To some it's a ghost town "rotting from the inside out". To others it may simply be a necessary stop on their train journey between Brighton and London. Burgess Hill residents have been up in arms and crying out for change after yet another shop closed its doors .
Costa Coffee in Market Place finished trading on July 7 for the final time. Following the closure, people jumped to social media to share their frustrations and blamed the town council, which said it has no control over the closure. One person said the town was "rotting from the inside out", while another called it another "boring ghost town".
On a sunny Monday morning I went on a train journey into Burgess Hill to find out more about the town from the residents and understand what it is really like to live there. What I first noticed was the amount of greenery surrounding the area. To the west of the town you have Goddards Green while to the south, separating it from Hassocks, you have the Batchelors Farm Nature Reserve and the Nightingale Meadows.
To the east you have Ditchling Common Country Park and finally, to the north, you have Bedelands Nature Reserve. From all angles there are beautiful meadows and protected nature havens to be seen and appreciated. From all angles there are beautiful meadows and protected nature havens to be seen and appreciated (Image: Google Maps) But the talk of the town when I arrived was about how run-down everything was and how much redevelopment was needed.
"The state of the town is.