Hurstpierpoint's St Lawrence Fair

Welcome to Hurst Life’s St Lawrence Fair event page. Here you will find our most recent information for everything regarding the fair.

Since the 14th century, the village of Hurstpierpoint has celebrated the Feast of St Lawrence with a village fair. The fair is one of the oldest in the United Kingdom.

See also, St Lawrence Fair

We can confirm that fair day will be Saturday 4th July.

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St Lawrence Fair – a crib sheet

With the Fair just around the corner, we thought we would summarise timings and the procession route, so that everyone can enjoy this wonderful event to the full. On Friday 3rd from 12.30pm to 2.30pm there is the Teddy Bear’s Picnic at the South Avenue Rec. Also, for the young ones later that evening, from 5.30pm to 6.45pm, it is the Junior Disco. Alongside this from 6pm – 10.30pm, it is Hurst Band Night, in what has become a traditional lively Friday night event on the Rec.

On Saturday 4th, road closures on the High Street will be in place with advance notices. The processions leave Marchant Road at 1pm, accompanied by a peal of bells, and goes down Cuckfield Road, up Western Road and then up the High Street to South Avenue. Can all those residents on the route please find temporary parking off road, to ensure a safe passage for the parade.

The arena stalls and Fun Fair opens at 12noon and then follows a Burgess Hill Musical Theatre Society performance at 12.45pm. At 1.30pm, the Fun Run starts from the Village Green. At 2pm, the procession arrives in the arena with prize presentations for best dressed. Create Space Studios perform at 2.30pm, Fun Run prize giving at 3pm, Agnes M Dance perform at 3.20pm and the Tug of War starts at 3.45pm. The raffle draw winner is announced at 4.40pm and the Grand Finale, with audience participation at 4.45pm.

Full details are in the St Lawrence Fair leaflet distributed with Hurst Life last month. Have a great and safe Fair day!

St. Lawrence Fair is fast approaching…

By Lona McDonald

Hello, Hurstpierpoint! St Lawrence Fair is almost upon us – 3rd and 4th July – we hope you’re looking forward to it as much as we are. Preparations are well under way, and there will be lots going on in the lead up to and over fair weekend, so have a look at the details below and in the Fair Programme (which is being distributed with this edition of Hurst Life to Hurstpierpoint residents) - a huge thank you to the Hurst Life team for organising this.

Stall holders: there are still some slots available - to book please get in touch at stlawrencefair.stalls@ gmail.com; we’d love to see you at the Fair. Procession entries: local groups of any age, young or grown up, we’d love you to be a part of one of the oldest Fairs in the country; it’s not too late to register - please drop us an email at slf.procession@gmail.com; the theme of ‘festivals from around the world’ offers lots of options!

Throughout June, wander along the High Street and sample some delicious food and drink from our wonderful High Street venues taking part in the St Lawrence Fair Food & Drink Trail - see the programme for more details.

If you go down to the High Street today…can you spot all of the named Teddy Bears in our Teddy Bear Trail? Entry forms available on our website, from a couple of High Street shops (TBC) and the library.

Back again this year, the ever-popular Dog Show, sponsored by Heath Vets, will be held at the Scout HQ on Sunday 21st June, 11.30am.

Tug of war: always a crowd favourite in the arena, this is your chance to get a team together and be part of a friendly competition - will the reigning champs, Bridgers Farm, return to defend their title? Whether you’re representing your workplace, a pub, club or just rounding up a team of mates, we’d love to have you on the rope. Drop us an email at stlawrencefair.com to register your team’s interest.

Finally, a huge thank you to our main sponsors: Chatt Estates, PSP Homes, Sussex Stoneworks, Hawthorne Vets, HPP Society, Hayden Swan Opticians and Earlswood Homes. And all our other sponsors, advertisers, volunteers and helpers; your generosity, support and time given ensures the Fair goes ahead for another year!

We look forward to seeing you over Fair weekend (3rd-4th July)!

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Hurst Village Market launches at the New Inn this December 4th 2021

A new village market is launching this month in Hurstpierpoint, just in time for Christmas. The market is a triple partnership between The New Inn, @Shop_Hurst, an Instagram account which promotes local retailers, and Hurst Rethink.

After meeting earlier this year and realising how much they had in common, all three organisations decided to join forces and collaborate to bring local producers and crafters together once a month to the village. The first market will be Saturday 4th December, held in the marquee at The New Inn from 10am-1pm. If all goes well, the team hopes to hold the market on the first Saturday of every month, bringing more local producers in as time goes on.

The hope is that the market will drive footfall to the village, benefitting other retailers on the High Street. Several local Hurst traders are already confirmed for the December market including Wolstonbury Co vineyard, Auroras Bathtime Treats and Winser Grayling plants. Other traders include Scrapless zero waste shop from Burgess Hill and BlushBakesByRach cakes.

Charlotte from Hurst Rethink comments, “The Hurst Rethink Green Consumer group has been looking at how we make it easier to buy local without having to get in our cars and drive out of the village. This market is the perfect solution and we’re thrilled to be working with @shop_hurst and the New Inn - we share the same vision and desire to get stuff done!” The New Inn team will be serving breakfasts and refreshments throughout the morning. This first market is very much a trial to see how well it might go down in the village so please do come along and support it. If you’re out on the High Street on Saturday morning, we’d love to see you.

Hurst's central pub - the New Inn

I met Murray at the New Inn on a Monday, so we had the place to ourselves. “For some reason the whole of Hurst seems to shut down on this day; we kept open for a few years on Mondays but in the end it wasn’t worth it.” Many business owners have had ups and downs over the last 18 months and none more so than landlords and he very much hopes that by the time you are reading this, there will be punters standing at the bar again, being served drinks.

He grew up in Surrey and his first job was in a bank in Clacton-on-Sea, ‘in the days when you could get a bank job with O’levels.’ He progressed to a finance company in the Midlands, specialising in asset finance for the printing industry, which 25 years ago was thriving. Nearly 15 years ago he and his wife Chris moved to the village, at the far end of Langton Lane and the New Inn became his pub of choice. “It’s smack in the centre of Hurst and it’s got a massive amount of history. It seems every other customer who comes in here to drink has either worked here or slept upstairs at some point during their lives, so everybody knows it.”

Then one day the landlord announced he was selling, and he thought ‘well maybe I could do that, and wind down a bit’, rather than try to pursue a career that was essentially finished, due the internet and advanced home printing. So, he took the plunge and bought it in 2016. “I didn’t quite get that right, if I’m honest with you, as I’ve had to wind up rather than down! This is a full-time occupation and there’s no other way around it.” Like many landlords and B&B owners who had envisaged a quiet life leading into retirement, he had a rude awakening. “I thought I could dip in and out; when you’re the wrong side of the bar you think you could do it, but there’s so much involved in running a successful pub.”

It became clear to them early on that living two miles away was not working out, so they renovated the four-bedroom flat above the pub and rented their house out, an arrangement that comes to an end this month. Chris is a music teacher by profession but gave up and joined the business to help Murray run it. “We went from a situation living in Langton Lane where we never saw anybody from one day to the next to here where we now know everybody. And I love it, walking down the street saying good morning to everybody and everybody’s friendly, and I wouldn’t change that for the world.

Turn to page 18 of August’s Hurst Life to learn more about the life of a landlord and his dogs.