Life in Crawley: 11 things I have learned about the West Sussex new town since I moved here 18 years ago

I moved to the town because of the job, taking up the deputy editor’s role at the Crawley Observer. I lived in Eastbourne for 18 months before I actually decided to move to the town, getting fed up with the commuting (which involved two car crashes, neither my fault!).

I loved living in Eastbourne so was apprehensive at first given the ‘Creepy’ Crawley reputation and knew there was a lot of hard news. My family even questioned my decision - they had never been to the town but just knew it as ‘that place next to Gatwick’.

But I could never have predicted how happy I would be after making the move. I met my future wife quite early on, have since had a child who now attends school in Crawley and we have our ‘forever home’.

I settled in the town quickly and can’t imagine living anywhere else now (unless I win the lottery of course!). And the reason I settled so quickly, apart from meeting my wonderful wife, was the Crawley does have everything.

There are plenty of green spaces, there’s an airport for holiday purposes, there is a professional football team on my doorstep, the shopping is great and the commuter links are incredible.

I love my theatre and having the Hawth here, attracting top performers and touring West End shows, is a huge bonus.

You also have the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run come through the town and the World Marbles Championships which add to rich culture of the town.

Being a judge of the Crawley Community Awards every year has also shown me hat a great sense of community there is in the town.

And although it is a new town, since it was designated as new town in 1947, it has had such a rich history with Royal visits, neighbourhood developments, the rise of it’s football club, the building of the Hawth and growth of the town centre with County Mall.

Here are 12 things I have learned since moving here.