Conquest & St Helens
Hastings 002 · 6 sub-areas · 10,020 residents
Hastings 002 is a predominantly residential part of Hastings, home to around 10,000 people and skewing noticeably older than most UK neighbourhoods. A typical two-bedroom flat lets for about £897 a month — well below the UK median for a 2-bed and among the more affordable areas along the East Sussex coast. Owner-occupation here is unusually high for a seaside town.
Conquest & St Helens is a settled residential pocket of Hastings. The bigger gravitational centre is London, around 109 minutes away by direct train, but most days don't require leaving — local life is what people are here for. The population skews older, with a long-settled feel and a high share of retirees; most homes are owner-occupied, so turnover is low and many residents have been here a long time.
Overview
What's it like to live in Conquest & St Helens?
Greenspace is on the doorstep — a park or playing field is within walking distance of most homes; The streets feel safe by national standards — police-recorded crime is well below the country-wide median; Transport links are limited — a car or e-bike is a practical assumption for most regular trips; rents are roughly in line with the national norm, at around £1,008 a month for a typical home; gigabit broadband is effectively universal.
Generated from the latest May 2026 data · refreshed automatically
Figures are aggregated across 6 sub-areas — population-weighted means for rates, sums for counts. Sources cited beneath each section.
Conquest & St Helens in Hastings
Living in Conquest & St Helens
This part of Hastings has a settled, established feel that sets it apart from the town centre and seafront areas. The age profile tells you a lot: nearly a third of residents are 65 or over, and another fifth are in their 50s and early 60s. It's the kind of neighbourhood where people have lived for decades, and that shows in the relatively high rate of owner-occupation — more than four in five households own their home, compared to the national renter-heavy picture in most coastal towns.
For renters, the costs here are genuinely low. You'll pay around £897 a month for a two-bedroom home, which is considerably below the UK median of roughly £1,200 for an equivalent size. Even a three-bedroom property averages around £1,100 a month. The trade-off is that rents rose about 2.5% over the past year, so affordability, while still real, is slowly eroding.
The population skews heavily UK-born — over 92% — and the ethnic diversity index is low at 10.6, making this one of the more homogeneous parts of an already fairly homogeneous town. Around 28% of residents hold a degree-level qualification, roughly in line with national norms. Single-person households account for just over a quarter of the total, which tracks with the older age profile.
For day-to-day movement, most people here drive — nearly 58% of residents commute by car, while barely 3% use public transport. The nearest mainline rail station is roughly 1.5 km away, about a 19-minute walk. The rail commute to London runs at about 111 minutes, so this isn't commuter territory in any practical sense. If you're working remotely, though, almost 29% of residents already do, and full gigabit broadband coverage means the infrastructure is there. See the streets and sub-areas below for more detail on specific pockets within the neighbourhood.
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Frequently asked
- Is Hastings 002 a nice place to live?
- It depends on what you're after. It's a quiet, settled residential neighbourhood with low crime relative to the national average and genuinely affordable rents. The trade-off is a limited public transport network and school ratings that are well below national norms. It suits older residents and those working from home more than young commuters or families prioritising school quality.
- What is the rent in Hastings 002?
- A one-bedroom runs around £697 a month, a two-bedroom about £897, and a three-bedroom approximately £1,100. These figures are estimates scaled from council-level data using local sale prices. Rents rose around 2.5% over the past year. Even so, they're well below the UK median for equivalent-sized homes.
- Is Hastings 002 safe?
- The area records roughly 60 crimes per 1,000 residents annually — noticeably below the UK national rate of around 80. That's a relatively reassuring figure for a coastal town area. High owner-occupation and a settled older population tend to keep residential crime rates lower.
- What's the commute from Hastings 002 to London?
- The rail journey to London takes around 111 minutes. That makes it impractical for daily commuting to the capital — and the neighbourhood's commuter town flag confirms this isn't a commuter-belt area. Nearly 29% of residents work from home, which is well above average, and gigabit broadband coverage is 100%.
- Who lives in Hastings 002?
- Predominantly older, settled homeowners. Nearly a third of residents are 65 or over, and over 80% own their home. It's one of the more homogeneous parts of the South East — over 92% were born in the UK. Young professionals and families with children are a relatively small share of the population.
- What schools are near Hastings 002?
- There are 67 schools within typical catchment distance, but only around 18% are rated Good or Outstanding by Ofsted — a stark contrast to the national average of roughly 89%. The nearest Outstanding-rated school is about 1.8 km away. School quality is worth investigating carefully if it's a key factor in your decision.
- How affordable is buying a home in Hastings 002?
- The median sale price is around £342,000. On a typical local salary, it takes roughly 5.8 years to save a deposit — better than many South East areas but still a significant hurdle. Rent-to-take-home pay sits at around 52%, which means renting long-term here puts real pressure on household budgets.