Hastings is a seaside town and borough on the south coast, 24 miles east of Lewes and 53 miles south-east of London, with an estimated population of 90,855 in 2025. It gave its name to the battle of 1066, became one of the medieval Cinque Ports and grew into a Victorian resort once the railway arrived. It is also a working fishing port, with the UK's largest beach-based fishing fleet.
We are a broker, never a lender. We arrange business mortgages for limited companies buying or refinancing the premises they trade from in Hastings. This is commercial finance on a company's own building, not a residential mortgage.
Which Hastings firms buy premises with an owner-occupier mortgage?
Most jobs in the borough are in health, public services, retail and education, and Wikipedia notes that in 2005, 85% of firms employed fewer than 10 people. Industrial estates around the outskirts house engineering, catering, motoring and construction businesses. Regeneration since 2002 brought the University of Brighton in Hastings, a Sussex Coast College campus and the Priory Quarter, where Saga's offices brought 800 jobs.
Small firms like these are the typical buyers: an engineering company buying its workshop, a garage buying its site, a builder buying a yard, or a retailer buying its shop. An owner-occupier mortgage covers most of them, and many town-centre buildings with flats above fall under semi-commercial finance.
Builders, carers and film makers: the Hastings business base
ONS UK Business Counts 2026, local units.
Show as a table
| Sector | Businesses | Hastings share | UK share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Construction and building trades | 515 | 14.7% | 12.5% |
| Professional, scientific and technical | 415 | 11.9% | 14% |
| Retail | 385 | 11% | 9.3% |
| Restaurants, cafes and pubs | 320 | 9.2% | 6.3% |
| Health and social care | 285 | 8.2% | 5.7% |
| Information and communication | 240 | 6.9% | 6.2% |
| Business support services | 235 | 6.7% | 8.1% |
| Manufacturing and engineering | 165 | 4.7% | 4.3% |
| Arts, sport and leisure | 140 | 4% | 3% |
- 2.2xresidential care85 businesses
- 2.1xfilm, TV and music production85 businesses
- 2.0xcreative and performing arts75 businesses
- 1.6xsocial work and day care100 businesses
A figure of 2.0x means the trade makes up twice the share of local businesses that it does across the UK.
Hastings is small, with 3,490 business units, and only 10 of them employ 250 or more people. Construction is the biggest sector at 14.7% of firms against 12.5% nationally. The more unusual figures are residential care, at 2.23 times the UK share, and film, TV and music production at 2.14 times. Restaurants, cafes and pubs make up 9.2% of firms. A care home or seafront cafe buying its building is assessed on trading income, not just on the property.
Roads, cliffs and the coast: business property finance in Hastings and St Leonards
The Hastings urban area is by a wide margin the most populous in Britain without a direct dual-carriageway link to the motorway network. The A21 runs to London and the A259 along the coast, both prone to delays, and the A2690 Hastings-Bexhill Link Road opened in 2016 from Queensway in the north of the town to ease congestion on the A259. The A2100 runs to Battle.
The sandstone cliffs east of the town have eroded over time, and much of the castle was lost to the sea before the present sea defences were built. A lender's valuer will consider location, access and any coastal or ground issues when valuing a building, so a unit near the link road and a cliff-top property are judged on quite different terms.
Low rateable values and a growing office count in Hastings
Valuation Office Agency, non-domestic rating stock of properties, March 2026. Average rateable value is the VOA's estimate of annual rent, not a sale price.
- Industrial and warehouse860properties on the rating listDown 2.3% since 2016Average rateable value £19,200factories, workshops, warehouses and trade units
- Offices500properties on the rating listUp 22% since 2016Average rateable value £10,700offices, including converted buildings
- Shops and retail1,050properties on the rating listUp 1% since 2016Average rateable value £18,900shops, showrooms and retail warehouses
- Other commercial1,220properties on the rating listUp 9.9% since 2016Average rateable value £19,500pubs, hotels, surgeries, nurseries, garages and more
Hastings units to own, from Ponswood to Castleham
Named estates and parks listed on Google Maps near Hastings, October 2026. Listed to show where premises trade locally; we have no connection with the owners or agents.
- Ponswood Industrial EstateHastings, Saint Leonards-on-sea TN38 9AZ
- Chichester Road Ponswood Industrial EstateSaint Leonards-on-sea TN38 9BG
- Brook Way Business ParkHastings TN35 4NN
- Castleham Industrial EstateHastings TN38 9NL
- Offerfair Business ParkHastings, Saint Leonards-on-sea TN38 9NN
- Conqueror Industrial EstateHastings TN38 9NB
- Bridgeway Industrial EstateUnit 2 Bridge Way, Hastings, Saint Leonards-on-sea TN38 8AP
- Ridgewest Industrial EstateHastings, Saint Leonards-on-sea TN37 7PJ
- Churchfields Business CentreHastings, Saint Leonards-on-sea TN38 9AU
- Highfield Business ParkHastings, Saint Leonards-on-sea TN38 9UB
- Churchfields Industrial EstateHastings, Saint Leonards-on-sea TN38 9PP
Every type of premises in Hastings carries a low average rateable value, £18,000 across the board and just £10,700 for an office. Office numbers rose 22% since 2016 to 500, while industrial units fell 2.3% to 860. Smaller values make for smaller loans, and a firm buying on Ponswood or Castleham may find a deposit and monthly repayment that compare well with renting.
What does buying commercial property in Hastings, England cost?
Lenders active in owner-occupier lending typically advance 70 to 75% of the price or valuation, at indicative rates of 6.0 to 7.5% a year, subject to status, accounts and valuation. Stamp Duty Land Tax on non-residential property is 0% up to £150,000, 2% from £150,001 to £250,000 and 5% above £250,000 (HMRC, rates as at October 2026; check the current rates before you buy).
Illustrative example. An engineering firm buys a freehold workshop for £280,000. A 75% loan is £210,000 and the deposit £70,000. SDLT is £3,500, so the firm needs about £73,500 before legal and valuation fees. See our costs page for the fees side.
Security and regulation when refinancing premises in the Borough of Hastings
Hastings Borough Council holds the planning records, and the lender takes a first legal charge registered at HM Land Registry. Commercial lending to a limited company is unregulated and falls outside the FCA's regulated mortgage perimeter; where a deal would be regulated, for example lending to a sole trader or individual, or a property where the borrower or a close family member will live in part of it, we refer it to an appropriately authorised firm. Eastbourne, Brighton and the rest of the county are on our East Sussex commercial mortgages page.
Business areas across Hastings
Old Town and the Stade
The Old Town sits in a sheltered valley between the East Hill and the West Hill, beside the Stade where Europe's largest beach-launched fishing fleet has worked for at least 400 years. Fish merchants, restaurants, pubs and independent shops buy premises here, many in old buildings.
Town centre and Priory Quarter
Priory Meadow Shopping Centre, with 56 stores, anchors the centre, alongside Queens Road, Wellington Place and Robertson Street. The Priory Quarter has added modern office space. Retailers, professional firms and office-based businesses buy shops and suites here.
St Leonards-on-Sea
The more suburban western part of the single urban area, built as Hastings spread westwards in Victorian times. Its parades and seafront hold shops, cafes, guest houses and studios, and buildings with flats above are common, so semi-commercial lending often applies.
Ore and Clive Vale
The Victorian area of Clive Vale and the former village of Ore lie up the valleys from the Old Town, towards The Ridge that marks the town's northern edge. Local shops, garages and trade businesses here buy modest premises to secure their base.
Bulverhythe and Glyne Gap
The western end of Hastings, where low-lying Glyne Gap separates the town from Bexhill-on-Sea and the A259 Bexhill Road runs. Motoring, trade and light industrial businesses look for units here with easier road access than the hilly centre allows.
