Shipwrecked! Pirate-Themed Shop Display Competition

As part of Hastings Carnival Week 2010, all the shops in the old town got involved in a "best dressed window" competition... the theme - Shipwrecked! The winning shop recieve the Babs Muggridge Memorial Trophy. I was surprised and astounded by the effort put in by some of the shop owners. Check out the photos of the hopefuls, I think my favourite is the window display below...

Penbuckles - stockists of local wine, cheese, beers, ciders and and other locally sourced food and drink. I love the wine cork beach, which the shop turned into a "guess the number of corks in the window" competition.

Judges - totally organic bakery and my first port of call on my walk to work. They sell the most amazing chocolate brownies I've ever tasted (made from Green and Blacks chocolate), the best olives, the best soups, the best scotch eggs... there's a theme here!

The window of an interiors shop - shipwrecked barbies and cindys!

Antiques Warehouse - one of my favourite antique shops in the old town: the antiques and furniture were at one point filling every available space in the huge old house from the basement to the attic. I loved climbing up the rickety stairs to the top floors to find a treat around every corner.

The shipwreck themed window for the (relatively) new shop to take the place of the much loved Butlers Emporium, they sell some gorgeous things, and I love that they have kept the old apothacary style cabinets to display their stock on.

Love the anchor necklaces in a jewellery shop on George Street.

I don't know about you but this skull-faced pirate is really quite disturbing!

This window display blew my mind! It belongs to the Dolls House shop on George Street. The level of effort was amazing, the whole window was transformed into a shipwrecked island, complete with a (real, and fully functioning) water feature pool!

The huuuge treasure map in the window of The Drgaon Bar on George Street.

Part of the display for the shop Equilibrium, including pirate booty, sand, coins, pirate outfits, treasure chests and pirate ships.

Bebe Jour, the shop with clothes and treats for little ones also got involved with the competiton, with more pirate outfits, treasure chests and an inflatable palm tree.

Even the bath-time goods shop, Soak, got stuck in!

But the winning shop was Nelsons House Antiques! Unfortunately I didn't manage to get a photo of their window display, but, you can find the photos from the best dressed window competition here.