To be shit scared of moving to burgess hill?

[Movingfromlondontown]

I've made the mistake of doing lots and lots of googling and came across a website BHU ( burgess hill uncovered ) and am now pretty scared!
W decided to leave London ( concrete end of Surrey ) to give the kids a better life, smaller schools etc and being near to the sea but am now really panicked by what people are saying its like there.
Any locals that can let me know what it's really like?

What a coincidence hey

Oh, I suggested that too Chickens. The other poster is called Mixedupmind and is terrified of moving from Sutton to Burgess Hill.

I'd take BH over Purley but would want to choose my own property, not be tied in to whatever was offered.

It's a small world.

Are all London suburbanites so timid about the Big Wide World outside of the M25?

Then look at what's on Burgess Hill uncovered and really see what they have discovered as huge problems for the town
www.burgesshilluncovered.co.uk/news/index.html

A small group of travellers on an industrial estate, a burst water pipe and three cars that have had their windows broken, again whilst parked in a non-residential area.
Those are the key events for August so far.

Are all London suburbanites so timid about the Big Wide World outside of the M25?

There was a thread a while ago where a poster was asking about where she could move to as she wanted to leave London.
Some London based posters seemed to honestly think that the whole country outside of London was small villages.

You mean Royston Vasey has a lot to answer for?

Hq have deleted the other one so who knows.

It's a very nice place and not scary. If I were you I'd go there and have chat with some local people.

I moved to Sussex from very dodgy area in Scotland. You could do a heck of a lot worse than BH.

Could be best move you'll ever make - don't think MN can help you make the decision though, id go visit and see for yourself, good luck!

Burgess Hill is fine. The leisure Centre is great, the town not so much, unless you enjoy having fifteen coffee shops to choose from and not a lot else. Lovely restaurants and pubs though.
Not sure how old your DC are but the infant/primary schools in BH are very good.

I've never heard of Burgess Hill, but I did live & work in some tough areas of Liverpool in the 1980's-1990's, (yes I'm old!)
I met some of the best people during that time & I do miss it.
Life's what you make it, go enjoy Burgess Hill & s*d anyone who puts a downer on your new, exciting life!

Whoops,with this new site layout thingy, (ooh er), the italics application has changed; sorry!

Burgess Hill is good for pubs and coffee shops. No idea about schools etc as I don't have children yet. The driving test centre is here though so quite handy if your about to learn to drive! :)

Hi, I moved from Woolwich to Burgess Hill 3 years ago! My girls went to school round the corner from where Lee Rigby was murdered!
Thank god we had moved to BH before that happened!
It's not perfect and yes there is a bit a trouble! But at least there isn't an incident board everywhere about some sort if horrific crime!
My girls are far happier here than in London! My eldest is a special needs kid and loves her school and my youngest went to a really good primary school, which has set her on a far better path to secondary (she's about to start yr8) school than her previous school could've!
I am much happier and even though I lived in a council house we had a beautiful view from the back windows of country side etc! It was much better than our view if buses, police cars, fighting, mugging etc!
We have since moved to a village just outside of BH but, I would still recommend BH to anyone wishing to move away from London!
There are 2 train stations that both go to Brighton or London!
Please don't be put off, come on down!

I'ved lived in BH since 1987, moving here from nearby Brighton. It's a growing town but is also very close to the countryside (5 mins) if you like that sort of thing. There are lots of places for younger children in the surrounding area and the schools are good. As for trouble, it is really few and far between. You might find it a bit sedate though after living in London but there are family friendly pubs and coffee shops. The nearby town of Haywards Heath has a larger shopping precinct and is 5 mins by train or about 10 min drive away.

As with anything you read on the internet you have to take this in equal measure. Brits have a tendency to comment on only the 'bad' things in life but Burgess Hill equally has some very good positive things going for it - why else would Burgess Hill have to take the lion's share of new housing developments for Mid Sussex if it were deemed such a 'bad' town.
B Hill uncovered represents only a small proportion of the town's population so whilst there may appear some 'nasty' stories on there they don't report on all the good aspects - wouldn't make for such interesting reading then would it!
Like all towns there are some bad spots and areas best to avoid but overall Burgess Hillians are a good bunch.
We have a safe pedestrianised shopping area - ok -not with big draw shops but with Brighton and Crawley nearby you can get your big shop fix there. We have excellent train links to the coast and London - we have two mainline stations (Burgess Hill & Wivelsfield). We are very close to the A23 with a good road links to the coast, Gatwick Airport and beyond. We literally have the South Downs National park on our doorstep - so you can easily get out to the country.
We have a mix of schools, some better than others, but you get that in most towns of equal size.
If people based opinions/decisions on what they scout from the internet then I would not leave my house each day. Take what you read with a pinch of salt and remember for every one 'bad' report there are probably 10 'good' aspects that are not reported.

Burgess Hill is fine, there's really not a lot bad to say about it. There's a few too many coffee shops, nail bars etc and the town center doesn't quite rival Oxford Street, but Brighton is 25 min away for "shopping days" and there's easily enough in Burgess Hill to get what you need. Neighbours are friendly and there's a nice community feel, kids play out and the schools are pretty good too. I've lived in Brighton and London too, and much prefer BH to both.

BHU is a great site, but quite tongue-in-cheek. It does report "the worst" but as you can see, even that's clutching at straws a bit - there's not much newsworthy to report, really.

As a child I lived in Burgess Hill. Mainly so that my DM could commute easily to London. Back in the mist of time (when I was a child!) Burgess Hill was a small market town. It is now mainly a suburb and in fairness, looks like a suburb. It is not what I'd describe as in any way rural.

That said, it has plenty of facilities, good transport links and easy access to Brighton, London and the beautiful South Downs and Sussex countryside. There are far worse places to live!

don't be scared @movingfromlondontown!! Burgess Hill is nowhere near as scary as London, if anything it's on the quiet and dare I say boring side.

We moved here this year for exactly the same reasons as you and while it's not as cool as Brighton it's a nice enough place. We also have a large Waitrose, St Johns Park is nice and there is a lovely cafe across from it called Cafe Cosy. The town is pedestrianised which is nice, and we have a local butchers, good library, an old independent cinema. The sports centre (The Triangle) is also very good and there's a great vintage emporium too. It's also well placed to get to London and the Coast as others have said. The website you wrote about is very much tongue in cheek, and it has to be said reports the good as well as bad, and I enjoy a chuckle whenever I read it but really don't worry it will all be fine.

Lots of positives about Burgess Hill (hope my links work...) there's the Green Circle , and St Johns Park and BMX track. And a cinema. Not forgetting the parks in Haywards Heath, Crawley, Brighton round the corner, Bluebell Railway, three National Trust places to visit within half an hour away, Borde Hill Gardens, I could go on and on! The schools are good, the people are nice, there's a good community spirit. I think you'd be very happy here!

Some London based posters seemed to honestly think that the whole country outside of London was small villages.

I went to the library the other day with the children and we spent ages in the kids section on the computer, colouring in the pictures they provide & reading stories whilst playing with the hedgehog seat as my older child chilled out in the teen section.

We then spent some time picking up a few bargains in New Look and the other clothes shops in town, got the school shoes and little extras needed as well. stopped off for a quick coffee and listen to a very good street busker before heading off to the cinema (£16.50 for three of us) after it we walked home through the town, picked up a French stick and a few bits from one of the supermarkets in town and stopped off in the park for a picnic tea whilst the children played in the park.

We hadn't intended to stay for 2 hours but with the weather lovely and kids making friends and meeting friends from school there seemed no reason to move on. As it got a bit later some of the older kids turned up to the skate park, and rightly so, like most towns there isn't too much for them to do and the atmosphere remained good and safe.

We eventually left, and later that evening went for a stroll out in the countryside to a wonderful pub just 10 minute walk from the busy leisure centre but in the middle of the countryside with amazing views to the South Downs national park and a great range of beers on and the menu first class.

As I sat in the beer garden watching the sunset and listening to my children play safely climbing the tree and making even more new friends I thought to myself, you know, if I had come here on holiday I'd come back every year - beautiful parks and gardens, reasonably priced activities, range of independent and chain stores in town (although a few more would be good!) a nice choice of cafes/bars/coffee shops (café. cosy by St Johns Park especially) and lovely walks in the countryside what more could you want.....and then later, we sat in the garden drinking some local Ridgeview awarding winning fizz from one of the local vineyards and gazed at the stars looking for satellites and shooting stars, and do you know what....we saw some.

What's not to like? - Welcome to Burgess Hill.

People in H.Heath can be snobby about B.Hill but we live in HH and go to B.Hill weekly to shop in Lidl. The cinema is great. There is a fab Italian restaurant on th London Road that does £3 Pizza/Pasta dishes at lunchtimes.You will be as happy there as anywhere else. The whole point of websites like B.H uncovered is to gossip about the bad stuff so not very balanced.