic in Hastings Town Centre Today

From 10.00am until 4.00pm, First, Second (8 weeks after First) and Booster (3 months since Second) vaccinations are available to anyone aged 18 years or older, as appropriate, in the Town Centre outside the old Debenhams building. Details of this and other vaccination centres/sites can be seen at the HBC website.

Christmas Trees...

Now I'm not making any religious remarks here at all, but Christmas Trees can be quite enthralling, and, I believe, the idea comes from a very old pagan tradition, but I'm bitterly disappointed with the public ones around town... For example, the main tree, outside Debenhams in the town centre, well, it's impressively big, but only has a few very small lights, and way up high!

The tree in Butlers gap in George Street in the old town appears to have more lights per square metre, and, presumably, it's supplied by the Old Town Traders? Anyway, please correct me if I'm wrong, but it does appear to have about 10 times as many lights per square metre as the one in the town centre!

And then, over to St Leonards, and, frankly, I couldn't notice any lights whatsoever, though a fairly impressive tree, however, as I've said elsewhere, it would be better if it was still rooted in the ground...

Apologies for the poor quality, but I took this photograph early morning with my mobile phone, but the tree in Priory Meadow does have lights and baubles, making it the most decorated public Christmas Tree of the lot, though...

This was similar, taken 5 years ago by me, a bit more impressive... oh well, we're living in a world of austerity, fair enough, Bah Humbug!