19 January 1951. This defines it as a "nationally important" building of "special interest". As of February 2001, it was one of 521 Grade II listed buildings, and 535 listed buildings of all grades, in the borough of Hastings. The Old Town area has many listed buildings: there are more than 90 on All Saints Street alone. The Shepherd Neame Brewery operates the Stag Inn as a tied house. The larger main bar is at the front, with another bar/function room and a beer garden behind. Live music (including bluegrass and a long-established folk night) are offered at various times. Food is available Monday - Thursday evenings, Friday and Saturday for lunch and dinner and Sunday lunch. Mummified cats The inn was renovated and altered internally in the 19th century. During this work, builders discovered the mummified bodies of two cats in a blocked-up chimney. Their dried-up bodies had been preserved in a blackened state. Two explanations have been offered: the cats may have entered the chimney and been overcome by smoke from the fireplace, which then prevented their remains decomposing; or they may have been offered as a sacrifice by a witch. Such activities have been reported in other parts of Hastings in the 16th and 17th centuries. An alleged witch named Hannah Clarke is claimed to have put her two cats up the chimney in 1665 and sealed it with a brick wall, in an attempt to ward off plague using witchcraft. The bodies were displayed in the pub, originally hung from hooks in the main (front) bar. In the 1980s, the delicate remains were placed in a glass-fronted wooden case which was then hung on a wall in the same bar. Architecture Like many of the original buildings surviving on All Saints Street, the Stag Inn retains its timber-framed structure-although it is hidden behind the mid 18th-century plastered façade. The building, which stands high above the narrow street on a raised pavement, has two storeys and a five-window range. There is also an attic level lit by a straight-headed dormer window. Most windows are sashes and have moulded sills. The gables on the side walls, added in the 18th century, are faced with tiles. A hipped-roofed timber-framed wing with brick walls extends to the rear. In the main section, the twin entrances have straight-headed hood moulds supported on corbels, with panelled doors reached by stone steps with