Crap Towns / West Sussex / Southwick
Southwick
55/100Crap Score
440th crappest of 984 towns, and 7th 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
Got something to say about Southwick? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
Cricket's banned. Sort of.
They banned hitting sixes on the village green because the neighbours moaned.
Southwick has a lovely village green with a cricket pitch, and the neighbours complained so much about balls hitting their cars and windows that big hits got banned. That's the drama. There's a Roman villa buried under the houses and a shopping precinct that should be buried too.
Meanwhile serious crashes on the roads run at 1.7 times the typical town's rate, and the storm overflows spilled for two and a half times as long as the typical town's. Southwick bans the wrong things.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Southwick's 88 for serious road collisions means it's crapper than 88% of towns.
- Serious road collisions88/1004.1 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Sewage spills74/100698 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2024 to 2025
- Fly-tipping60/10011.2 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Adur council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Air pollution51/1008.3 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.6 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Anti-social behaviour43/10014.2 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Criminal damage and arson41/1006.5 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Food hygiene36/1001.5% rated 0 to 2, of the 66 food businesses with a rating
- Deliberate fires36/100
- Rain28/100120 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Broadband8/1001.8% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 4.6% across the Adur council area
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | Crawley | 67 |
| 4 | Wick | 61 |
| 5 | Shoreham-by-Sea | 61 |
| 6 | Barnham | 60 |
| 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 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Southwick by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 60.6 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 20% 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 Better: 2.5 per 10,000 people, 26% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 3 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2026
- 2 of 2 bathing waters here or within 2 km rated Excellent in 2025
What's left on the high street
- 5 pubs, 8 hairdressers, 3 charity shops, 1 bookmaker on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 1 bank branch closure announced since 2022 Worse: 8.2 per 100,000 people, 2.4x the typical town's 3.4
- 4 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 3.3 per 10,000 people, 2.1x the typical town's 1.6
- 1 public swimming pool open Better: 0.8 per 10,000 people, 14% higher than the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- All night buses on a Wednesday Better: The typical town's last bus goes at 12.14am
- 0.4% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 20% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 3.6% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 77% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,786 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 17% higher than the typical town's 1,532
Adur council
- £2,548 Band D council tax (2026-27) Worse: £156 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
Southwick 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.