Pelham Arcade [facing Hastings seafront] is a Grade II* listed shopping arcade, and it is also on the national Heritage ‘At Risk’ Register, which is maintained by Historic England. The Register highlights high status historic buildings that are under threat of irreversible decline, including dereliction, loss or serious neglect. Because of its risk status, Hastings Borough Council and Historic England have formed a partnership, to try to rescue the Arcade, and we are offering substantial grants to owners who are willing to restore their buildings back to their original form, and to a good state of repair. The restoration scheme has been underway since 2010. Pelham Arcade is in multiple ownerships, and this has made achieving the comprehensive repairs to the buildings more challenging, as we need to secure the co-operation of all of the Arcade owners.
Restoration works are already completed or underway at 2-3, 4-5, 6-8, 12 and 12A Pelham Arcade. To be eligible for grant aid, building owners have to fully implement the Council’s agreed scheme to restore the rusticated render arches, traditional timber shop front and shop signage, and also to restore the timber and glazed roof lantern that sits above the centre of the arcade. The scheme design has been shaped by historic analysis and research, by the wish to restore the historic character of the buildings, and the desire to achieve a more unified façade with far greater visual impact on the seafront
In addition to offering grants for the restoration of Pelham Arcade, we [HBC] are also investigating the feasibility of repairing the roof of the Arcade units, which forms the road in Pelham Crescent. The road surface is in a very poor condition and the Arcade units are currently being blighted by on-going water ingress problems from the road above. Each individual owner of the Arcade units owns the roof/road immediately above them in Pelham Crescent. The proposed road improvement scheme at Pelham Arcade/Pelham Crescent aims to resolve some of the current water ingress problems in the Pelham Arcade shop units. New road designs have been developed that will aim to get rid of the sitting water and deal with the consequences of saturation in the road and the arcade below. The Council is now trying to identify partnership funding to help to pay towards the costs of the road repairs.
(H & St. L Society is grateful to HBC’s Conservation Officer, Jane Stephen, for providing this item for our website)
Pelham Arcade restoration
