Crap Towns / West Sussex / Burgess Hill
Burgess Hill
36/100Crap Score
629th crappest of 984 towns, and 12th in West 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
Got something to say about Burgess Hill? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
They call it Buggers Hole.
The new town centre never turns up. The empty shops did.
Burgess Hill has been waiting for its new town centre so long nobody believes in it any more. Meanwhile the shops are empty and the storm overflows round the town spill for 3.4 times as long as the typical town's. Locals call it Buggers Hole. It's their town. We'll take their word for it.
Halifax, HSBC and Lloyds have all shut a branch while the redevelopment drags on, so at least the banks finished something. Try getting out on a Sunday and the buses barely bother. Haywards Heath is just up the road, laughing.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Burgess Hill's 81 for sewage spills means it's crapper than 81% of towns.
- Sewage spills81/100927 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2024 to 2025
- Broadband76/10010.3% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 17.5% across the Mid Sussex council area
- Food hygiene70/1003.7% rated 0 to 2, of the 163 food businesses with a rating
- Criminal damage and arson51/1007.1 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Anti-social behaviour50/10015.4 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Air pollution43/1006.9 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.9 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Rain31/100121 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Serious road collisions27/1001.8 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Deliberate fires20/100
- Fly-tipping2/1003.0 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Mid Sussex council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 8 | Bognor Regis | 53 |
| 9 | East Grinstead | 45 |
| 10 | Worthing | 44 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.11 | Haywards Heath | 37 |
| 12 | Burgess Hill | 36 |
| 13 | Horsham | 34 |
| 14 | Lancing and Sompting | 30 |
| 15 | Hassocks and Hurstpierpoint | 26 |
| 16 | Selsey | 16 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Burgess Hill by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 57.8 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 24% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 61 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 18.3 per 10,000 people, 5.4x the typical town's 3.4
- 5 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2026
What's left on the high street
- 13 pubs, 22 hairdressers, 8 charity shops, 3 bookmakers, 2 vape shops, 4 banks, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 11.1% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (3 of 27) Worse: 2.8x the typical town's 4.0%
- 3 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 9.0 per 100,000 people, 2.6x the typical town's 3.4
- 7 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 2.1 per 10,000 people, 31% higher than the typical town's 1.6
- 4 public swimming pools open Better: 1.2 per 10,000 people, 1.7x the typical English town's 0.7
- 1 place on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 11.05pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.2% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 60% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 11.4% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 26% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,670 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 9% higher than the typical town's 1,532
Mid Sussex council
- £2,474 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £82 more than the English average
- 19% of West Sussex County Council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Worse: 19% higher than England's 16%
- 1 ombudsman complaint upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Burgess Hill 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.