Crap Towns / West Sussex / East Grinstead
East Grinstead
45/100Crap Score
546th crappest of 984 towns, and 9th 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
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agree it's crap have defended it
East Grinstead. Old beams, empty shops.
East Grinstead has a long row of medieval buildings, and less and less inside them every year.
East Grinstead has a lovely long row of medieval timber buildings on the High Street. A fair few are empty. The rents are high, the shoppers have buggered off and the gaps are filling with vape shops, nearly four times the typical town's per head. The banks didn't hang about either, with 5 branch closures announced since 2022.
If you eat out, check the hygiene sticker first. 3.6 times the typical town's share of its takeaways are rated 0 to 2. Seriously, check it.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
East Grinstead's 83 for food hygiene means it's crapper than 83% of towns.
- Food hygiene83/1005.3% rated 0 to 2, of the 152 food businesses with a rating
- Serious road collisions78/1003.3 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Broadband50/1003.7% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 17.5% across the Mid Sussex council area
- Air pollution49/1007.6 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.9 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Sewage spills48/100253 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2024 to 2025
- Rain46/100126 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Anti-social behaviour45/10014.5 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Criminal damage and arson36/1006.0 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Deliberate fires33/100
- Fly-tipping2/1003.0 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Mid Sussex council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | Shoreham-by-Sea | 61 |
| 6 | Barnham | 60 |
| 7 | Southwick | 55 |
| 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 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
East Grinstead by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 52.0 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 32% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 89 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 33.8 per 10,000 people, 9.9x the typical town's 3.4
- 1 serious pollution incident within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2020
What's left on the high street
- 9 pubs, 17 hairdressers, 7 charity shops, 2 bookmakers, 3 vape shops, 3 banks, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 14.3% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (3 of 21) Worse: 3.6x the typical town's 4.0%
- 5 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 19.0 per 100,000 people, 5.6x the typical town's 3.4
- 13 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 4.9 per 10,000 people, 3.1x the typical town's 1.6
- 4 public swimming pools open Better: 1.5 per 10,000 people, 2.1x the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 1.26am last bus out on a Wednesday Better: Later 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%
- 13.7% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 12% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,658 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 8% 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
East Grinstead 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.