Feaist's Bakery
Feaist's Bakery was a large local bakery chain with as many as thirteen outlets along the south coast by 1895. The company started out at number 6 Castle Hill Road from 1863 until around the 1950s. These premises were rebuilt in 1912 and again in 1935. These buildings were demolished in the 1960s to widen Castle Hill Road.
During the late 19th Century, they produced a number of 're-stamped' Napoleonic 10 centime coins bearing the name of the bakery as advertising tokens.
In addition to a steam-powered flour mill at Waterworks Road and the Ore (White) Mill which the company purchased from Isaiah Cheale in 1893; Cheale finding the mills to be unprofitable by then[1], with an adjoining corn, hay and straw stores, the business had a cafe, The Mikado at 21 Robertson Street (and 'The Scotch Cafe' at 39 Robertson Street[2]) and 1 Wellington Square, with retail branches at Hughenden Road, Mount Road, Queen's Road, Bohemia Road, Bexhill Road and Old London Road in Ore.[3].
The chain were placed into liquidation in 1916[4], being run in administration for a number of years, and eventually brought out by the founder of the Hastings & St. Leonards Observer, Frederick Parsons eventually becoming Henry King & Feaist Ltd by 1936 - the two companies of Henry King and Feaist having co-operated in a social sense for a number of years beforehand[5].
By the close of WW2, the chain had twelve stores around the borough; these being at 38 London Road, 26 Robertson Street, 5b Queen's Road, 120 Queen's Road, 16 George Street, 79 Mount Road, 476 Old London Road, 9 Hughenden Road, 56 Sedlescombe Road North, 79 Bohemia Road,489 Bexhill Road and 6 Castle Hill Road, with the main bakery in Shepherd Street[6].
A further outlet appeared during the 1960s with Henry King & Feaist's Bakery taking over what was previously Whicker's Tea Rooms in the High Street.
Images[edit]
- Images
Feaist's Advertisement 1900
Feaist's Advertisement 1921
Aug. 1945 Henry King & Feaist Ltd. Advert
Henry-King-Feaist-Bakers-in-the-High-Street-previously-Whickers-Tea-Rooms.-c1962
References & Notes
- ↑ The Mills and Millers of Hastings and Environs p.195 (Wilcock 2025)
- ↑ Hastings & St Leonards Observer 20 December 1919 pg. 5
- ↑ Leigh Kennedy
- ↑ Hastings & St Leonards Observer 17 June 1916 pg. 2
- ↑ British Newspaper Archive Hastings & St. Leonards Observer 14 March 1936 Pg. 0022
- ↑ British Newspaper Archive Hastings & St. Leonards Observer 4 August 1945 Pg. 0003
