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Original poster

Is Crawley a nice place

69 replies

tulipsniffer · 19/08/2023 14:11

Hello, I'm just wondering if Crawley is a nice place to live in terms of crime, friendliness etc.

OP posts:
theadvisor1 · 19/08/2023 14:20

Is it friendly? About as friendly as most large towns in the South of England I'd say, so not particularly.
Is it safe? Not particularly, although there are more dangerous places about. https://crimerate.co.uk/west-sussex/crawley

Overall it really isn't a very nice town at all in my opinion, quite run down and ugly. It is quite cheap for Sussex but if you can afford to live outside of Crawley then I would much, much rather do that.

LIZS · 19/08/2023 14:38

Town itself is pretty run down. Some of the surrounding areas are pleasant enough - Worth, Crawley Down. Copthorne et al. Look out for the potential flight paths though.

C1N1C · 19/08/2023 14:43

No

Although cheap petrol.

Biscuitsandgravyforyou · 19/08/2023 14:45

No, steer clear

blackrabbitwhiterabbit · 19/08/2023 14:45

Nope

Floralnomad · 19/08/2023 14:46

I’m sure like most places it has nice bits but I wouldn’t choose to live there .

woohooooo · 19/08/2023 14:53

I've lived in 9 different places, and Crawley was the only one of them I actively disliked. It's just an awful place, expensive but with lots of social problems. Like Swindon but more expensive with a higher crime rate.

Hoolihan · 19/08/2023 14:54

It's horrible.

TomatoSandwiches · 19/08/2023 14:54

No, avoid.

peachescariad · 19/08/2023 14:55

No it's vile. Lived and worked there.

handmademitlove · 19/08/2023 15:01

I think it depends what you are looking for and what you are used to. I live fairly locally and people are always really harsh about Crawley. But I did not grow up around here and relative to where I grew up, it is not that bad!

It is in West Sussex, which is in general like most of the southern counties. But I would say that Crawley is more mixed, more diverse than most of west Sussex. I would probably say it has more in common with Croyden than with Chichester! Employment is high, crime is average for that size of town and schools are a mix as in most towns. And it depends if you are.lookimg at the town centre or what used to be the surrounding villages that got subsumed when the new town was built....

What reasons are you thinking about it?

scouser1970 · 19/08/2023 15:07

I think that a lot of places do not deserve their bad reputation, but Crawley is one of few that do in my mind. It's just ghastly, I lived there for 4 years and never in all my life have I witnessed so much anti social behaviour and open drug use and I'm from Liverpool!

canidot · 19/08/2023 15:12

I'm from there, don't do it.

Lonelycrab · 19/08/2023 15:20

Grew up very near. I’d avoid.

Crawleyperson · 19/08/2023 15:23

I've lived in Crawley for 16 years, brought my kids up here. I moved from Horsham, just down the road, where I'd lived my whole life.

I've never regretted moving here. My kids have done well at the local schools (SEN and mainstream) and are doing well either working or at uni.

The road I live in is quiet, the neighbours are friendly, never any trouble here. I've had no worries sending my kids to the local shops in the evenings once they were old enough. Although every time I go in there someone usually nicks something and walks out without being challenged. And they've got rid of the shelves of single bars of chocolate, I assume due to thieves. Good for my diet! 😂

The town centre is ok, but a bit run down. County Mall is ok. I do prefer Horsham for meeting friends for lunch. There's an out of town retail park that is ok, and the leisure park that has big chain restaurants, cinema and bowling.

The local leisure centre, K2, is good, but the pool is freezing (though so is Horham's, I think they've cut down on heating bills!)

I would say the best areas are Pound Hill, Worth, Three Bridges, Furnace Green, Tilgate.

Mummyboy1 · 19/08/2023 15:25

Hmm well I've lived on the outskirts of crawley for nearly 18 months now, and I've grown fond of it. Some areas are awful though. Depends on where you're looking...__

TreesandFish · 19/08/2023 15:26

It's pretty ugly. My son was looking at renting there but he was lucky to find s place in Horsham instead

pilates · 19/08/2023 15:31

No avoid like the plague

welldingaling · 19/08/2023 15:38

Awful place. Completely run down. Open drug use and sadly lots of homelessness (probably like most big towns). I lived there years ago: it peaked when the county mall and town centre were full of shops; loads of jobs at Gatwick, and generally an optimistic feel. When I visit friends now it's just a dump, with a few nice pockets. I think some of the schools are quite good, the facilities are great with K2 and the cinema area, but not somewhere I'd recommend moving to.

oldfart222 · 19/08/2023 15:44

It used to be a nice place a long time ago, it's dilapidated and horrible to be in. I know a lot of towns are like this now but Crawley seems to be especially bad (I live near so have to go there) sometimes. There's just a sense of misery and a lack of hope, it's only going to get worse, there doesn't seem to be any investment into it, loads of empty shops etc. Still some nicer areas left but I wouldn't want to live in those either because of the towns general feel.

Eglatina · 19/08/2023 16:01

We call it CREEPY CRAWLEY 😁

ladyfromslough · 19/08/2023 17:31

Yeah i wouldn't want to live in Crawley, surrounding villages and towns would be better

everythingisawfulz · 19/08/2023 19:39

No, not at all. Definitely avoid, very unpleasant town

Signalman · 19/08/2023 21:52

lived there for more than 20 years. Awful. Grew up there. It’s totally functional and has nothing “nice”.