Hastings Bank

Hastings' second bank was formed by the partnership of Edward Wenham, Thomas and Mark Breeds, and Henry and Thomas Farncomb and came into existence on the 1st of January 1803. The bank's premises were at 33 High Street. During the bank's short existence, it purchased a number of properties in the town; in 1812 the partners purchased from Edward Milward the Swan Inn, in High Street, the town’s most important and oldest inn; in 1815 the bank bought from Milward land to the west of castle, for the ​building​ of the Castle Hotel, much of Wellington Square and Russell Street. Mark Breeds was given £16,000 in December 1816 to cover the hotel and the first houses in the Square (initially called Waterloo Square). The partnership ended 31 December 1819, but the Breeds brothers carried on running the bank. The bank closed c1824-25.