Crap TownsBritain's towns, rated by the people stuck in them

Crap Towns / West Sussex / Hassocks and Hurstpierpoint

Welcome to

Hassocks and Hurstpierpoint

Nice windmills. Shame about the High Street.
Twinned with a windmill with a queue outside

26/100Crap Score

727th crappest of 984 towns, and 15th in West Sussex. Higher scores are crapper.

How the score works

Have your say

Crap Town of the Year 2026/27

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The public vote. It's separate from the Crap Score, and it closes on 31 December 2027.

Letters from the locals

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Can't get down Hurst High Street

Lovely windmills, lovely Downs, and a High Street in Hurst you can't get a car down.

Hassocks and Hurstpierpoint have the South Downs, the Jack and Jill windmills and a station, and the vandals can't be bothered. Crime runs well under the typical town's rate and the fly-tippers have barely heard of the place.

So the moans are cars: Hurst's narrow High Street jammed solid, new houses with no new roads, and visitors blocking the lane up to the windmills. Nearly a fifth of premises can't get gigabit broadband. The storm overflows nearby spilled for 1.8 times as long as the typical town's, so the Downs are lovely and the water isn't. It's Sussex. It's fine. Shame.

The editor, stuck in Hurst High Street

What the score is made of

Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.

Hassocks and Hurstpierpoint's 90 for broadband means it's crapper than 90% of towns.

  • Broadband90/10019.6% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 17.5% across the Mid Sussex council area
  • Sewage spills65/100497 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2024 to 2025
  • Food hygiene56/1003.1% rated 0 to 2, of the 64 food businesses with a rating
  • Serious road collisions50/1002.4 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
  • Rain35/100122 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
  • Anti-social behaviour34/10012.6 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
  • Air pollution32/1006.4 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.5 of fine particles, 2024 average
  • Deliberate fires23/100
  • Criminal damage and arson18/1004.8 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
  • Fly-tipping2/1003.0 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Mid Sussex council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
Your patch: West SussexTowns in the same county. Top of the table is crappest.
PosTownNationalScore
10Worthing554th44
11Haywards Heath616th37
12Burgess Hill629th36
13Horsham647th34
14Lancing and Sompting690th30
15Hassocks and Hurstpierpoint727th26
16Selsey827th16
17Rustington833rd15
18Southwater916th7

Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.

Hassocks and Hurstpierpoint by numbers

Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.

Crime, muck and dodgy water

What's left on the high street

Getting about, getting online, getting rained on

Mid Sussex council

Have a crap-off

Hassocks and Hurstpierpoint against your mate's town, and a match ticket to rub it in.

Hassocks and HurstpierpointCrap Score 26
v
Burgess HillCrap Score 36

Ten ingredients. One verdict. Who's crapper? The higher Crap Score takes it.