Crawley - should I be worried about buying in this area?

[HangerLaneGyratorySystem]

Currently living in Dorking, I only see signs for Crawley when I'm on the way to Brighton. I've heard very little about it, property seems reasonable, should I give it a chance? I'm only after a 2 bed flat or maisonette so I don't think I'm going to be in whatever the best areas are ...

@Klp122 , but it's like saying Maidenhead or St Albans is a suburb of London. They're not.

Took us 5 years to get out lol and yes Crawley is turning into Croydon honestly try the surrounding villages but stay the helly outta Crawley lol

i lived there for ages and escaped. It is NOT a pleasant town.

Boom …. 🤣

It's God awful. Don't move there, stay in Dorking. I lived there for a year and then moved to a rabbit hutch in Horsham.

Thanks all. i need a flat or something around £280k, I've got one DD in Leatherhead and one in Brighton, and I need to get into Victoria for work. So I thought Crawley seemed a cheap compromise. I can't afford to stay in Dorking (rent is 2/3rds of my take home pay). However, I now see that when I did my Rightmove search, I didn't go as far as Horsham, I just assumed it wasn't going to be affordable. It looks lovely, but I see some posters not keen on that either?

How do you know it’s unsafe if you moved away 15 years ago?

How on earth can you say the schools aren’t great?? They have an outstanding state secondary school next to the big Tesco!!!

Horsham is far nicer but trains not as good if you need to get to Brighton it’s a change at three bridges (Crawley) so logistically three bridge area may work better for you but Horsham would be nicer. Depends how much that extra 20 mins in the train to get to London or Brighton matters to you

i would choose Horsham a million times over Crawley. I definitely would avoid raising my family in Crawley if it was possible.

@HangerLaneGyratorySystem

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/157225691#/?channel=RES_BUY

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/154435463#/?channel=RES_BUY

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/160699184#/?channel=RES_BUY

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/150989168#/?channel=RES_BUY

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/163154726#/?channel=RES_BUY

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/163341161#/?channel=RES_BUY

If you can stretch in the 280-300 bracket, there are some interesting things too (though my previous post had a cute mews house in it)

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/164851454#/?channel=RESBUY (2 bed house)

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/162803699#/?channel=RESBUY (3 bed doer upper)

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/165173648#/?channel=RESBUY

I'm actually surprised- the local market is pretty fast for houses (friend recently sold a 2 bed house in 5 days...when the buyer pulled out, she got another buyer in 3 days! Our neighbours sold a 5 bed in a week).

Deliberately chosen places within walking distance of the station (but not on top of it).

Crawley has a lot of youth crime and I wouldn't raise a child there but if yours are adults it's a different matter. It's pretty multicultural compared to other towns in West Sussex and has a large Mauritian community. It's no worse than other similar towns - not lovely, not hugely cultured but outside of the areas listed above (Langley green, bewbush and broadfield) it's no worse than anywhere else to live.

I wouldn’t. move to Crawley - keep looking!

Assuming the public transport to Victoria works for you from Horsham then it makes perfect sense to look at properties in both Horsham and Crawley, they're very close. Not sure why you'd rule either out unless the trains from Horsham are rubbish.

Having said that, Crawley is literally the answer to the question: "Where should I live if I need to get to Brighton and Victoria easily?"

So my vote, look at houses in both Horsham and Crawley. See what you like.

It is definitely not as lovely as Dorking but there are a few areas that are not too bad. Horsham is certainly a better option.

Crawley is not a suburb of South London for gods sake!

Lol

Crawley was one of the post-war new towns to relieve London so it was re-developed with a new shopping area, new housing areas and has expanded enormously since so it has a completely different character to neighbouring towns.

Certainly true, but "they" have spent the last 15 years turning Horsham into a sprawling new town exactly like Crawley. In fact we can't be far from the two becoming one sprawl, if it hasn't already happened.

It's subjective, but I always thought Croydon-Redhill-Horley-Crawley felt like one homgenious sprawl out of London. You can argue it either way.

Redhill these days really does feel like "South Croydon" I barely recognised the place last time I drove through.

I live 10 miles away and I still have to go into Crawley for work quite often z its known as the cesspit of the south for a very good reason

I live in Croydon and wasn't aware of Crawley having a bad reputation but it's like anywhere I imagine- probably good streets and bad streets. People like to bad mouth Croydon but we have a lovely life here with lots of green spaces and nice neighbours and we've not suffered from any crime in 15+ years of being here. It is really wonderful having good transport links so you aren't wasting your life away commuting.
Best thing I'd suggest is to view the ones you are curious about and spend some time looking at the other properties nearby/ wandering the streets. You can usually tell which roads are a bit edgy (mattresses on the street, general rubbish) and those with pretty well kept gardens that suggest people have pride in where they are.

How about Burgess Hill?

Thank you all, I am looking in Horsham and Crawley on Saturday.

I lived in Horsham for 20 years. It's very nice. I live in Somerset now but visited my parents there last week. I had a lovely time. The annual charges on flats are a lot but you should be able to get a lease free house somewhere like Hills Farm Lane. I used to own a house up there.