This photo merge of Hastings Parade and the old Hippodrome Theatre shows how much land has been reclaimed since the Harbour Arm was built. The original photograph was taken around 1905, six years after construction of the harbour stopped. Through the process of longshore drift, the town has been able to grow the land available for use considerably. It’s not clear if this was intended by the designers of the harbour, but at least the project benefitted the town despite it not being completed.

The stand the children are looking at is a shell stand. This photo shows the same stand and its owners.

The Hippodrome Theatre, originally known as the Empire Theatre of Varieties opened in 1899 and was operational until it closed in 1978. Houdini performed there in 1905.  It is a lovely building, if you can see past the orange paint on the lower level and the canopy that runs for its entire length. It’s best viewed from across the street. It’s a good illustration of how unsympathetic renovation can detract from an attractive building. There is some good information about the Hippodrome on the arthurlloyd.co.uk website here.

Leney’s, written on the side of the building in the distance refers to Leney’s Brewery who were based in Dover.

Below are the two photographs I have used for this composite image of Hastings Parade. The original image is part of the Frederick Nutt Broderick collection. The image scanned from the photographer’s original glass plate negative, located at Hastings Library. I’ve used it with kind permission of the Hastings Reference Library. Their excellent Flickr page can be viewed here.