It's carnival time again!

The popular Hastings old town carnival will be back again in little over a week’s time as the culmination of a week of events known as Hastings week.

Described by many as the Notting Hill carnival by sea the carnival is one of the highlights of the Hastings calendar. The old town will be awash with colourful floats and stalls with visitors and locals alike enjoying the sights and sounds while taking in the atmosphere.

This truly family friendly event seems to grow in popularity each year and attracts visitors from all over the country an indeed the world.

Hastings Old Town Carnival - Saturday 9th August 6pm for further info visit: http://www.1066.net/carnival/

Hastings 100 year anniversary marathon

To celebrate 100 years of the Hastings Marathon, the town will stage a special marathon on the 14th December. Fifty-one competitors took part in the original Hastings Marathon in December 1908, including six Olympic runners.

Organisers are trying to trace the descendants of the winners of the original marathon. Race director Eric Hardwick said he hoped relatives of the original winners would bring along their medals.

The first Hastings runner home in 1908 was George White, while Edmund Catt won the Silver Cup. "We want some of these local people or anyone else that took part in the 1908 race - any descendants or people that know about it - to please let us know," said Mr Hardwick.

The overall winner of the 1908 race was WT Clarke, of the Sefton Harriers in Liverpool, in 2 hours 37 minutes and 16.8 seconds.

Mr Hardwick said Mr Clarke's descendants had already been located.

St Leonards Festival 19th July 2008

The 3rd St Leonards Festival promises to be bigger and better.

The streets will once again resound with laughter and happy voices. The Kings Road will again feature a Festival Market with more stalls and a wider range of goods to tempt and delight shoppers. The entertainment lined up for Kings Road this year is fantastic and must not be missed.

The main band this year will be Maron Town, who will be performing on the stage in Warrior Square Gardens.

Jukanoo will be creating a wonderful carnival all around Warrior Sq. Making a third return will be all the various market stalls along Kings Rd selling exotic foods and vibrant goods.

The seafront will once again be the place to be for the more active and sports minded visitor. Run by Active Hastings there will be a variety of events for people to participate in. Warrior Square Gardens will once again feature a skateboard ramp to thrill our younger visitors.

Also on Warrior Square Gardens will be a range of community stands to browse and gather information on local groups and services. The much anticipated contributions and performances from local community groups on the main stage on Warrior Square Gardens will commence at noon. These are planned to include as many local groups as possible and will feature dance groups as well as music and song.

Hastings set to become art hotspot

The Jerwood Foundation, plans to build a £4million gallery in Hastings Old Town to house its main collection of 20th and 21st century British art. The gallery will be free to the public when it opens.

Simon Hubbard, corporate director for regeneration and planning at Hastings council said: "The town will gain a high quality cultural asset which will achieve a cultural-led regeneration of part of the seafront and provide the key for future improvement."


Cllr Jeremy Birch said: "This is a real opportunity for us in not just seeing a viable and exciting construction on The Stade but also being able to change the type of visitors to Hastings.

He said: "This could be life-changing for Old Town. At last we will see the culture and arts at the heart of regeneration."

Council leader Peter Pragnell said: "These are exciting times, not just for Old Town, but for the whole of the surrounding area.

"Jerwood is going to invest a lot of money in our town and we want it to fully benefit from it.

"We will work closely with the Jerwood Foundation, other organisations such as the Arts Council, the South East England Development Agency, the Hastings Foreshore Trust, and East Sussex County Council, and of course the local community, to do all we can to realise this vision."

Think before you eat!

We saw an interesting article on the web yesterday. A foodie writer was suggesting that there are a number of questions you should ask of a restaurant before sitting down to eat.

Well, that's fine if you must be so intense – so we’ll put the questions to the Intimo test!

Here are the questions:

1. Does the restaurant use organic/local/fair trade produce?

Intimo tries wherever possible to use local and fresh produce.

2. Fast food is full of salt, sugar and fats – often twice the recommended daily amount.

We cook good food as quickly as we can – we don’t do Fast Food!

3. Is the food cooked fresh or microwaved?

Our food is cooked fresh and to order.

4. Are you looking for sparkling crystal and starched linen or plastic beakers and Formica tables?

Intimo does not do ‘pretentious! But we do believe in standards and quality – you’ll find our restaurant just about right!

5. Many burgers contain 48% chicken, water, beef fat, beef heart, rusk, starch, onion, salt, spices hydrolysed vegetable protein, etc – but no beef!

Then you’ve never eaten an Intimo Burger!!

6. Is the restaurant child-friendly?

We welcome well-behaved children for lunches, snacks or dinners.

7. Mark-up on wines can be as much as 400%.

All we can say is – not at Intimo!

8. Service charges are discretionary.

Absolutely - we couldn't agree more!

A great Bank Holiday!

We enjoyed a good Bank Holiday Weekend with a great crowd of people visiting us over the three days - it was good to see old friends and some new ones enjoying our hospitality.

Mind you, you shouldn't wait for a holiday weekend to come and sample Intimo!

Smoking

Reports suggest that cigarette sales have dropped by almost 7% since the smoking ban was introduced in England in July.

We don't moralise at Intimo but we do support the right of our customers to enjoy their food and drink in a smoke-free atmosphere.

However, for those of our customers who do like to smoke, we have plenty of outdoor space with seating from which you can enjoy your tobacco.

So, with just a few days of summer remaining, why not pop down to the coast and see us for a great lunch, dinner or snack?

Another reason to visit Hastings!

The Hastings Museum and Art Gallery has now re-opened following a £1 million refurbishment.

The Museum now boasts a variety of new features and exhibits including a retro exhibition of memorabilia recalling the infamous Mods v Rockers bank holiday clashes of the 1960's. included in this new exhibition is a replica of the iconic Mod emblem - the Lambretta scooter.

A brand new exhibit dedicated to John Logie Baird, who chose the town as the venue for the world's first ever TV broadcast, includes replica equipment used by Baird in that first historic broadcast.

The museum also features displays of the Hastings-born conservationist Grey Owl and Robert Tressell, author of ‘Ragged Trousered Philanthropists’, who spent time living in the town.

For more information on the newly refurbished Hastings Museum, including opening times and admission details, visit the Museums website.

Of course, after a morning spent viewing this fabulous new facility in the town - it's time for aspot of lunch.

And where better than Hastings favourite lunch spot - Intimo!

We look forward to seeing you!

Restaurant rip-offs

The Foodie Magazine Olive has just published a list of the 10 most common restaurant rips offs.

And interesting reading it makes too!

Strange how nearly all the apparent rip offs are techniques employed by the so-called top places – the places to be seen, the places with more of a spotlight on the name on the door than on the food.

You get my drift?

So, here’s the list – and see if you can spot what I mean.

The Top 10 Restaurant Rips Offs

1. Supplements
2. Rising prices after positive reviews
3. Wine mark-ups
4. Cover charges
5. Special occasion menus
6. Upselling
7. Mineral water
8. Extra courses
9. Daily specials
10. The set lunch

Here at Intimo, we have a very simple philosophy – we provide good, honest food at a price that represents value for money.

That’s why our customers return time and again.

We leave the rip offs to the so-called celebrity chefs and their fellow London Big Hitters

Pier Pressure

There has been a bit of a spat down here in Hastings between the local council and the owners of the town's pier.

The rumpus ended with the council issuing a closure order on the owners - and for most of the summer, one of the town's most iconic landmarks has been sitting forlornly behind fences and padlocks - not a great advert for the British Seaside.

Anyway, with a little help from the council, the owners of the Pier’s Bingo Hall and Amusement Arcade carried out some repair work to strengthen the structure, enabling both the Bingo Hall and Arcade to begin trading once more.

So, our Pier is now open again which is great news for the town. We're not getting carried away though because the future remains uncertain for the section that is still shut - and there seems to be no end in sight to the original dust-up between owners and council.

But at least our visitors can once again walk along this beautiful structure - after a great lunch in Intomo, of course.

The seaside just isn't the seaside without a pier!

Come to Hastings and see UFO's

Our home town of Hastings was in the news all over the world this week.

It all started with a request to the Ministry of Defence under the Freedom of Information Act regarding the number of reports on UFO sightings.

Their response made interesting - and entertaining - reading!

Apparently there were 97 reports investigated by the MOD who, rather po-faced says "We are obliged to investigate any sightings that may be related to military aircraft."

Amongst the report was one from a Cumbrian driver who reported seeing: "a triangular object with lights. One green, one red, and the other two amber." We're not sure but, could this have been ... ahem ... a set of traffic lights?

But the most bizarre sighting of the 97 received by the MoD - and the piece of the story that propelled Hastings into the newspapers - was "the alien" seen by two witnesses outside their kitchen window in Hastings, East Sussex.

The couple's identity is not disclosed - but perhaps the aliens were searching for a decent place to eat! Should have sent them straight round to Intimo!!

Incidentally, now that the hot weather has returned with a vengeance, remember that Intimo has seating outside - perfect for that lunch snack and cool drink!

We look forward to seeing you.

Phew! What a start!

Welcome to the Intimo Blog.

It doesn't seem like five minutes since we opened up Intimo - a great new place to eat in the centre of Hastings. Time has flown by but we've alreday built up a loyal customer base - all attracted by good honest food at sensible prices.

You'll find all you need to know about Intimo right here - including how to find us and how to make a reservation.

Intimo is a great place to meet friends, family and business colleagues for a snack, for lunch or for a great dinner.

If you work in Hastings - we're convenient for lunch and snacks. If you'd like to call your order through - then ring us on 01424 439080.

If you're visiting Hastings on holiday - we're right by the sea front and close to all the shops. A great place to dine for all the family - we believe in offering great food at sensible prices.

If you're planning a night out in Hastings - why not join us for dinner before or after your theatre, concert or show?

And if you just like great food - you must pay us a visit!

We'll keep you posted right here on our special events and new menus - so do keep visiting us.

We hope to see you soon!

Michael