Hastings Pier Webcam – East Sussex’s Stirling Prize Pier

The Hastings Pier Webcam sits above the St Leonards seafront and looks east along the shingle beach to Hastings Pier, with the West Hill and its castle ruins rising behind the town. In daylight it runs a tour of preset shots that takes around six minutes, each named in a caption at the bottom of the frame, from the pier head and the castle to Eastbourne far along the coast and Goat Ledge, the beach café directly below the camera. A readout in the top corner gives the temperature, wind, rain and air pressure. After dark the view is more limited, covering the lit Old Town and the pier.

About Hastings Pier

Hastings Pier opened on 5 August 1872. It was designed by Eugenius Birch, the engineer behind Brighton’s West Pier and Eastbourne Pier, and it runs 280 meters (910 feet) out from the White Rock seafront, with a width that ranges from 14 meters (45 feet) to 58 meters (190 feet). It has been a Grade II listed structure since 1976. In the early hours of 5 October 2010 a fire destroyed about 95 percent of the superstructure. A rebuild costing 14 million pounds, designed by the architects dRMM, reopened the pier on 27 April 2016, and in 2017 it won the RIBA Stirling Prize for architecture as well as the National Piers Society’s Pier of the Year award.

On camera, much of the rebuilt deck is open boards and lamp posts. A pavilion with two small domes stands near the landward end, a row of beach huts sits partway out, and a timber-clad building with a terrace on its roof faces the sea. Beyond the pier head, a short line of old stumps stands in the water. The Pier Head preset holds on that seaward end long enough to watch people walk out to the rail.

Hastings and St Leonards-on-Sea have grown into a single town of about 91,500 people at the 2021 census, and the camera’s sweep covers the stretch where they meet. The West Hill closes the view to the east, with the ruins of Hastings Castle on its crest. The Normans built the castle in 1070, four years after the invasion. Below the hill, past the Ferris wheel of the seafront amusements, fishing boats sit on the shingle beside the lifeboat station. The fleet that works from that beach is Europe’s largest beach-launched fishing fleet and has used the same stretch of shore for at least 400 years.

Weather and Climate in Hastings

Hastings has a mild climate softened by the sea. Met Office averages for 1991 to 2020 put January at a high of 8 C (46 F) and a low of 3 C (37 F), and April at 13 C (55 F) by day and 6 C (43 F) at night. July reaches 21 C (70 F) with nights around 14 C (57 F), and October still averages 15 C (59 F) by day and 10 C (50 F) at night. Rain totals about 769 millimeters (30.3 inches) a year, and the town records around 1,914 hours of sunshine.

The readout on the stream shows the temperature, wind speed and gusts, wind direction, the day’s rain and the air pressure. A warm day out of season can fill the beach: on a sunny Sunday in October 2026 the readout showed 17 C (63 F) while the Goat Ledge tables were full. On rough days the surf runs up the shingle between the groynes, and on a murky day the presets aimed at Eastbourne and the shipping lane show little but haze.

Things to Do Near Hastings Pier

From the pier, the promenade leads east toward the town centre and the Old Town. George Street, at the foot of the West Hill, is where the West Hill Lift starts. The funicular opened in 1891 and climbs 52 meters (170 feet) over a 150-meter (500-foot) line, largely in a tunnel. Hastings Castle and St Clement’s Caves are both by its upper station, and the castle ruins have their own preset on the Hastings Pier Webcam. A second funicular, the East Hill Cliff Railway, climbs the East Hill.

West of the pier, the same promenade continues into St Leonards-on-Sea. Goat Ledge, the café the camera looks straight down on, trades from a row of brightly painted beach huts on the seafront at Warrior Square. Further along the coast, Eastbourne shows up on the camera’s long presets on clear days. Eastbourne Pier is another Eugenius Birch design, and so is Brighton’s West Pier, which now stands as a ruined frame offshore.

Similar Webcams You Might Like

More cameras on the south coast and in East Sussex:

• Brighton i360 Webcam
• Bournemouth Webcam
• Groombridge Station Webcam

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Hastings Pier located?

Hastings Pier stands on the White Rock seafront in Hastings, East Sussex, on the south coast of England. The camera that films it is west of the pier, above the St Leonards promenade, close enough to look straight down on the Goat Ledge café at Warrior Square.

What can you see on the Hastings Pier Webcam?

The camera runs a daytime tour of about six minutes. Its presets include a wide view of the seafront road, promenade, beach and pier, close shots of the pier head and the deck, the harbour arm, the lifeboat station, the amusements, Hastings Castle on the West Hill, the funicular, the English Channel due south and the shipping lane, Eastbourne and its Sovereign Harbour, and Goat Ledge below.

Does the Hastings webcam show the Old Town and the beach?

It shows the beach at length, from the shingle below the camera along the line of groynes to the pier. For the Old Town, the tour zooms on the seafront below the West Hill, the amusements and the fishing boats by the lifeboat station at the Old Town end of the front. The streets of the Old Town itself do not appear in the tour’s frames.

Can you see Eastbourne or Beachy Head from the Hastings webcam?

Yes, when the weather allows. Two presets, captioned Eastbourne Wide and Sovereign Harbour, zoom west along the coast, and the operator says Beachy Head and Eastbourne come into view in good weather. On a hazy day those shots show mostly sea.

What happened in the Hastings Pier fire?

Fire broke out early on 5 October 2010 and destroyed about 95 percent of the superstructure. The rebuilt pier reopened on 27 April 2016.

What is the weather like in Hastings?

Average highs run from 8 C (46 F) in January to 21 C (70 F) in July, with about 769 millimeters (30.3 inches) of rain a year. For the conditions right now, the readout on the stream gives the live temperature, wind and pressure on the seafront.

Can you watch the Hastings Pier Webcam at night?

Yes, the stream stays on after dark, but the operator describes the night view as limited to Hastings Old Town and the pier. The full tour, with its long shots to Eastbourne, is a daytime feature.

Source: Beaming