Harold Nursery

[Richard]

Much better - thank you!

It looks as if Flowers were grown therein:

Hastings and St Leonards Observer East Sussex, England
14 Dec 1907
BRILLIANT BALL
The decorations were very admirably carried out by Mr. A. C. Towner, Norman road, St. Leonards. Mr. James Paine (of Harold Nursery, Harold-road. Clive Vale, also The Fernery, London-road, St. Leonards), carried out the floral decorations most artistically.

[ColinL]

Other Nurseries
In addition to that Nursery was another slightly further up Harold Road, situated near allotments. Perhaps the south/south east facing slopes were good for production.

A C Towner's were/are Funeral Director's. I wonder if the Ball has a Gothic theme! Shades of Bram Stocker

Did anyone notice that on the previous map I added, the Bourne Stream was marked. I wonder if it was visible

[Richard]

Do you mean was the Bourne stream visible in those days or did it in fact run underground?
The Bourne stream is shown on current Google maps of the area.

Anyway it looks as if numerous 'market-gardens' were originally established south of Pinders Walk (Pinders Shaw) and close to the Bourne Stream which had presumably flooded periodically through time and contributed to a fertile soil.
There was not much housing in Clive Vale, until the early 1860's, and as the area became settled, many of the inhabitants were mechanics, labourers, and laundresses, servicing the needs of the late Victorian expansion of Hastings.
Market-gardeners also set up in business, some purchasing plots from British Land in the 1870's.
These were hard-drinking times, with large numbers of public houses and there were moderating attempts made across the country to counter drunkenness.
In Clive Vale a Mr. W. Rogers ran 'Harold Temperance Hotel' and held Tea Gardens, Harold Pleasure Gardens, which opened in My 1880 up a long pathway with steep-steps to the large Hotel, at Pinders Shaw, at the northern end of Harold Road, whilst the bottom site was the area of the market gardens and allotments.
(The Hotel was demolished in the 1970's and is now covered with housing.

[Gerry Glyde]

I may be about to write some twaddle but bear with me. I have not been to Clive Vale for many years however I think that there are no pubs between Old London Road and across towards Harold Rd; the reason being that the land sales at the end of the Victorian era had covenants against the sale of alcohol. It was relatively common in leases of land that owners wanted to maintain sobriety. Towards the end of the century the Band of Hope was very active in getting people to sign the pledge not to consume alcohol. That included having chiidren sign up as well.

They regularly held services on the beach near the Queens Hotel and might have the mickey out of them by passers by on the way to and from 15 or so town centre pubs

Happy days!

[Richard]

The wealthy visitors to Hastings would not have been much affected by the Temperance Movement, if at all.
Temperance Reading rooms, for working men, were provided as an alternative to public houses, example, 'The Clive Vale Institute and Reading Room'.
The Sussex Band of Hope held big demonstrations in Hastings, training the young in temperance work, October, 1905.
Around that time there was a 'Temperance and Commercial Hotel' (Waverley Temperance Hotel, 8-10 Havelock Road?).
November 1905, The Workhouse Guardians agreed to stop giving the inmates the free pint of beer they had been given every Christmas, this was a result of the temperance movement.
Also in 1905:
The Mail had on it’s front page an advert: “To help the poor – penny refreshment tickets – H&SL Temperance Van”. This was on the seafront every day, 10am-7pm. Anyone with penny tickets gets a “large cup of excellent tea, coffee or cocoa, or a substantial meat-sandwich, or bread and cheese”. Tickets were on sale at 1/- per dozen in various listed places. [The advert appeared frequently (weekly?) through the winter.]

There were also the 'Rechabites' meetings, for example at Gensing Hall in St. Leonards.
The Rechabites were temperance friendly societies, linked to the Freemasons. Starting in 1835, they took their name from an eponymous biblical tribe who were ‘commanded to drink no wine’ by their leader Jonadab son of Recab, and successfully resisted when tempted to do so.

ref., Hastings Chronicle Archives

I feel rather sorry for the Workhouse inmates who were denied their pint at Christmas!!