Popular Ice cream parlour in Hastings is celebrating 16 years in business

Founded by Alison and Simon Nicholls, the shop is renowned for its friendly service, real dairy ice cream scoops, in 21 different flavours supplied by Marshlands Farm, as well as whipped ice cream, and vegan ice cream options. It's also known for its freshly made doughnuts and doughnut trays, as well as hot and cold drinks, cold beer, hot dogs, and other tasty seaside favourites like rock and candy floss. The shop is proud to hold a top-mark hygiene rating of 5, awarded by the Food Standards Agency.

Explaining about the business, Alison said: "I moved to Hastings in 2009. I actually live upstairs, living the dream. Fantastic views every day. What we're really well known for at the moment is our doughnuts and our doughnut trays. People come from far and wide to eat our doughnuts and our ice cream. We say we do the biggest and the best, freshest, hottest doughnuts in Hastings, and I believe we do.

"Our best seller is honey and stem ginger ice cream. And we also do a range of vegan ice creams. All our cones are vegan as well, or you can have your ice cream in a tub."

The couple takes food intolerances very seriously and always ensures customers are aware that certain products contain nuts. For vegan options, ice cream scoops are kept entirely separate.

Alison added: "We love what we do, and customer service is our biggest thing. Greeting our customers, to give them good service, giving them our products at a good price. That's probably why I haven't got rich, to be honest."

The busiest months for them are July and August, but Alison explains that the money they make during those months needs to sustain them through the winter period until they start up again the following year.

"We do shut down for a couple of months in the winter. We don't go on a cruise. We don't make that much money. But, as I said, we absolutely love what we do. So we'd like to say thank you to all of the people from Hastings, and all the people from much further afield, all the regulars that come and see us every year. We love seeing you. We love our job. It's so nice to see old and new faces. And thank you so much for making us the success we are."

In November 2024, the couple took on another business project and relaunched Rainbows, a sweet shop specialising in retro and American sweets, in Queens Arcade, Hastings. Simon spends most of his time running Munchies now, as Alison spends most of her time at Rainbows, although she also works shifts at Munchies.

The opening times are 12 until late, seven days a week throughout the summer months.

You can keep up to date by visiting their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100038756509440