Crap Towns / East Sussex / Eastbourne
Eastbourne
66/100Crap Score
334th crappest of 984 towns, and 4th 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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agree it's crap have defended it
Tidy seafront, rough middle.
The seafront's spotless. Walk into town and it's empty shops and people shouting.
Eastbourne keeps the seafront and the pier spotless. Then you walk into town and it's empty shops, everything shut by teatime, and people effing and blinding at each other in the precinct. More aggro and more nasty crashes than somewhere this tidy should have. Brighton gets the nightlife. Eastbourne gets the bunting.
Shoplifting is running at over three times the typical town's rate, which takes some doing in a town where so many of the shoppers have a bus pass. There are 68 hairdressers for all the perms. The sunshine adds up to 1,843 hours a year, and the retired lot on the front soak up every one of them.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Eastbourne's 89 for serious road collisions means it's crapper than 89% of towns.
- Serious road collisions89/1004.0 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Anti-social behaviour86/10024.0 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Criminal damage and arson80/1009.9 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Deliberate fires71/1009.5 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Broadband42/1007.0% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 7.3% across the Eastbourne council area
- Sewage spills40/100177 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2024 to 2025
- Food hygiene35/1002.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 693 food businesses with a rating
- Fly-tipping32/1008.1 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Eastbourne council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Air pollution31/1006.5 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.4 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Rain27/100120 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
| 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.
Eastbourne by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 112 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 47% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 85 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 8.6 per 10,000 people, 2.5x the typical town's 3.4
- 5 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2025
- Good Eastbourne's bathing water rating, 2025
What's left on the high street
- 30 pubs, 68 hairdressers, 28 charity shops, 11 bookmakers, 7 vape shops, 9 banks, 3 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 1.4% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (1 of 70) Better: 65% lower than the typical town's 4.0%
- 32 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 3.2 per 10,000 people, 2x the typical town's 1.6
- 12 public swimming pools open; 2 closed for good since 2010 Better: 1.2 per 10,000 people, 1.7x the typical English town's 0.7
- 3 places on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 1.10am last bus out on a Wednesday Better: Later than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.1% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 80% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 26.5% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 1.7x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,843 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 20% higher than the typical town's 1,532
Eastbourne council
- £2,654 Band D council tax (2026-27) Worse: £262 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
Eastbourne 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.