Crap Towns / West Sussex / Haywards Heath
Haywards Heath
37/100Crap Score
616th crappest of 984 towns, and 11th 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
Ticket to London, one way.
Everyone gets the train to London. You can see why.
Haywards Heath is a commuter town, and everyone who lives here spends the day somewhere else. Can't blame them. The town centre is dull, South Road is empty shops and the houses cost a fortune. The cattle market turned into a Sainsbury's, and that's the most excitement the centre's had since.
The trains split at the station, so you can even get leaving wrong. Don't bother with the bus instead: there's barely one of an evening, and on a Sunday you get a fraction of the typical town's service. The kitchens aren't the cleanest either, with nearly twice the typical town's share rated 0 to 2.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Haywards Heath's 77 for food hygiene means it's crapper than 77% of towns.
- Food hygiene77/1004.3% rated 0 to 2, of the 186 food businesses with a rating
- Sewage spills76/100749 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2024 to 2025
- Broadband68/1008.2% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 17.5% across the Mid Sussex council area
- Serious road collisions62/1002.7 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Rain46/100126 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Air pollution38/1006.7 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.7 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Deliberate fires35/100
- Anti-social behaviour27/10011.5 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Criminal damage and arson14/1004.4 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
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| 14 | Lancing and Sompting | 30 |
| 15 | Hassocks and Hurstpierpoint | 26 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Haywards Heath by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 44.8 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 41% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 70 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 17.4 per 10,000 people, 5.1x the typical town's 3.4
- 1 serious pollution incident within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2017
What's left on the high street
- 10 pubs, 17 hairdressers, 11 charity shops, 2 bookmakers, 2 vape shops, 7 banks, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 6.7% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (1 of 15) Worse: 1.7x the typical town's 4.0%
- 1 bank branch closure announced since 2022 Better: 2.5 per 100,000 people, 26% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 6 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Worse: 1.5 per 10,000 people, 6% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- 3 public swimming pools open; 1 closed for good since 2010 About the same: 0.7 per 10,000 people, about the same as the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 11.25pm 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%
- 10.4% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 33% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,662 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
Haywards Heath 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.