Crawley .... like being in a third world country

[Sussex Nomad]

I would disagree with the parking prices [MENTION=232]Simster[/MENTION] although probably cheap compared with Brighton. However, the rest of your post is spot on.

 

[alfredmizen]

Jobs
Tilgate park
An Imax cinema
A Olympic length swimming pool and all round excellent leisure complex
Professional football
Inexpensive parking
Relatively reasonable traffic
An international airport on the doorstep
The Hawth theatre

Some of that is what you might expect of a town that size, but some of it exceeds it. I'd also say that thankfully, things get built in Crawley. And God it has needed that given the shocking state the town planners of the 60s left the place. Nimbyism is struggling in Crawley. Not like Brighton where self-appointed quangos of about 15 people appear to be able to halt much-needed improvements on a whim.

I'm not exaggerating the commute, and we all know about Brighton traffic in the summer. It is shit. I love Brighton, but it has many issues and I do get a little tired about Brighton-based ill-informed dorks on here shooting their mouths off about places they barely know.

you've recently started a thread on here detailing your house moving woes, are you moving to crawley by any chance ?

 

[Tom Bombadil]

Jobs
Tilgate park
An Imax cinema
A Olympic length swimming pool and all round excellent leisure complex
Professional football
Inexpensive parking
Relatively reasonable traffic
An international airport on the doorstep
The Hawth theatre

Some of that is what you might expect of a town that size, but some of it exceeds it. I'd also say that thankfully, things get built in Crawley. And God it has needed that given the shocking state the town planners of the 60s left the place. Nimbyism is struggling in Crawley. Not like Brighton where self-appointed quangos of about 15 people appear to be able to halt much-needed improvements on a whim.

.

I'd add Goffs park and playing fields in general, great surrounding countryside, the worth way is well worth walking, beautiful old churches in Worth and Ifield, lots of local job opportunities and it's not full of the smug *******s that live in tiny boxes in some of the dull dormitory towns of Sussex ( Haywards Heath, East Grinstead in particular)

Having lived a few years in Crawley before I moved to Brighton it really is noticable how incapable of getting anything done Brighton and Hove Council is. You want to scream at them to just ignore the vocal idiots in the likes of the Regency Society and do what's needed. Crawley decides it needs something proposes a plan, listens to reasonable objections adn gets on and builds it all while Brighton and Hove would still be setting up an interminable inquiry into Reginald and Margery Bufton-Tuftons demands that everything remain exactly as it was in 1963

 

[Triggaaar]

I'm not exaggerating the commute

Not everyone commutes to London.

and we all know about Brighton traffic in the summer. It is shit.

Not for me When I go to see family there's always a horrendous queue heading towards Brighton, but it's not there by the time I'm coming home. The traffic seems to be for people coming down to Brighton for the day and I obviously never do that, as I'm already here. But I'm not here to argue the pros of living on the coast, this thread isn't about Brighton.

 

[Shoreham Gull]

Bad traffic in summer going to Brighton, because it's popular seaside resort with great shops etc..

Crawley has its benefits know one wants to go there

 

[spence]

I would disagree with the parking prices [MENTION=232]Simster[/MENTION] although probably cheap compared with Brighton. However, the rest of your post is spot on.

Well you are wrong. Parking is dirt cheap. I live here. Infact free if you know where to look

 

[Sussex Nomad]

Well you are wrong. Parking is dirt cheap. I live here. Infact free if you know where to look

Tell me! And don't say it is your mates driveway round the corner!

 

[spence]

Jobs
Tilgate park
An Imax cinema
A Olympic length swimming pool and all round excellent leisure complex
Professional football
Inexpensive parking
Relatively reasonable traffic
An international airport on the doorstep
The Hawth theatre

Some of that is what you might expect of a town that size, but some of it exceeds it. I'd also say that thankfully, things get built in Crawley. And God it has needed that given the shocking state the town planners of the 60s left the place. Nimbyism is struggling in Crawley. Not like Brighton where self-appointed quangos of about 15 people appear to be able to halt much-needed improvements on a whim.

I'm not exaggerating the commute, and we all know about Brighton traffic in the summer. It is shit. I love Brighton, but it has many issues and I do get a little tired about Brighton-based ill-informed dorks on here shooting their mouths off about places they barely know.

3 train stations

Good bus service

Someone mentioned Worth Way but it's not a patch on Buchan park. Still it's an nice option.

 

[spence]

Tell me! And don't say it is your mates driveway round the corner!

Asda right in town. £1 for two hours. Spend a fiver and get your money back. The Car park opposite Asda near the hospital is very cheap. Can't remember prices.

Morrisons bang in town. Free for two hours.

The Hollywood complex is free.

 

[Simster]

Well you are wrong. Parking is dirt cheap. I live here. Infact free if you know where to look

Even paying full whack is much cheaper compared to Brighton. You can even park at either end of Tilgate park for free.

Asda right in town. £1 for two hours. Spend a fiver and get your money back. The Car park opposite Asda near the hospital is very cheap. Can't remember prices.

Morrisons bang in town. Free for two hours.

The Hollywood complex is free.

And outside the library, just across from the outside shopping precinct.

 

[spence]

Even paying full whack is much cheaper compared to Brighton. You can even park at either end of Tilgate park for free.

I park there all the time because Tilgate forest is a lovely walking area. Some tidy hills to get the blood pumping.

 

[Simster]

Yep [MENTION=30242]spence[/MENTION]. Oh, and Crawley even has a Go Ape in Tilgate Park. Brilliant for teenagers and adults.

 

[midnight_rendezvous]

I knew that Crawley has been a dump for a long long time, but having avoided the town centre for a few years I had not realised just how much it had deteriorated. Today I had the misfortune to spend an hour in the town:
- English was the minority language
- many of the shops looked like the type you find in souks
- lots of "shoppers amusements" shops ... presumably full of slot machines so the unemployed layabouts can gamble away what little money they do have
- charity shops everywhere
- Lyca Mobile signs all over the place
- every third shop offering to "unlock mobiles"
- boarded up shops abound
- the white faces were mostly Eastern Europeans or chavvy overweight English people

Awful, awful, awful.

An embarrasment to the name of Sussex.

With xenophobic posts like this I'd be more worried that you're an embarrassment to the name of Sussex if I were you.

 

[Sussex Nomad]

Asda right in town. £1 for two hours. Spend a fiver and get your money back. The Car park opposite Asda near the hospital is very cheap. Can't remember prices.

Morrisons bang in town. Free for two hours.

The Hollywood complex is free.

Yeah I've done Asda, give you that, but in my dotage I need to park as close as possible (hip problems). You are right.

 

[Sussex Nomad]

I'm pleased to see this thread has turned into more positives than negatives about Crawley, it ain't a bad place really. I live here yeah, but no real affiliation, but it gets a bad rep from people that have no idea. Town centre sucks, few outlying places aren't great, but it is a good town.

 

[oneillco]

There are very very few closed shops these days and 'cheap' is not what I would call anything in this city. The worst shopping street in the city is the stretch between Churchill square and waitrose on western road - everywhere else is fine.

Edit: I've completely forgotten the existence of London road but I spend such little time there I find it of little relevance. The world's end and hare & hounds are actually very nice pubs these days.

And if you did take a walk down London Road (Brighton) these days you would find that it has seriously improved. A large number of new bars, restaurants and shops have moved in. Brighton's main shopping high streets have survived much better than most other towns I've visited, and the news of John Lewis opening is a vote of confidence.

 

[London Irish]

I knew that Crawley has been a dump for a long long time, but having avoided the town centre for a few years I had not realised just how much it had deteriorated. Today I had the misfortune to spend an hour in the town:
- English was the minority language
- many of the shops looked like the type you find in souks
- lots of "shoppers amusements" shops ... presumably full of slot machines so the unemployed layabouts can gamble away what little money they do have
- charity shops everywhere
- Lyca Mobile signs all over the place
- every third shop offering to "unlock mobiles"
- boarded up shops abound
- the white faces were mostly Eastern Europeans or chavvy overweight English people

Awful, awful, awful.

An embarrasment to the name of Sussex.

So what about this post is the worst I wonder, the kipper type polite racism of "english a minority language" or the grotesque snobbery that the town shock horror has a working class population

 

[alfredmizen]

So what about this post is the worst I wonder, the kipper type polite racism of "english a minority language" or the grotesque snobbery that the town shock horror has a working class population

What is racist about being concerned that english is a minority language ?

 

[daveinprague]

Maybe because English isnt a minority language in Crawley.

 

[Withdean11]

Great input from someone who lives 800 miles away.