There’s an edge, a darkness, to Hastings. It’s long been derided as “Smack City” and “Costa del Dole”,  but there are signs that things are changing…

It’s got a strong industrial pedigree, and John Logie Baird invented the television in Hastings…

It’s home to Europe’s largest onshore fishing fleet…

There’s also a Bohemian edge to the town, and the tragic model-entertainer Paula Yates made her home here (the white house on the left)…

And it has the kind of gorgeous timbered houses that affluent arrivistes pay a fortune for…

… so inevitably property prices are now soaring…

But this isn’t just a “Shoreditch-by-Sea” story of incoming money driving up prices and pushing out locals. There’s a new raft of entrepreneurs and economic “catalysts” also emerging, helping to push the town forward…

Sarah Kowitz (above) is an important figure in the town, who’s galvanised Hastings’ International Piano Concerto Competition and recently brought Oscar-nominated director Mike Figgis to Hastings to make a documentary about the competition…

… and the seriously impressive Rich Moore (above) with his brother Mark have ambitious plans to reinvent one of Hastings’ most prominent landmarks…

Kevin Boorman, head of marketing for the town at the local authority, has a deep love for the town and the energy to go with it…

I think Hastings is a town on the rise, and I’ll be writing a lot more about it in the next couple of months.

You should go there…