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East Grinstead
Town in West Sussex, England

East Grinstead

East Grinstead is a town in West Sussex, England, near the East Sussex, Surrey, and Kent borders, 27 miles (43 km) south of London, 21 miles (34 km) north of Brighton, and 38 miles (61 km) northeast of the county town of Chichester.

Plan a trip to East Grinstead→From London

Situated in the northeast corner of the county, bordering Surrey, the civil parish has an area of 2,443.45 hectares. The population at the 2011 Census was 26,383.

Get in

Getting to East Grinstead

The main roads into East Grinstead are the A22, which runs from the M25 down to Eastbourne and Brighton (as the A26), and the A264, which runs from Tunbridge Wells through East Grinstead to Crawley and Gatwick Airport.

See

Worth seeing

  1. 01
    Sackville College

    A beautiful 17th-century sandstone almshouse, where the carol "Good King Wenceslas" was written.

  2. 02
    Standen

    West Hoathly Road, RH19 4NE, standen@nationaltrust.org.uk.

  3. 03
    St Swithun's

    The church stands on the highest ground in the town and was rebuilt in the 18th century (the tower dating from 1789) to a perpendicular design by James Wyatt.

  4. 04
    East Grinstead Museum

    Old Market Yard, Cantelupe Road, RH19 3BJ (just off the High Street), info@eastgrinsteadmuseum.org.uk.

Do

Things to do

Check out the local Theatre & Arts Centre, Chequer Mead - one of the best purpose-built venues in the south, with a good range of professional and community-based events.

  1. 01
    Bluebell Railway

    Firbank Way, East Grinstead RH19 1QS (http://www.bluebell-railway.com/directions/), info@bluebell-railway.co.uk.

  2. 02
    Lingfield Park Racecourse

    Unusually, this has flat-racing all year round, using artificial Polytrack in winter.

  3. 03
    British Wildlife Centre

    Eastbourne Rd, Newchapel, Lingfield RH7 6LF, info@britishwildlifecentre.co.uk.

Eat

Where to eat

McDonald's, KFC and Pizza Express all have outlets in the town. A few Italian chains like Prezzo and Pizza express have restaurants on the historic high street. Cuisine Studio (in the town's Theater & Arts Centre, Chequer Mead). One of the best and least well-known to visitors (but not to locals!) Lots of take-away outlets in the town.

  1. 01
    Taylors

    Generally considered to be the best place for fish and chips, with queues stretching out onto the street at weekends.

How locals move

Getting around East Grinstead the local way

  • Get aroundScale 1:25,000 (4 cm:1 km, 2½ in:1 mi) would be fine, costing usually under £8.00 Cycling is very limited on Ashdown Forest land to the few public bridleways, although several groups are petitioning for more open access for off-road cycling however it is fully allowed on roads.
  • Go nextEastbourne Petersfield South Downs Way, a popular walking path.

From Wikivoyage: Ashdown Forest, CC BY-SA. Not yet checked by us. Last edited 2026-09.

Text adapted from Wikipedia and Wikivoyage, CC BY-SA 4.0. Photograph: mattbuck (see Commons), Wikimedia Commons.