Not the shopping capital of the South East (Hailsham in general)

Member Name: eatingpinkzebras

Product:	Hailsham in general
Date:	01/08/09 (54 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good location

Disadvantages: Depressing town

Hailsham is a small market town in East Sussex. It can be accessed via the A22 road to Eastbourne.

Hailsham's location is good in many ways. Various pleasant towns, cities and days out are in easy driving distance. The seaside town of Eastbourne with its pier, harbour and good shopping opportunities can be visited with a fifteen minute journey. The lovely little town of Lewes with its old architecture and famed bonfire nights can be driven to in half an hour, and Brighton is around 45 minutes away.

Enjoyable days out from Hailsham include trips to places such as Herstmonceux Castle, a beautiful old castle with a lovely lake and moat, which hosts occasional medieval days with fencing, archery and re-enactments. The town of Battle, which has excellent boutique style shops and of course is home to the famous Battle Abbey is also within easy reach.

However the town centre of Hailsham is not so good. Although it used to have a reasonable variety of shops they have recently been shutting down at an alarming rate and there are very few left. Supermarkets and charity shops, along with an occasional book or stationary store and a couple of estate agencies are all that are left.

I have never seen so many charity shops in one town! So if you like shopping in them then you may enjoy Hailsham, but if you want to try a chain store then you are out of luck. Even the ubiquitous New Look and Primark are absent from Hailsham. Many of the shops lie empty now and the town centre has a very depressing air to it.

There are a few nice restaurants however including various foreign ones such as Chinese and Italian.

Hailsham is in a good location but sadly the town is in dire need of regeneration and I imagine most of the residents bypass it altogether and simply go to Eastbourne.

Summary: Needs revamping