Well, following our second town centre flood this year (
January blog), where water flooded out of this manhole cover (above), where is it?!? It now appears they couldn't/didn't fix a replacement manhole cover, and now it's fully tarmac. I shan't go into the possible resulting complications...😲
Of course, the drain opposite the Carlisle pub had been fixed, hadn't it? I'm shaking my head as this has been going on for ages (eg
blog), and the drain that replaced the raised drain into the sea is often now below seawater, NB High Tides, and seawater just pushes back up the drain. Priory Meadow and much of the town centre used to be Hastings harbour, eg in 1066, thus much of it below seawater... I'm shaking my head now, Southern Water still don't seem to have figured all this out!
Oh yes, and Hastings Pier, the company that was running it, Lions Hastings Pier Ltd, ie the company owned by the owner of the Pier, went into administration earlier this year (
blog). However, Gulzar, the owner, said that no way would the Pier close, only "over my dead body" he asserted (
Sussex World), indeed, he has "£100 million in reserve to keep it open." Why hasn't he spent any money on the Pier for its upkeep then? Or for improvements? Or a new pavilion on it like the
Friends of Hastings Pier (
blog) planned for in their bid; just what was in that brown envelope?!?
And
La Belle Vue, in the central pavilion, had to close down for now, sadly, although I believe they have plans to reopen in the future. It all looked so positive when I visited and had a few beers back in May (
blog). I shan't go into the problems there, but no doubt having the excellent view obscured by stages, boxes and speakers didn't help for a restaurant called
La Belle Vue.
But
La Belle Vue has merged with
Casa de Pier (
blog) in the remaining pavilion, and this is still open, pretty much all that was open on the Pier at the weekend...
Good luck to both businesses! 👍
