Penbuckles in Hastings

Went in for a coffee and cake with my partner, which was a little over priced but OK. Unfortunately I was appalled by awful behavior of a member of staff to a customer. They had bought a coffee, but had purchased a pastry from elsewhere previously, and was picking at it out of the bag. It was pointed out to them in the bluntest of terms that the pastry was not purchased from the shop, and the customer was politely apologetic. Increadibly the staff member launched into a tirade of abuse creating a very uncomfortable atmosphere for all. She was certainly rude and almost bullying in her approach. Very unprofessional and I'm sure that the customer will never visit again. For that matter, I don't think that I, or my partner, would want to go to a place where staff behave in this way.

Helpful and friendly staff and great selection of food and drink.

Great deli, lovely selection of cheese, fantastic coffee, run by a really lovely couple. I have not eaten here. Just used the deli. Which I would go more often, if the parking in Hastings was not such a challenge.

Nice place for coffee, biscuits & cheeses. We opted for the cheese board & enjoyed sampling several varieties of locally made cheeses. Tiny seating area in back.

Bought coffee here while visiting Hastings, the middle aged women serving was exceptionally rude & abrupt with yes & no answers only, not even a smile or hello when entering, the guy making the coffee seemed nice & made a great coffee though he was shaking when making the drinks I wonder if she was making him nervous!

Very small deli offering an excellent selection of mostly local produce. There is a small seating area, where we really enjoyed the cheese selection we ate. The owner was very welcoming and informative. What a lovely place if you are looking to purchase a luxury gift, local product or nice wine and cheese/biscuits.

We had an amazing cheese experience here, great information on what we were eating, great service and even better cheese!

Such a shame. Never a reason to lose a constant customer! Patronizing, and rude! Never been treated so poorly by a shop owner in my life! And I get around! Pretentious and over priced anyway. I’ve only just moved here 6 months ago, and usually prefer to use local shops. But feel justified in Boycotting these hideous ghouls!

Excellent local cheeses and brilliant staff.

If you like cheese - you'll LOVE this deli. Excellent range of products, knowledgeable, friendly and helpful staff. Great find and we will be back.

Penbuckles! Where do I begin? A small local business with a big heart! Run by the most incredibly kind and welcoming people you will ever encounter, Ellie and Richard are always there to tend to your Cheese/Charcuterie/Wine/Sweet needs! with an extensive knowledge of all products they sell, you can be guaranteed to leave with a smile on your face... Not only do they provide locally sourced produce all year round, they are keen to heighten the overall customer experience with the things that count. Extensive information including; tastings notes ,pairings suggestions for alternative uses, you simply could not ask for a better understanding of their products. They use compostable coffee cups and are very environmentally aware, you can bring your own reusable cup and they will gladly use it for your choice beverage. If you don't know this shop already or are just visiting, it is definitely worth popping in. Full to the brim with Hastings heart and spirit❤️

Lovely deli. Fantastic cheese counter. Good range of local produce. Friendly and engaging service - reminds you why shopping can be enjoyable,

Great coffee and excellent range of deli products Friendly helpful staff Jonspictureframes

I can't recommend Penbuckles enough, as I'm born and bred in the Old Town I have seen many places come and go but this place is one of the biggest assets our town as ever had. The owners are the most friendly and loveliest people I've ever met, always asking after me and my family. If you want the finest of food and drink and to meet some of the friendliest people in Hastings then Penbuckles is the place for you x

Very helpful & knowledgeable ,and friendly ,a gem . in Old town Hastings ,with many other ,

There seems to be a theme here. The owners of this establishment seem to think that people should be grateful of this place's very existence and can therefore speak to customers (or potential customers) with appalling rudeness. No thanks, won't be going back and will advise friends and family to do the same.

A really great shop with lovely service and, most importantly, very well cared for cheese. Penbuckles is very supportive of local (Sussex/Kent) and British producers and also feature hard to find delicacies from further afield. A range of lovely wines are offered and the owners really know their stuff both on the wines and the cheeses and are always looking for really good produce to stock. Go here!

Can't rate this place highly enough. Such a friendly team in there. Helped me sort a delicious cheeseboard. Grabbed a coffee to go as I left. Such a gem of a shop in the Old Town.

Having just moved into our new home, dear friends of ours arranged a bread,cheese and chutney hamper to be delivered. It was amazing, the cheeses were incredible, chutneys so tasty and the bread....oh the bread! Thank you Penbuckles... we will come and find you in the old town

Really miserable female owner been in there twice and be spoken to really rudely will not be going again

When ever we visit Hastings this place is almost always first on our list to pop in. Absolutely love the guys enthusiasm for different cheese and always look forward to sampling our haul when we get back!

I am a regular customer and cannot speak more highly of how Penbuckles has kept us (and many others in Hastings Old Town) sane through lockdown and beyond. The owners are good humoured and down to earth and really know and love their business. Despite restrictions on the number of customers in their shop at the moment, they never make anyone feel hurried, whilst orders are cheerfully signalled ahead from the queue outside. This is a really great example of a business adapting to Covid and supporting its local community and I hope it continues to thrive.

First time in this place, only came to by some cheese and crackers for an evening snack. Unfortunately the lady at the till was unbelievably rude, no please or thank you's to be heard. I cannot speak for the products yet as I havent consumed them but regardless of how good they may be I will not be shopping here again.

I always stop at this deli for my coffee and their tasty cakes but after today I’ll never shop there again. I rang up a few weeks ago to put in an order online and was spoken to very abruptly by a lady I now know to be one of the owners, she was just as abrupt when I went in but I shrugged it off as thought maybe she was just having a bad day. A few weeks later I went back only to be left standing outside for 15 mins whilst she chatted away to a customer, she didn’t even acknowledge me but I just waited patiently. Today I went and queued outside with two other people then all of a sudden she yelled at us across the counter ‘STOP queuing outside our neighbour’s shop and queue outside our shop instead if you’re waiting to come in!” So I’m done now, all three of us walked off and went next door to Judges where they were just lovely. I’ve now discovered that I can buy Monmouth coffee online so, despite wanting to support my local shops! I’m not prepared to be spoken to like that by such a rude horrible woman. Shame as the man who owns the shop and the blonde sales assistant are just lovely, I won’t be returning.

Haven't been here for a while, I have had a couple of decent cups of coffee there.

One of my favourite places in Hastings old town. They have a little bit of everything: cheeses, cured meats, wine, spirits, chocolates... and most of the stuff is sourced locally!

Guilty pleasure sharing a cheese board here. Such a huge variety of delicious cheeses. Lovely cakes and so much more , lots of local produce. Highly recommend.

I used to be a regular customer here, sometimes 2/3 times a week. I was there a couple of days ago, looking for things that were Christmas favourites. A much reduced range of goods.

One of my favorite places in the Old town. Great owner too with fab wine knowledge.

Few places sell Portuguese custard tarts. Bringing back lovely memories of queuing for these in Lisbon. Their range of imported wines is very impressive, a little dangerous, but I like it.

Came to see a friend in Hastings and went in on a whim. Glad we did. Lovely atmosphere, lovely coffee and lovely food. You can't want more than that. Wish I was a local!

Great service, friendly and helpful staff. Great products, especially cheese and gin!

I was directed to Penbuckles by a local who told me that they served the "best coffee in Hastings". It's true! Lovely place, wonderful cheeses, salamis, wine and if course coffee.

I was searching on line while visiting Hastings for a local cheesemonger. Penbuckles are open on Sunday from 11am so I went to the old town to buy some cheese from them. The shop is very small and quaint and tgere were 3 people working behind the counter. I chose my artisan cheeses and the staff were very kind and very lovely but oh my goodness, the cutting and wrapping of cheeses was sooooooo slow and I was in the store for 20 minutes whilst my husband was on double yellow lines outside going frantic ..... all I wanted was 4 pieces of cheese. It's certainly not a store that you can be served quickly in and get out ........ leave lots of time. It's really quaint though lol

Brilliant range of products including local gins and wines and yummy produce. Great enthusiasm and knowledge from the staff. Can’t wait to go back! Love to see a business like this making a real effort to promote local produce and offer something a little different.

Quaint place, variety of teas, coffees and wines

This place is very good to stock up on snazzy beach pick-nick or AirBnB supplies whilst in Hastings. Lovely and broad selection of local and not so local cheeses. Fab pork pies with flaky pastry. So good we went straight back for another one. Also loved the chocolate and very nice Italian wine to take away. A must visit when in Hastings.

Popped in for a coffee and cake with a friend. Had a great time sitting in the back room. Frangipane was lovely as was the coffee. Owner got chatting with us and we ended up having a few tasters of the local gins. Great service - looking forward to my next visit already.

Excellent little delicatessen, interesting selection of cheeses with a good array of local cheese. Wine selection limited but care and thought seems to have been exercised in the selection. Importantly the best coffee in the old town

We saw the Monmouth coffee sign and popped in for cappuccino. The problem was that they were far too milky so we could hardly taste the coffee.

Fabulous cheese experience, informative and enthusiastic staff great selection of cheeses go for the sharing cheese platter WOW loved it

Very good cheese board. Good selection of cheese. Yummy!

This is my local delicatessen. They have a great selection of produce and are super friendly. They also have a small seating area in the back for coffee or wine and snacks.

Really fabulous deli and coffee shop, that also sells a lot of Organic Wines and local rum. We only stumbled in here on our second day in Hastings, and wished we had found it to enjoy an excellent coffee every day! Grabbed wine that was recommended by the owner and paired it with cheese and other nibbles. Very knowledgeable and friendly staff, highly recommended

I love this place. There is a huge selection of delicious foods. The staff are very friendly and helpful. Prices are reasonable. Their coffee is delicious. I often go here for cheese. They have a large variety that they constantly change.

You order at the counter and head back into a lovely cosy little snug at the back. There's a limited range of filled rolls and cakes, but they are all delicious! Coffee is good and everyone loved the cakes. Flapjack and Eccles cakes were especially good. I'd happily go back.P.S. No toilets on site or phone signal.

Definitely my favourite place in the Old Town. There's always something new to try, smell or taste. The staff in here are excellent and hubby and I really enjoyed the different Saturday tastings leading up to Christmas.

V friendly. Excellent range of cheeses and unusual interesting drinks alcoholic and non alcoholic. Staff v helpful. 15th century buildings, v in keeping with Old Hastings. Definitely worth a visit xxx

Old town needs more shops like this..

Great delicatessen with a fantastic selection of food and a nice laidback, cosy backroom

Really enjoyed our cheeseboard here. Huge hunks of cheese of an excellent variety. Mountains of crackers & chutney to accompany it. Had a bottle of the house white to accompany it all.

Great coffee. Well stocked delicatessen for a nice treat or gift. Love the place.

Another lovely time in here. Gorgeous flapjack, decent coffee, friendly staff serving with a smile and chat. Just fab.

Just home from one of our regular visits to this lovely establishment. The staff and owners absolutely make Penbuckles so special. The coffee is the best in Hastings and the food is as good as it gets. Today we had a chocolate and coconut slice - beautiful. Do check out the cheese; the Stinking Bishop is very good at present. Usually a good selection of delicious pies and quiches.

Dropped in on a whim for lunch while passing. Excellent coffee and a delicious cheese board, in a lovely, cosy space.

Great — everything that a deli should have - cheese, cold meats, olives, savouries, wines -it’s a refreshing find. There is a small (very small) area in the back for sitting - which adds to the charm. No tourist hordes, only discerning clientele.

A real gem of a place, we go there regularly as they are such a lovely team, the produce is excellent and it is such a welcoming place to take a break, chill out over amazing coffee, pastries or a light lunch. Do yourself a favor and go! They have an impressive selection of cheese, hams and wine as well as condiments. Can't sing this places praises high enough!

We paid our second trip to Penbuckles in a week today, just for light lunch. Last time we had a beautiful brie and tomato quiche with a perfect sized, well dressed salad. Today we had a pulled pork pie with salad and an excellent coffee. Never anything to complain about at Penbuckles, and the staff are all a delight, really professional and friendly. The range of foods available is outstanding and all are really high quality. The cheeses are really special. Highly recommended.

Love the cheeses in Penbuckles. They always have an interesting selection of locally produced cheese and meats. One of the few places in the Hastings to get nice sodas, breads, biscuits etc.

Excellent and informative service. Good for local produce. Nice atmosphere.

No frills, no fuss, just quaint, quirky and quality. An excellent choice of cheeses, cold meats, chutneys, coffees and teas. These people choose their stock with care and consideration and know their product really well. A visit not to be missed! Thank you!

Great Monmouth coffee and atmosphere

Had the most wonderful time in here.

Great place, tucked away and bigger than you think! I usually come here for a coffee and to do a bit of work (they have wifi) for an hour or two. Not a lot of vegetarian options but the sandwiches are great and they have an excellent selection of locally produced food and especially wines. This is a good place to get yourself some good wine - not the usual supermarket selection. The staff are always helpful, and knowledgeable about their produce.

It was such a lovely discovery of this hidden coffee place. Great service, good coffee and a lovely desserts.

I cannot praise this place enough. The knowledge, friendliness of everybody, products are excellent. We sampled a couple of cheeses and were advised, based on our tasting likes/dislikes, of other cheeses suited to our likings. Worth a trip down to Hastings to visit this shop alone !

A wonderful little delicatessan offering some delightful fresh products and a host of other items. At the rear of the shop is a room with just three tables (14 covers) which is a veritable oasis. Here you can enjoy great coffee (also available to take out) or a nice selection of teas. Even better if you have a Portuguese custard tart (or other pastries/cakes) with your drink. Browse through the really interesting selection of world wines plus English wines from local producers in Sussex and Kent. Port tastings are planned for the autumn. Lovely staff. Warm and friendly. The owner is very knowledgable about his wines, etc and only too happy to offer advice and information about his stock. All in all a very pleasant experience.

Was a lovely spot to stop for a great tea and coffee instead of going to a chain. Food was all lovely. It is small so can fill up quite quickly.

Very friendly place, professional and informal, has a wonderful atmosphere and quality products!

Tenía una preciosa café blanco! Pasteles muy agradable. Higo pero dulce. Una pequeña área con asientos en la parte trasera. No hay wc. El personal es muy amable

Mi delicatessen locales. Así como chocolate, queso y chocolate dulces también tienen espectaculares caliente (puedes elegir el % de chocolate que son actualmente) y haciendo algunas preciosas frío helado de café. pulsado

I go here for coffee if I'm in the old town. Definitely the best. Service is always great. I don't ever buy food here so cant rate it.

I booked a Wine tasting with deli meats & cheeses for a friend's 50th. In a cosy backroom setting, Geoff served us 4 red wines and a selection of meats & cheeses. He was very knowledgable about all the products (without any kind of hard sell!). This concept is in the early stages of development, for these relatively new owners and I'm sure as it's popularity increases so will the timings for when you can book. If you like your wine, meats & cheeses I'd definitely recommend it.

Just had the nicest coconut and chocolate flapjack. Huge lumps of coconut on top and full of flavour. Loved it!

Penbuckles is an amazing delicatessen with a charming little café at the back. The cafe only has three tables, so it's best to go when it's quiet, but the place is very friendly and welcoming. I regularly pop in here whenever I'm in the mood for coffee and a cake.

Best deli in old town. Service with a smile and pricey but gorgeous grub on offer. Fabulously quirky range of food.

Visited here about 4 times in two days - just kept going back! Bought some nice foodie stuff (artisan crackers and the now famous Hastings lemon ketchup!) from the shop, some cakes and pasties to take away and also had a drink in the cafe at the back. You sit amongst all the wine, food, cookbooks etc for sale, which is glorious albeit dangerous for shopping. Friendly staff, great service and most importantly, great food.

Paid our weekly visit today. Shared a chicken and ham pie and Scotch egg, both attractively served with a good salad. We each had a fruit Sanpellegrino and paid £11. We felt very satisfied and that this was excellent value. Fresh, tasty and well presented. Very good staff here.We then had a chat with one of the owners and bought wine and cheese. Ordered another bottle.Always well treated here and always satisfied. Penbuckles deserves and earns its good reputation.

Fantastic coffee, great soy hot chocolate, and we appreciated little touches like water on the table and advice re. the nearest loos. Staff pleasant too...an all-round winner.

I had coffee here for the first time today. It was excellent, good, strong and tasty. I also had the best lemon tart I've had for a long time; nicely sticky and very lemony. Very good staff, friendly and helpful.

Fantastic Monmouth coffee, selection of British cheeses and wine. We also buy our sourdough, bacon and farm butter here. There is a great little tasting room at the back, where you can have a coffee & cake or a cheese & wine platter.

Penbuckles is in the heart of the old town in Hastings. Its deli counter has a big selection of great cheese. It serves wonderful Monmouth coffee to take away or to drink in the back room. A local gem that we go to every time we're in Hastings, along with the fish shops at Rock-a-Nore!

Excellent coffee and loose-leaf tea and very tasty cheese platter. Very attractive food and drink products but we limited ourselves to cheeses and cider. Definitely on for a visit next time we're in the area.

Penbuckles serves up some delicious local food and has a great array of cheeses, all in top condition. However, some of their prices are eyewatering. Their Portuguese egg custard tarts are from another local shop, but more than double the price of their supplier. There are other examples, but the quality is good.

I often buy presents here as they stock a good variety of Sussex produce and a wider range of delicious things too. The coffee and hot chocolate are second to none! And if you treat yourself to a charcuterie or cheese platter you will thank yourself all day

If you're trying to find a decent coffee this is the place. Monmouth beans very tasty, food, wine and deli also highly recommended 10/10

Lovely string coffee, lovely Portuguese custard tarts, very friendly staff. Nice and quiet to sit in. Would be good if there were toilets at some point.

Had the best flat white ever. Had to go back the next day and have another. Bought some delicious chocolate brownies to have back home. They were so good.

Great flat white (Monmouth coffee) and friendly service.