Crap Towns / West Sussex / Henfield
Henfield
25/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 25. 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
Too nice to slag off. Nearly.
Cricket on the Common and a house covered in cats. All very nice until the sewage comes up.
Henfield's cricket on the Common, an old railway turned into the Downs Link and a house covered in cats. Years back somebody fell out with a neighbour over a cat and a canary, and the village made it a tourist attraction. Crime's low. It's annoyingly lovely.
Then there's the river. The sewers round the village overflowed for seven times as long as the typical town's, so the shit goes where the cricketers can't see it. Nearly a third of premises can't get gigabit broadband either. Sorry.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Henfield's 97 for broadband means it's crapper than 97% of towns.
- Broadband97/10029.7% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 23.7% across the Horsham council area
- Sewage spills93/1001,946 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2024 to 2025
- Rain45/100125 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Fly-tipping39/1009.1 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Horsham council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Food hygiene33/1000.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 24 food businesses with a rating
- Serious road collisions32/1001.8 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Air pollution26/1006.0 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.4 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Deliberate fires22/100
- Criminal damage and arson14/1004.4 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Anti-social behaviour5/1006.7 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 11 | Haywards Heath | 37 |
| 12 | Burgess Hill | 36 |
| 13 | Horsham | 34 |
| 14 | Lancing and Sompting | 30 |
| 15 | Hassocks and Hurstpierpoint | 26 |
| – | Henfield | 25 |
| 16 | Selsey | 16 |
| 17 | Rustington | 15 |
| 18 | Southwater | 7 |
Henfield by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 38.6 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 49% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 3 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 5.3 per 10,000 people, 1.6x the typical town's 3.4
What's left on the high street
- 4 pubs, 2 hairdressers, 2 charity shops on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 2 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 3.5 per 10,000 people, 2.2x the typical town's 1.6
- None public swimming pools open Worse: Against the typical English town's 0.7 per 10,000 people
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 11.17pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 2.7% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 5.4x the typical town's 0.5%
- 5.2% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 66% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,711 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 12% higher than the typical town's 1,532
Horsham council
- £2,441 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £49 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%
- None ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Henfield 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.