Meet the owners of The Wood Shop in Hastings

Owned by Dennis Langford and John Ball, the idea to open the shop originated after Dennis and John relocated from London, where they had worked in the antiques and wood restoration trade for 25 years.

Dennis said: "John and I came down from London in 1999. We wanted to get away from there and saw this shop for sale, so we decided to take a chance in the retail market.

"The reason we chose the wood shop in particular was because we worked in antiques and wood restoration. And it tied in, in the sense that we were initially selling 99% of wooden items from the shop when it opened, which is why it's called The Wood Shop.

"We sold wooden items with writing on them, created through pyrography. Over time, we've added beachwear, which includes bucket and spades, beach balls, hats and shoes. And, of course, we stick with nautical-themed items, especially seagulls, boats and lighthouses. The core merchandise is wood, though."

As a shop that relies on the tourist trade, Dennis explains that they need to generate revenue during the summer months, as there are very few customers around during winter. Because of this, they close the shop from November to the end of March each year.

He says that good customer service is essential: "Customer service is our priority, but it's also being aware of trends and keeping ahead with stock and making sure that we have what the customer wants at the time. It’s not an easy thing being in retail now. Finding an item that you can make a profit on and to run a business that is profitable is extremely hard.”

In 2003, the premises suffered two break-ins, and on the second one, thieves set fire to the back of the shop, which burnt it to the ground.

Dennis said that this was a very bleak period: "It took us three or four years to rebuild and reopen properly, to be back as we were. There were many issues during the planning stage, and we even discovered some old bones in the back, which had to be assessed by heritage before we could proceed with the build. So, it was challenging to get it rebuilt to the point where we could start running a profitable business."

Asked about the challenges of running a tourist-led business in the Old Town, John added: “The biggest challenge we face now is getting the council to realise that tourism in Hastings is their number one business. They make it very difficult, the price of the parking, low quality signs to tell people there's more shops this way. Shutting down the toilets, they even sold the one at the bottom of Rock-A-Nore Road here, which is all against tourism.

“Hastings is predominantly tourism, that's where it generates its most money from. So we as shopkeepers would love the council to come and talk to us to see how they could improve, and help tourism make Hastings good.”

After 26 years, Dennis and John are nearing retirement and are hopeful that someone will buy the business as it stands, bringing fresh, new ideas.

Dennis added: "We've had 26 very hard years. It's got harder as time's gone on, but we're still here, surviving. I still enjoy every day in the shop with customers, and whoever eventually takes over, I hope that they find it as interesting and as enjoyable as I have"