The White Rock Hotel – looking for a new owner

White Rock Hotel up for sale

It’s just been announced (by the owners) that, after 20 years, The White Rock Hotel will be back on the market. Erica Smith looks back on the building’s last two decades.

I have lived in Hastings long enough to remember when the White Rock Hotel was called the Yelton and was a very different seaside venue. Back then it was all lager and fags and sticky carpets. Turning the hotel – and terrace – into a cigarette-free zone years before the 2007 smoking ban was a brave move by the new owners of the building.

When you live in a town, there’s no real reason to spend a night in a hotel and they tend to be institutions which are quite divorced from the local community. It was clear that the new owners of the White Rock Hotel had different intentions. Dogs were welcome, community groups were welcome to hold meetings and the basement bar has hosted many wonderful nights of comedy, performance and dance.

Lighting and statement wallpaper transformed the White Rock Hotel from a dingy seafront dive back to an elegant and welcoming place to eat, drink – and meet.

Whilst the lighting and decor were very much in keeping with the modernist lines of the hotel, there has always been a warm welcome for locals. It is clearly a family hotel – and it’s been a delight to watch the family grow and engage with the town – participating in sponsored runs and bike rides, supporting the pier after it was closed down and opening up other businesses to keep the seafront vibrant – including a vegan cafe in St Mary in the Castle.

Laurence Bell told Hastings Online Times that he, his wife Catherine and sister Vicky have had a fantastic 20 years building the business, but that they feel the time is right for them now to concentrate on their other businesses and to find new owners for the hotel.

Laurence said: “We have had many adventures in our 20 years here and have welcomed visitors from around the world to stay with us, as well as all our loyal, local customers who enjoy our café and bars, many of whom have become friends.

“Buying the hotel was the best business decision we’ve ever made, but we think it’s getting time for us to move on and let a new owner build on the success we’ve had.”

Hastings Online Times would like to thank Laurence, Catherine and Vicky for opening their home and business up to the community with warmth and generosity.

We hope that anyone interested in buying the hotel will continue to have an open and supportive arrangement with HOT and the many other groups that currently use the hotel for meetings and events. Hopefully the new owners will be able to revisit plans to make the hotel entrance wheelchair accessible – something that the Bell family were keen to implement – in order to make the building a fully-inclusive venue.

For anyone interested in putting in an offer, Josh Sullivan, Associate Director, Colliers is handling the sale.

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