A town will become the second in Sussex to receive a Safer Shopping award.

Representatives from the British Retail Consortium will present Hastings officials with the accolade to mark work carried out to reduce crime in the town centre.

MP Michael Foster will unveil a blue plaque at the entrance of Priory Meadow shopping centre in Queen's Road on Tuesday at noon.

A Shop Watch scheme has been in operation in Hastings for seven years and police say it is responsible for more than 300 arrests and helping to find lost children.

Shopkeepers keep in contact through a radio link and can warn each other of suspicious customers and potential troublemakers.

Daniel Gibbin, the Shop Watch co-ordinator, said:

"The award recognises what Hastings has achieved and the high standards we have maintained."

Inspector Mike Fagan, of the Sussex Police Partnership, said work would continue to make the town centre as safe at night as it was in the day.

Brighton and Hove was the first place in the South to win the award in December.