Telephones
Early Days[edit]
The first telephone exchange in the town was situated in Claremont, with a number of town-centre businesses being among the first connections.
By 1946, the exchange had a total of 3,846 subscribers connected and was connecting an average of 19,000 calls daily. The switchboard was operated by an all-female team of operators who, each worked 46 hours per week at the exchange, 43.5 hours of which were at the switchboard. Due to high demand between 9.30 and 10.30AM, a tour group including Councillors and reporters from the Hastings & St. Leonards Observer were asked to propagate a request that this time slot be avoided for connecting calls unless absolutely necessary[1].
Direct Dialling[edit]
Six Digit Numbers[edit]
In 1974 Hastings became automated and the 4 digit numbers had 42 put in front of them to make the required 6 digits.For example, Hastings 2345, so became 422345. 5 digit numbers began with 3 (eg 34191), and had 4 in front to make them 6 digits (434191).
On the whole the first two digits were based upon geography, so 42 was Hastings, 43 St Leonards
Area Code Change[edit]
In 1995 UK telecoms underwent a huge shake-up (the 'Big Number') where most provincial numbers became prefixed with '01' instead of the previous '0'. This made Hastings numbers change from 0424 123456 to 01424 123456.
- ↑ British Newspaper Archive Hastings & St. Leonards Observer 23 November 1946 Pg. 0007
