Take a look inside new cafe in Hastings' Alexandra Park

The Pump House cafe and deli is based at the top end of the park, near the miniature railway at the former pump house building.

It is run by business partners Michael Fawcett and Rikki Finegold, who have known each other for more than 30 years, and opened the business a week-and-a-half ago.

The venue has a small delicatessen and a wide stock of wine on offer.

Rikki said: “When I first saw this building I slightly fell in love with it because it was such an iconic building from the 1970s and it looked so sad. I thought what a wonderful venue it could be as a fantastic cafe.

"Michael is a really old friend of mine and we have known each other for more than 30 years. Michael has been in the food industry his whole life and in the last 15 years been running a very successful gastropub in London. So with his experience and my experience we decided it was now or never.

"The idea was to expand the food offer. There is a little deli and Michael is really keen on the wine. Hopefully in the summer we can do cocktails on the terrace. We are licenced to serve alcohol until 7pm at the moment.

"We also hope to do extra events in the winter and will get a special license for that.

"It’s taken about a year to get across the line. We opened a week-and-a-half ago.”