Crap Towns / East Sussex / Newhaven
Newhaven
75/100Crap Score
245th crappest of 984 towns, and 2nd 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
Get the ferry.
A ferry to France, a fort full of tunnels, and the whole town stuck behind the swing bridge.
Newhaven's best feature is the ferry to Dieppe, which tells you everything. The swing bridge opens and the whole town stops. The air smells of asphalt, and there's a fort on the cliff with tunnels in it, a bit of which is on the Heritage at Risk list.
The yobs are busy. Anti-social behaviour runs at 1.7 times the typical town's rate and shoplifting at about two and a half times. Only Hastings is crapper in East Sussex. You could hide in the tunnels.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Newhaven's 89 for criminal damage and arson means it's crapper than 89% of towns.
- Criminal damage and arson89/10011.4 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Anti-social behaviour87/10024.3 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Broadband86/10012.1% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 25.6% across the Lewes council area
- Serious road collisions75/1003.3 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Sewage spills74/100
- Deliberate fires73/10010.3 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Food hygiene56/1003.1% rated 0 to 2, of the 64 food businesses with a rating
- Air pollution36/1007.1 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
- Fly-tipping7/1004.2 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Lewes council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
| 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.
Newhaven 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
- 33 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 25.7 per 10,000 people, 7.6x the typical town's 3.4
- 3 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2019
What's left on the high street
- 9 pubs, 1 hairdresser on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 5 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 3.9 per 10,000 people, 2.4x the typical town's 1.6
- 2 public swimming pools open Better: 1.6 per 10,000 people, 2.3x the typical English town's 0.7
- 1 place on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.36am last bus out on a Wednesday Better: Later than the typical town's 12.14am
- Under 0.1% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: Far lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 9.6% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 38% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,804 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 18% higher than the typical town's 1,532
Lewes council
- £2,756 Band D council tax (2026-27) Worse: £364 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%
- 3 ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Newhaven 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.