The shopping centre is a good focal point for a shopping expedition in Haywards heath. It has a fairly spacious couple of car parks adjacent to it and houses a pretty eclectic range of businesses.
There is a good balance of high street names (M&S, New Look, Superdrug) alongside a number of useful independent businesses (butcher, chemist, key/shoe repairs) and it is semi covered, reminiscent of an Italian Loggia. This keeps the centre airy, but also provides shelter if it is raining.
There is also a pretty bad bronze 'sculpture' depicted two parents swinging their young daughter into the air. Whether she is jumping for joy at being in Haywards Heath, or slipping on a banana skin is hard to tell, but I suppose they tried at least!
On most days there are also a number of trader's stalls set up offering fruit and veg, local cheese and similar produce. I like this and it creates a market feel, where you get a bit more hands on than searching through rails or isles in the shops proper.
It could have benefited with being a little bigger, or having a second storey but seeing as it opens out onto the main high street with a lot of shops it may have been kept small to prevent empty units and a ghost town effect.
This is certainly not a 'mall' to rival anything from the USA, but it serves it's purpose for a general shop on the weekend if you don't fancy the hectic frenzy of Brighton. read more