Celebrate... CRAWLEY

Crawley’s history can be traced as far back as the Stone Age. Crawley’s name is derived from the Anglo Saxon ‘crawe leah’ meaning a ‘crow infested clearing’. The spelling changed during the Middle Ages.

The current spelling of Crawley appeared around 1316. The town itself is a mixture of three parishes, including Ifield, Crawley village and part of Worth. Worth Church is Crawley’s oldest building originating from Saxon times. The first mention of Crawley comes from 1203, when a licence to hold a weekly market was granted.

My, how things have changed. Crawley is now a large thriving town and the largest inland town in Sussex. Although the county seat of East Sussex is Lewes and Chichester for West Sussex, Crawley dwarfs them both in terms of economic viability and the major companies that choose to reside there. One of the largest employers in the region is Gatwick Airport with 2,500 local staff, Thales, the defence contractor, that employ over 2,300 people from the area, along with Virgin Holidays (1100), Swiss chocolate giant Nestle (800), TUI Travel (800), Tesco (1,000), Royal Mail (600) and Crawley Borough Council (650)

Crawley’s economy ranks among the most prosperous in England.The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was worth an estimated £5.4 billion in 2020, according to figures published by the ONS. The transport & storage industry is the largest in Crawley based on the number of jobs, accounting for 25.2% of roles in the area. Crawley had a mean average salary for fulltime employees of £45,025 in 2022. Crawley’s unemployment rate is 3.1% as of 2021 which is 2% lower than the national average. During the boom of the 1980s the town boasted the lowest level of unemployment in the UK

The former ‘crow infested clearing’ is now one the most successful towns in the region, boasting many of the most successful firms in the country and now boasting two Business Improvement Districts (BIDs).

Manor Royal BID was launched in 2013 with the aim of attracting high value business to the area and as a ‘collective’, supporting those business in being successful in pleasing surroundings. The Crawley BID was launched in 2019 with the aim of making the town safer and more vibrant, connecting businesses and promoting and showcasing the area.

The town is also highly attractive for London commuters as it is only 28 miles away and quite a few famous faces hail from the town such as: Gareth Southgate, Daley Thompson, Alan Minter, Ms. Dynamite, Romesh Ranganathan, The Cure and Sir Charles

Court, the 21st Premier of Australia.

Crawley is growing rapidly and with its superb range of high street and shopping centre outlets, some excellent schools and colleges and a broad range of businesses, it is a vibrant and forward looking town that is going from strength to strength and was recently voted the fourth best area to move to in the entire UK.