Pelham Arcade is a

shopping arcade An arcade is a succession of contiguous arches, with each arch supported by a colonnade of columns or piers. Exterior arcades are designed to provide a sheltered walkway for pedestrians; they include many loggias, but here arches are not an esse ...

Hastings Hastings ( ) is a seaside town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to th ...

East Sussex East Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Kent to the north-east, West Sussex to the west, Surrey to the north-west, and the English Channel to the south. The largest settlement ...

, England. Completed in 1825, the arcade has around 30 shops. It was renovated between 2010 and 2014, after being on the

Heritage at Risk Register An annual ''Heritage at Risk Register'' is published by Historic England. The survey is used by national and local government, a wide range of individuals and heritage groups to establish the extent of risk and to help assess priorities for acti ...

. The arcade is a Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

History

Pelham Arcade was built between 1823 and 1825 by Joseph Kay, at 1–12 Pelham Crescent in Hastings,

. It is believed to be one of the UK's oldest

s. Pelham Arcade was intended to mimic the style of

Burlington Arcade Burlington Arcade is a covered shopping arcade in London, England, United Kingdom. It is long, parallel to and east of Bond Street from Piccadilly to Burlington Gardens. It is a precursor to the mid-19th-century European shopping gallery and ...

in London, in particular, the use of arches between shops. Pelham Arcade and Pelham Crescent are named after

Thomas Pelham, 2nd Earl of Chichester Thomas Pelham, 2nd Earl of Chichester PC, PC (Ire), FRS (28 April 1756 – 4 July 1826), styled The Honourable Thomas Pelham from 1768 until 1783, The Right Honourable Thomas Pelham from 1783 to 1801, and then known as Lord Pelham until 1805, ...

, who built terraced houses in the area in the early 19th century, and owned

Hastings Castle Hastings Castle is a keep and bailey castle ruin situated in the town of Hastings, East Sussex. It overlooks the English Channel, into which large parts of the castle have fallen over the years. History Immediately after landing in England i ...

. In the nineteenth century, the arcade contained around 30 shops, including coffee shops, cigar shops, a library, French china shops, jewellery shops and shops selling foreign wines. The arcade also contained

assembly rooms In Great Britain and Ireland, especially in the 18th and 19th centuries, assembly rooms were gathering places for members of the higher social classes open to members of both sexes. At that time most entertaining was done at home and there wer ...

, and had evening performances for one

shilling The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currency, currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 1 ...

. In the summer, musical shows were performed on the promenade outside the arcade. In 1857, a Russian gun captured during the

Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...

was displayed on the seafront near Pelham Arcade. In the 1930s, the gun was moved to the

Hastings Museum and Art Gallery Hastings Museum & Art Gallery is a museum and art gallery located in, Hastings, East Sussex, England. Established in 1892, it originally resided in the Brassey Institute (now the town's library), but moved to its current location in 1927. it ...

. In the 20th and early 21st century, Pelham Arcade became run down, and suffered from damp and structural problems. In 1988, it became a Grade II

. Pelham Arcade was also listed on the

. In 2011, the arcade was upgraded from Grade II to Grade II* listed building status. Between 2010 and 2014, Pelham Arcade was renovated, with new shop fronts and arches in the original style, and fixes to the roof in order to stop it from leaking. In 2014, the arcade was removed from the Heritage at Risk Register, to represent the fact that the arcade was no longer in decline.

References

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External links

Historic England
Grade II* listed buildings in East Sussex Shopping arcades in England Buildings and structures in Hastings Commercial buildings completed in 1825