The Knowhere Guide

Best and Worst in Horsham, West Sussex*

Horsham, West Sussex Triumphs and Tragedies

Favourite Building

• The council Offices in North Street are excellent for relieving yourself on after a night in The Black Jug
• Not really a building But the Skate Park in Horsham park is well underway (should be open june) its only taken 4 years of shouting at the council and smashing up the town centre to get it built!!!
• St Marks Church spire - all thats left of the great church now they knocked the rest of it down to make way for a Royal Sun Allience building. Go see the Causeway if you want to know what Horsham looked like before it was converted to its more modernised "quaintness".
• Swan Walk
• dwites house
• Used to be the Bear but now its the Nelson.
• Go down the causeway for some lovely old buildings. Also be sure to look at the faces of the buildings around the town as some have some nice workmanship.
• Anything pre-1990
• My house
• Architecture down the Causeway and Normandy reminds you of how Horsham used to be, quiet and out of the way.
• Town Hall
• Horsham Museum - really cool little museum of local history.
• Arts Centre
• One of the things Horsham is noted for in the juxtaposition of a old Church Spire tucked into the corner of the modern Sun Alliance building, with about 2 feet clearance! Worth a look.
• Not strictly a building, but more like a large & very cool metal ball on a pole that fills with water and then spews it out everywhere, all over passers by and the pavement (which is extra handy in winter as it forms an instant ice rink). It's apparently a sculpture which doubles as a tribute to the ultra famous poet Shelly (who allegedly wrote some poems a couple of hundred years ago). The soggy ball can be found by that other thing thats totally unique to Horsham......Macdonalds.

Demolish It Now Building

• Demolish that fountain. For Chrissake!!
• The Scout Hut in Swindon Road - it should naver have been given planning permission - but one of the scout leaders is on the council!
• Shelly fountain. What is that all about? Go see it for yourself. It is a focal point though and over time I think people have grown to love it in a funny kind of way. Occasionally young wags will put fairy liquid in the water and bubbles fly around. Pleasant.
• Sun Alliance empire
• The infamous Shelley fountain which 'flushes' itself every 15 minutes. Good thing too an a Saturday night. Creates a great ice skating area on a cold night!
• Royal Sun Alliance
• your house
• The new RSPC building in Southwater, but it's not built yet!
• All the modern housing estates in North Horsham (except my house)
• Sun Alliance. Can you believe they flattened a church to build their offices-so out of order. But at least they left the spire standing-how thoughtful!
• The fountain.
• The new house t the north of the town - if you want to see what Sussex is going to look like in a few years time, just pop into Roffey, etc.
• Arts Centre(build a decent cinema)
• Any thing related to Sun Alliance Any shop the sells greeting cards, that will wipe out about 75% of the shops in the town.
• OLd Man Power Services Offices.
• Get rid of that stupid Shelley Fountain thing!!!
• The stupid ball outside McDonalds.
• Any Sun Alliance building
• Sun Alliance

The Best Things

• The trains to London :)
• NOT ALL SHOPS IN TOWN HAVE CCTV SO QUITE GOOD FOR SHOPLIFTING
• Plenty of local farms so that you can practise snogging on the sheep
• The road to Brighton/London/Anywhere but here (except Crawley, now that place is a dump)
• The Pigs are sooo stupid!!
• The A24 bypass - you do not have to go near the town.
• The Fountain. It isn't Crawley!
• receiving head from one of the corner street girls
• Unfortunately, now sadly lost, but Horsham was home to a family run Brewery called King and Barnes which, in my opinion, produced some of the best ale found anywhere in the country. Since it's sale in April 2000, I have been drinking only Guinness (and lots of it) mainly because the new owner's beer is, again, in my opinion, crap. Long live the memory of King and Barnes.
• Nothing.
• WoodWorks a great wood and laminate flooring Co that also does timber decking 07970 324496 Much better than lam floors direct
• The Causeway
• Excellent place to raise Children. (If you want them to have a very limited perspective on life)
• Easy pace, no major hassles
• The Causeway, it never changes, but who took the teddies out of the windows?
• Railway Station - for many people the only means of escape.
• You're unlikely to get shot walking home at night!
• Horsham Park has a huge & varied childrens play area, next to the swimming centre, which is well worth a visit if you have children.

The Worst Things

• The fact that half the public transport in Horsham stops at about 5.30!!! That's PM (!) by the way. Reckon it's a cab drivers' conspiracy.
• That 'work of art' opposite Mcdonalds that looks like a cricket ball after a Pakistani fast bowler has picked the seam.
• Passive Sniffer dogs!! they sit and look at you and then you get arrested! DOH!
• Nearly everything that has been needlessly changed since around the 70s to ensure that Horsham is a replica of any other shit town in this country.
• The traffic enraging scheme in Roffey is worth a detour. Marvel at the near escapes through the chicanes and hidden roundabouts and out of towners trying to puzzle it out. Better than any computer game! Horsham nearly had a sex shop recently (shock, horror!) but it was too much for the local councillors and church leaders who run the town. We might get corrupted!
• No night clubs, early pub closing and resultant trouble when middle aged plods try and make everyone go home.
• getting biten
• The loss of the King and Barnes brewery in April 2000.
• Crap Shops
• THE HEAD AT FOREST BOYS COMMUNITY SCHOOL! HE IS 1 EVVVVVVVVIL MUVA
• Queen's Head on a weekday.
• New houses, overcrowding, appalling traffic
• Lack of top quality ice-cream men, which I believe exist in other parts of the country.
• Zip entertainment in the evening, more card shops per captita than any other town anywhere. Too close to Crawley, like in the same country as it.. Shame as the only real entertainment is in Crawley. Bugger !
• Shellys Night Club, Weekly fights at the Kentucky Fried Chicken, Total lack of entertainment.
• Swan Walk - hardly worth the parking fee!
• No late night buses - very, very stupid!
• Horsham shuts at 11.15
• The big new fountain/statue at the bottom of west street where Mr Pinions hairdressers once was! The new style carfax

The Knowhere Guide started out as a list of places to skateboard in the UK. It is a compilation of (unedited) information and views supplied by users like yourself. It is not a conventional tourist guide!

In most cases, the information in each section has been submitted by more than one contributor (the credits at the bottom of the page list some, but not all, of the contributors) and some of it dates back to the 1970s.

We make no claims as to the accuracy of the information in the Guide - our only purpose is to provide a forum for users to share their knowledge and opinions. So please keep a large bag of salt handy and be prepared to read between the lines!

If you disagree with a comment, or information is out of date, please submit an update! The contributors come from all walks of life, and their opinions are bound to be subjective, so if your view isn't represented, please speak up and contribute to the balance of the Guide. See below in the 'Have Your Say' section for how to add your voice.

If we have helped you out or made you laugh you can buy us a pint.

Have Your Say...

You can tell us more about Horsham. This is also the method to use if you want to correct some of the information already here. (But please remember you're not mailing the person who actually wrote whatever-it-is.)

You can use the add an event form to tell us about events happening in Horsham.

Or, if you'd just like to leave a message for other users of this site, take a look at The Knowhere Board (handy if you're just trying to get in touch with someone).

Credits

Last updated: 2007-11-21