Crap Towns / East Sussex / Bexhill-on-Sea
Bexhill-on-Sea
54/100Crap Score
Known as Costa Geriatrica.
453rd crappest of 984 towns, and 5th in East Sussex. Higher scores are crapper.
Have your say
Crap Town of the Year 2026/27
See the raceThe public vote. It's separate from the Crap Score, and it closes on 31 December 2027.
Letters from the locals
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Lights out by teatime
Bexhill's got a famous modernist pavilion on the seafront. After dark it's got sod all.
The De La Warr Pavilion is a big white slab of modernism on the seafront, and it's the best thing in Bexhill by a mile. After that it's vape shops, charity shops and cars parked on the pavement. There's nothing to do at night and not much more in the day. The driving's shocking too. Want a night out? Get the train to Hastings.
It gets 1,840 hours of sunshine a year and spends most of them at the hairdresser's. There are 43 of them. The banks have shut 5 branches since 2022, and the vape shops have moved in at nearly four times the typical town's per head, which is ambitious for Costa Geriatrica.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Bexhill-on-Sea's 92 for serious road collisions means it's crapper than 92% of towns.
- Serious road collisions92/1004.2 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Broadband89/10014.5% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 25.6% across the Rother council area
- Criminal damage and arson70/1008.6 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Deliberate fires62/1007.3 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Anti-social behaviour58/10016.4 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Sewage spills45/100220 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2024 to 2025
- Fly-tipping38/1008.9 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Rother council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Air pollution34/1006.6 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.6 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Rain19/100117 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Food hygiene3/1000.7% rated 0 to 2, of the 291 food businesses with a rating
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hastings | 87 |
| 2 | Newhaven | 75 |
| 3 | Lewes | 70 |
| 4 | Eastbourne | 66 |
| 5 | Bexhill-on-Sea | 54 |
| 6 | Brighton and Hove | 51 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.7 | Hailsham | 35 |
| 8 | Peacehaven | 30 |
| 9 | Polegate | 23 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Bexhill-on-Sea by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 75.9 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 76.2
- 283 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 64.7 per 10,000 people, 19x the typical town's 3.4
- 1 serious pollution incident within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2022
- Sufficient Bexhill's bathing water rating, 2025
What's left on the high street
- 11 pubs, 43 hairdressers, 15 charity shops, 4 bookmakers, 5 vape shops, 3 banks on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 3.5% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (1 of 29) Better: 13% lower than the typical town's 4.0%
- 5 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 11.4 per 100,000 people, 3.4x the typical town's 3.4
- 15 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 3.4 per 10,000 people, 2.1x the typical town's 1.6
- 3 public swimming pools open About the same: 0.7 per 10,000 people, about the same as the typical English town's 0.7
- 1 place on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 11.48pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.3% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 40% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 20.1% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 30% higher than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,840 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 20% higher than the typical town's 1,532
Rother council
- £2,701 Band D council tax (2026-27) Worse: £309 more than the English average
- 18% of East Sussex County Council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Worse: 13% higher than England's 16%
- 5 ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Bexhill-on-Sea against your mate's town, and a match ticket to rub it in.
- ?Fly-tippingper 1,000, council area?
- ?Anti-social behaviourper 1,000 people?
- ?Serious road crashesper 10,000 people?
- ?Sewage spillshours per 10,000 people?
- ?Food hygienerated poor?
- ?Criminal damageper 1,000 people?
- ?Dirty airµg/m³?
- ?No gigabitof premises can't get it?
- ?Deliberate firesper 10,000 people?
- ?Raindays a year?
Ten ingredients. One verdict. Who's crapper? The higher Crap Score takes it.