Is Hastings / St Leonard's really up and coming?

[bettyboop2024]

I know there's lot's of posts about this, but they all seem to be dated in latest 2020 and as I can see from a recent visit to Hastings / St Leonard's , a lot seems to have changed then! However, i'm looking for the inside scoop from a local as I think you only really see tell tale signs if you live there. So, in 2024, how does Hastings fare as an 'up and coming' place to live? And have the school's improved?

It’s rough!

Full of transients.

Nope. Battle or Rye are OK. Hastings is rough as. Always has been, always will be.

You will always get posters saying 'it's rough', 'it's awful' etc but it's got its good parts and not so good parts. Just like any town.

The town centre is quite uninspiring and a bit run down.
It's no rougher than most town centres.
The old town is nice. Vibrant and diverse, full of independent shops.
It's near some beautiful bits of coastline, east and west.
Clive Vale and West Hill are nice, family friendly safe neighbourhoods.
Some of the primary schools are good/outstanding. The secondary schools are not as good, some people apply to schools outside Hastings but the catchment for these doesn't reach to Hastings so no guarantee of admission.
House prices are reasonable but are continuing to rise as people are priced out of more other areas.
Battle, although 'quaint' has issues with teenagers roaming around causing trouble.
Rye is nice as a place to visit but different as a place to live (it's got a large tourist population which makes getting about your normal life difficult in terms of parking, shopping etc. it's also lacking in shops which don't appeal to tourists (badly stocked Boots, Jempson's supermarket is the only option and closed on Sunday). House prices are 30% higher than Hastings in Rye and Battle.
It's also not full of transients.

I am about to move to Hastings (West Hill area), and have visited MANY times over the years, staying with friends. Everyone I know who has made the move to Hastings/St Leonards absolutely love it.

Central Hastings has it's fair share of rough types (like any town centre), however I think the constantly rising property prices and the number of people moving in to the area from Brighton, London etc indicate it's definitely still up and coming, and an attractive place to buy / rent somewhere.

Very rough when passing g through this summer. So many drug addicts on sea front, we actually turned back towards St Leonard’s which is a bit better.

I like HSL a lot but the council is perpetually flirting with bankruptcy so maybe factor that in.

@bettyboop2024 what did you decide?? Also considering it but am confused 😆 it's beautiful, but the secondary schools don't look great