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Burgess Hill is the largest of the three towns in Mid Sussex with a population of 29,000. It is a thriving town with a wide range of facilities, many local groups and organisations and a very strong community.

The town has an interesting past, with some of its heritage remaining today. The town’s origins can be traced to Roman times, and although they did not appear to stay long, traces of a Roman Road remain. Burgess Hill really began to develop as a settlement in the 16th century. The name comes from the “Burgeys” family who were local landowners. In the 1600s Burgess Hill had a flourishing brick and tile industry, however today only the Keymer Tileworks still produce hand-made tiles.

The real impetus to the town’s development came with the building of the London to Brighton railway line, which opened in 1841. Many of the Victorian houses that were constructed with the coming of the railway remain today. The town grew steadily until after World War II when the population almost doubled to 14,000 between 1951 and 1961.

Burgess Hill is a market town with a weekly Saturday market and monthly Farmers Market (second Thursday each month). The town centre includes The Market Place Shopping Centre, a modern indoor shopping centre, as well as a pedestrianised shopping precinct. The Market Place includes stores such as Waitrose, Boots and family-run businesses.

The town has the second largest business park in Sussex, the Victoria Business Park. This accommodates a wide range of companies and has developed into a hi-tech centre.

Over recent years the town has expanded in housing, investment and employment areas. This has been attributed to its varied facilities combined with its strategic location and commuter links. It is close to Brighton and Gatwick Airport, has a good train service to London, and good links to the motorway network and the channel ports.

There is an excellent range of sport and leisure facilities in the town. Olympos Burgess Hill, opened by Her Majesty the Queen in 1998, is the District Council’s flagship leisure facility. Its main attraction is Aztec Fun Pools, with water canons, cascade pools, flume, rapids, outdoor lido and a 25-metre competition pool. The centre has a large sports hall, which has hosted the English Badminton Championships, the Royal Shakespeare Company touring productions and regular visitors, the Brighton Bears basketball team. There are also outdoor sports facilities and a Health Club.

Olympos Burgess Hill is complemented by St. Johns Park in the centre of town, which provides a choice of facilities including tennis, children’s play areas and an Xtreme action area for skateboarding, BMXing and in-line skating. The park provides an idyllic setting for cricket in the shadow of St. Johns Church. There are also a variety of successful sports clubs in the town.

Burgess Hill is surrounded by beautiful countryside and enjoys spectacular views of the South Downs. Conscious of the need to balance the town’s expansion and to preserve the countryside around the town a “Green Crescent” of public open space has formed an outer limit for development. This area incorporates Batchelors Farm in the south with spectacular views of the Downs, and Bedelands Farm in the north with its nature reserve.

There is a wide range of community activities in Burgess Hill. The town plays host every year to two major festivals. The Summer Festival commences on the first Friday in June, providing a wealth of activities over a week including “Carnival Day” with a major procession through the town and a fete at St. Johns Park. The Christmas Festival takes place on the first Saturday in December and due to its success has extended over the following week.

Another local tradition is the Bonfire Society procession through the town on the last Saturday in September. All of the bonfire societies in Sussex take part in this spectacular procession, which culminates in a bonfire and firework display.

Information on everything that happens in Burgess Hill can be found at the Town Council’s award winning Help Point located in the pedestrian precinct of Church Walk. This is a ’One Stop Shop‘, provided by Burgess Hill Town Council for direct access to Council services, Housing Associations, Health Authority, Enterprise services and a Tourist Information Centre. Agencies such as Inland Revenue also provide surgery sessions here.

For further information on Burgess Hill contact:

Burgess Hill Town Council Help Point
96 Church Walk
Burgess Hill
RH15 9AS

Tel: 01444 247726
Email: helppoint@burgesshill.gov.uk
Website: www.burgesshill.gov.uk