Council impose tough new conditions on town centre bar and music venue

Last month members of Hastings Borough Council’s Licensing Committee met to review the license of Crowley’s Bar in Havelock Road – the committee has now made its recommendations and they are far-reaching with the bar having had its weekend opening hours slashed from 2am to midnight. Representatives of Crowley’s had asked to remain open past […]

Councillors’ decision on town centre bar expected next week

Fifty-eight pages of police reports were put in front of councillors this week as they considered the future of Crowley’s in Havelock Road. Hastings Borough Council’s Licensing Committee agenda was dominated by what to do about Crowley’s. Among the pages of reports were details of repeated cases of over-intoxication, two reported incidents of sexual assault […]

Increased reward for information on Kesley Searle

Police in East Sussex have increased from £500 to £1,000 the reward offered for information leading to the arrest of 26-year-old Kesley Searle. Searle is wanted for recall to prison having broken the terms of his release licence, and a reward of £500 was originally offered in January for information leading to his arrest. Detectives […]

Drivers ‘under the influence’ brought to book!

A Christmas crackdown on drink and drug-drivers has led to 212 arrests across Sussex in just four weeks. The campaign, run twice a year, in addition to routine roads policing is aimed at protecting the public from drink and drug drivers by educating motorists and targeting offenders. A total of 212 arrests were made by […]

St Leonards man in court on GBH charge…

A man has been charged with causing grievous bodily harm with intent after police responded to a report of a stabbing in Havelock Road, Hastings, on 26 October. A 20-year-old woman was found with a minor laceration to her stomach and was taken to hospital. She was treated and later released. Sam Secord, 28, unemployed, […]

Police need help to crack down on motorcycle thefts

Police have renewed calls for information concerning thefts or attempted thefts of motorbikes and mopeds in Hastings and St Leonards. There’s been a recent spate of thefts and police say they want to make sure people know what to do if they see anything suspicious and say that anyone who sees anything suspicious, who recovers […]

The Police – Over-stretched and overwhelmed by ‘broken’ mental health system

The police cannot be expected to pick up the pieces of a ‘broken mental health system’. That’s the headline finding of a report by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) published earlier this week. Hastings In Focus understands that an increasing amount of local officer’s time is spent dealing with people […]

Rudd was ‘let down’ by civil servants says report

Hastings MP Amber Rudd was let down by her department’s civil servants in the run-up to her resignation as Home Secretary in April/ Ms Rudd had been under pressure over the ‘Windrush Scandal’ before quitting her cabinet position after ‘inadvertently’ telling MPs that her department did not use targets for deporting illegal immigrants. But an […]

Sussex police under the spotlight in major BBC investigation

Sussex Police requires a ‘root and branch’ review of the service it delivers to the people of the county. That’s the view of a group of retired senior officers who say that funding cuts to Sussex Police have had a ‘devastating effect’ on its ability to fight crime. Tonight BBC1’s Inside Out South East talks to […]