This September, artist Sophie Barber opens her show, Mackerel sky, mackerel sky, never long wet, never long dry at Hastings Contemporary. Like many great stories, this is a journey that starts here, travels the world, sort of, and returns home triumphant. Born in 1996, it has taken less than thirty years to have a museum show of international importance in the town of her birth.

Rob shares his signature dish of beef rendang. Let’s face it, it will almost certainly be better to experience it at the pub, but this will be a hit at home too!

When chef Benjamin Cumberpatch invited myself, photographer, Steve and designer, Laura to come for dinner, we jumped at the chance.

The salon may have opened in its current iteration on Queens Road in July 2022, but the minds behind Yard & Quarter came together long before that. The desire to open a salon that embraced sustainable principles was important to James and Renee from the beginning.

Beccy McCray will be no stranger to those working in Hastings and St Leonards’ art scene, local environmental activism, or simply out and about around the place. Keen-eyed Get Hastings readers may even remember her from Louise Coulthard’s 2023 piece on allotments. Working across multiple disciplines, blending visual storytelling with the natural world and social themes, her disparate interests coalesce into a wild creative practice that sees Beccy grace this issue’s cover sho

Katja has lived in Hastings for many years and runs the incredible Katja’s Cakes from her studio at The Yard. We caught up with her (and the very gorgeous Staffordshire Bull Terrier Roxy) to eat cake and chat baking, ceramics, creative inspiration and Yard life!

Katja has beautifully decorated her lemon syrup cupcakes with delicate buttercream pansies. Why not put your nozzles to the test and have a go at creating a delicious field of flowers of your own.This recipe makes 9 large cupcakes.

Myself, Get Hastings designer Laura and photographer Steve were all set to walk to The Cove in Fairlight for our meeting to kick off the next issue, and let me tell you, it’s not easy thinking about springtime when temperatures are low and days are dark and short but as soon as one issue hits the shelves, work starts on the next.

Half Man Half Burger Head Chef / Magician Sam, has created this burger especially for you Get Hastings readers. The crew down at HMHB have dug deep into their box of puns to present to you… The Cheezus of Nazareth with dipping gravy and mushroom ketchup.

I’m forever harping on about how lucky we are here with our abundance of great, interesting and well-curated independent shops. In this feature we celebrate seven of them that we hope, cover some of your Christmas bases for gift buying this year.

Many of you won’t know this, but Sonny’s family originally had a shop in King’s Road and now he’s back with a restaurant to add to their shop in the Old Town, where Sonny regularly smokes mackerel using oak chippings.

It was a few years ago that I first experienced ‘Mackerel Day’. It was blissfully warm and I’d been on the beach in front of Marine Court with friends and family and some small cans of gin and tonic from the shop. It was late afternoon, the light was soft and the beach was full of people enjoying the good weather, scared it wouldn’t last.

St Leonards on Sea has passed through many incarnations since its Victorian heyday, when Decimus Burton’s glamourous villas brought the fashionable crowd down from London to take in the sea air. Of late, however, it is arguably our ever-growing food scene which is tempting locals and weekend breakers to visit. 

Gianluca Tozzi and Jack Booth opened Galleria seafood bar in 2020 during the small gap between lockdowns. Their aim was to support the localfishermen and women by serving up dishes where seasonal fish and veg is the star, as well as showcasing some of the best English and European wines with their relaxed yet intimate space

Meet Ollie Hunter: mushroom fanatic, Masterchef semi-finalist and author of two cookbooks. Ollie and his partner, Laura are on a mission to serve up plant-based dishes that pack an umami punch (something that they both had missed since becoming vegan). You can try Lion’s Den menus from pop-ups in various pubs and restaurants in the area.

Colombo 16 are relatively new kids on the block and add a taste of Sri Lanka to the multi-cultural cuisine offering we already have in the area. Their Marine Court restaurant opened just six months ago with Caleb Joseph at the helm. Caleb is Brighton born but his father is Sri Lankan and he feels a strong sense of Sri Lankan heritage.