Hastings

Hastings reads first as seafront-Victorian: tall net-shops and pastel terraces giving way to steep residential streets climbing away from the water, the kind of townscape that draws artists, retirees and people priced out of Brighton in roughly equal measure. The high street mixes charity shops and vape stores with the odd defiantly independent café, and it doesn't try especially hard to impress you — which some people find a relief.

The practical picture is mixed enough that you should look at it with your eyes open. Four stations serve the town — Hastings, Ore, St Leonards Warrior Square and West St Leonards — so getting to London or along the coast isn't the issue; it's what waits for you locally that needs more thought. Schools are the soft spot here: with an average Ofsted rating hovering around "requires improvement" territory and a secondary progress score well below where it should be, this is not an area coasting on its education system, even though Ark Castledown Primary Academy holds a Good rating and there's a named Outstanding primary, Ark Little Ridge, in the wider catchment. A median age of 43.7 — a few years above the national average — tells you this skews toward settled and retired households rather than young professional churn, and the housing matches that: terraced freeholds dominate sales, at a median around £270,000, distinctly cheaper than the £349,000 national figure and well under the South East's £367,500 typical price. Flats undercut the national flat price too, which is part of why the area has long attracted people moving from London on a fixed budget.