I moved down there for work in 2003, after 30 years of living in Broadstairs (between Ramsgate and Margate). In the 15 years I lived there I saw a massive (positive) change in the area, so much so it was really hard to making decision to move back to Kent (Sandwich) around 18 months ago.
Having lived on the coast all my life, you know seaside towns have their downsides, Hastings was / is no exception. But it's buzzing all year round (in a good way, as in it's not a ghost town over winter), has had a lot of money pumped into it over the past 15 or so years, and love them or hate them, the DFLs have helped in the regeneration. The Old Town & St Leonards both have lots of decent eating and drinking places, it's a quick train or drive to Bexhill or Rye (more eating and drinking places) and half hour up the road is Tunbridge Wells (even more eating and drinking places with decent shopping to boot). Train to London is around 90 mins so not too bad either.
It seem to have a microclimate in the summer - after a hot day, the beach is still busy after sunset. There are also the annual events like the food festival, Jack in the Green, Old Town Week, bonfire night and loads more. As said, it was a really tough decision to move back to Kent, but the two main reasons were better schools (not great in Hastings) and to be closer to ageing parents.
If you want any info on east Kent - Margate, Broadstairs, Ramsgate - happy to pm you. All I would say is, in terms of regeneration, Margate is now like Hastings was about 10 years ago. It also seems to be full of hip edgy young Londoners who wanted to escape London only to move somewhere else and try and make it like the place they escaped from, and hang out with all the other people who've moved down from the place they wanted to escape from. All a bit odd imo.