Hastings & St. Leonards Observer

From Historical Hastings

Merged with the Hastings and St Leonards Herald on the 26th of March 1867 and changed its publication date from Tuesday to Saturday[1]. For a few years post-merger, it was sold under the byline of the Hastings and St Leonards Herald and Observer. The paper was published by F. J. Parsons and printed in the printworks in Claremont, later moving with the presses into a purpose-built ​building​ fronting Cambridge Road known as the Observer Building. The presses also produced a wide range of other periodicals and books. For a period of time in the late 19th century, there was a special edition produced containing an almanac for the year.


As a result of national industrial action by the print union, the 3rd of May 1980 edition was skipped, this being the second time that year that production of the paper had been affected by such action. The 10th of May saw a tabloid format produced known as an 'Emergency Edition'. The new format proved so popular that from that date onwards, the paper was in a tabloid format as opposed to the previous broadsheet[2].

References & Notes

  1. British Newspaper Archive Hastings & St. Leonards Observer 26 March 1867 Pg. 0002
  2. The Hastings Chronicle: 1980 onwards – The Hastings Chronicle, accessdate: 25 January 2022