Art project to improve graffiti hit Bottle Alley on Hastings seafront

The 480 metre lower deck promenade, which runs from the pier to Warrior Square, has been covered in graffiti tags which have spread from the pillars to the 1930’s bottle glass walls, where it is difficult to remove.

The Starsky and Hatch food outlet on Bottle Alley has also been targeted by graffiti.

From 2017 until 2020, Bottle Alley was beautifully decorated with ‘Wavelength’, which brought colour to the newly restored columns of the 1930’s underground concrete promenade. Originally conceived by ZEROH as a temporary installation and commissioned by the Hastings arts festival Coastal Currents, due to the positive public response, this art became a long-term fixture. But, Hastings Council say despite their best efforts and those of the artists and the Foreshore Trust, it became impossible to continually restore the paint work and the columns needed to be whitewashed.

Now, thanks to thanks to Daniel Hardiker and Neil Hetherington, known as ZEROH, and local volunteers, new artwork is being created. With the support of local, family run firm Trade Paints, and the generosity of Leyland Trade, along with permission and support from Hastings Borough Council, the installation will return with a new lease of life.

Strengthened by the public’s dismay at losing this art, ZEROH have begun to recruit a team of volunteers from the local community to help repaint the columns throughout the spring and summer over the next two years.

To celebrate the return of ‘Wavelength’ and to draw attention to the wider artistic community in Hastings and St Leonards, ZEROH in association with Stella Dore gallery are launching the free entry Bottle Alley Art Market (BAAM). It takes place on Saturday August 26, from 10am – 6pm

BAAM will feature up to 60 artists displaying their work in the iconic space, plus there will be live music, and DJs at the Pier Bastion. Along with opportunities for visitors to meet and buy work direct from the artists. Artists will be selected via an open call, and there will also be exciting guest artists curated by the Stella Dore gallery, with some young and emerging artists being offered stalls for free. For more information visit www.bottlealley.org.

Cllr Andy Batsford, lead for Culture at Hastings Borough Council, said: “We are delighted that ZEROH and local volunteers will be bringing this much-loved column art back to life. This space, once completed, will consist of 113 painted columns with two gradients, one running from East to West (Hastings to St Leonards) and the other West to East (St Leonards to Hastings), offering a different experience depending on which way you are heading.

“ZEROH are very aware of the various challenges of keeping the gradient intact, but they are passionate that the momentum amongst the community will produce a sense of pride in Bottle Alley. We hope those that use this space respect the time and energy that has been put into restoring these columns, so that everyone can enjoy them.”

ZEROH, added: “We love how the space has developed in terms of the usage, it was originally designed in the 1930s to be a social space, and society is different now, so it’s not so gentile. Instead of promenading we have bike races, raves, pop up art happenings, hangouts and meet ups. We are hoping that whatever activity happens down there will be enhanced by the presence of the colours which can also be accentuated, of course, by the LED lights that come alive after dark.”

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