Bohemia Road. What a mess!!!

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northants1066
Posts: 47
Joined: Thu May 15, 2014 5:26 pm

Bohemia Road. What a mess!!!

Postby northants1066 » Thu Jun 06, 2019 7:07 pm

On Tuesday I visited my sister in law , my first trip to Hastings for a couple of years. When back in Hastings I like to drive around my home area of St Leonards and in particular Bohemia Road/ Cornfield Terrace. Oh dear what a shock it was driving into Bohemia Road from Silverhill. I don't think there is one shop still trading. Everything boarded up or made into homes with tatty frontage. Admittedly it was raining but I didn't even see a pedestrian. A once thriving community is now totally dead. In my youth and into my twenties there were shops of all types, bakers, butchers, grocers, greengrocers, sweet shops, fish mongers and chippies. hairdressing salons both male and female. Hardware shops (Cosens) mens clothing (Wards) newsagents (Kings) several Pubs and of course a Post Office (which may still be there). A truly depressing voyage down memory lane.

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Richard
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Joined: Tue Mar 11, 2014 3:36 pm

Re: Bohemia Road. What a mess!!!

Postby Richard » Thu Jun 06, 2019 9:39 pm

I agree Bohemia village is like a ghost town now, the bus service is abysmal, from my experience.
Was the area just another satellite village of the poor, where the workers lived in their own impoverished districts: Hollington, Silverhill, Bohemia, Halton, the Old Town and, worst of all, Ore, supplying labour to the area of Hastings under construction in the mid-late Victorian era?
All these outlying villages waxed and waned at various times, depending on projects in Hastings and St. Leonards.
They each have different histories and Bohemia has connections with a Farm House of the same name, later developed into a grand mansion.
Lower Bohemia has more immediate connections with Hastings, being the site of Fire, Police, Law Courts and Cricket Grounds but Upper Bohemia (village) seems to be stagnating and yet it is also perched within easy access, and on on the upper reaches of, Alexandra Park.

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Richard
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Re: Bohemia Road. What a mess!!!

Postby Richard » Sun Jun 09, 2019 8:39 pm

I don't know if the locals there are miserable but a lot of people in central Hastings seem quite depressed.
Lack of jobs and opportunities perhaps.

Happygochappy
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat Jul 20, 2019 11:30 am

Re: Bohemia Road. What a mess!!!

Postby Happygochappy » Sat Jul 20, 2019 11:35 am

Being a local of the town for all my life i have seen the highs and lows of hastings aswell as Kings road queens rd and of course Bohemia rd i remember it well so busy down there i remember all the shops and it was buzzing in 80s it`s just a shame it`s gone down hill:(

cerberus
Posts: 36
Joined: Sun Nov 24, 2019 7:54 am

Re: Bohemia Road. What a mess!!!

Postby cerberus » Fri Nov 29, 2019 9:59 am

northants1066 wrote:On Tuesday I visited my sister in law , my first trip to Hastings for a couple of years. When back in Hastings I like to drive around my home area of St Leonards and in particular Bohemia Road/ Cornfield Terrace. Oh dear what a shock it was driving into Bohemia Road from Silverhill. I don't think there is one shop still trading. Everything boarded up or made into homes with tatty frontage. Admittedly it was raining but I didn't even see a pedestrian. A once thriving community is now totally dead. In my youth and into my twenties there were shops of all types, bakers, butchers, grocers, greengrocers, sweet shops, fish mongers and chippies. hairdressing salons both male and female. Hardware shops (Cosens) mens clothing (Wards) newsagents (Kings) several Pubs and of course a Post Office (which may still be there). A truly depressing voyage down memory lane.


When I was a sprog my parents used to take me and my sister to King's Road at Christmas, and it was like (I know it sounds corny) a Winter Wonderland with all its little individual shops and boutiques. Now it's all junk shops and Poundlands. They usually make an effort with the chrimbo lights though, and the tree at the junction with London road. One thing's for sure, 'Fings ain't what they used to be!'
Last edited by cerberus on Fri Nov 29, 2019 11:10 am, edited 1 time in total.

cerberus
Posts: 36
Joined: Sun Nov 24, 2019 7:54 am

Re: Bohemia Road. What a mess!!!

Postby cerberus » Fri Nov 29, 2019 10:06 am

Richard wrote:I don't know if the locals there are miserable but a lot of people in central Hastings seem quite depressed.
Lack of jobs and opportunities perhaps.


Sign of the times, Richard? It's like it nationwide, especially since the decade of 'austerity' started. And the potholes in Upper Maze Hill are more like sink holes, and out of respect for my car's suspension, I turn into Albany road so I can approach my driveway from the lower end of UMH. I wrote to the CC highways dept a while ago saying I spend so much distance swerving around the effing potholes that other motorists suspect that I'm the worse for the demon drink - and here's me, the only t-totaller in town. :lol:


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