Horsham Town Centre
Horsham's award-winning town centre provides a superb environment for shopping, strolling, meeting friends, having fun and relaxing. King Eadred gave Horsham town as a reward in 947AD, to a Saxon noble for fighting against the Vikings. The town received a Borough Charter in the 13th Century and grew into a thriving, bustling, medieval market town. This is still in evidence today with the narrow, paved twitterns (alleyways), pretty tree-lined streets and over fifty medieval buildings.
A leaflet promoting the town's highlights can be downloaded from the bottom of this page. For a comprehensive listing of shops and restaurants visit the town's website: www.visithorsham.co.uk
A Quality Shopping Experience
Walking through the mixture of intimate alleyways, wide streets, and landscaped piazzas, it is a delight to explore the specialist shops selling local produce, collectors' items and unusual gifts as well as national high street names. The Carfax, West Street, and East Street are the town’s key pedestrianised shopping areas, home to an eclectic mix of specialist and independent shops and restaurants whilst The Forum offers a spacious public piazza where you can shop and enjoy a coffee whilst children play in the water jets in summer.
Piries Place is a very attractive partially-covered space where Waitrose sits alongside some of Horsham’s most popular independently-run specialist retailers, restaurants and bars. Across the Carfax from Piries Place, Swan Walk Shopping Centre is home to a wealth of high street names and a fine selection of national and independent quality brands. Pick up a detailed Shoppers Guide from Horsham Visitor Information Centre or go to www.visithorsham.co.uk.
Markets and Events
Horsham has been a bustling market town for centuries and today has a thriving market scene including antiques, local produce and arts and crafts. Markets take place in the Carfax on Saturdays, with another open-air market on Thursdays. Specialist markets also visit Horsham annually including a popular French and Italian market. In September the town hosts the launch of the District’s Food and Drink Festival when people come from far and wide to enjoy ‘The Big Nibble’! www.horshammarkets.co.uk
The town hosts a very full calendar of events throughout the year. The Easter Piazza Italia, May Day of Dance, a District-wide Food and Drink Festival in September, the October Town Centre Festival and a Christmas Carol extravaganza are just some of the many and varied events that are held. 2012 will also see some extra special eents on offer including a Queen's Diamond Jubilee Jamboree Tea Party and Beacon Park event on 4th June and a Caribbean Summer Carnival and Family Fun Day in Horsham Park in July. The Carfax in the centre of town, is an ideal spot on a summer's day. Sitting under a parasol you can listen to musicians play weeekly on the Victorian bandstand, and admire the award-winning displays of Horsham in Bloom.
Eating Out
Visitors and residents alike are attracted to the continental al fresco style of the town centre with plenty of open air seating in the Carfax, Bishopric and Forum areas. With over 90 bars, pubs and restaurants, cafés and coffee shops there are eating establishments to suit all tastes from English, French and Indian, to wine bars, sushi and fish and chips! www.visithorsham.co.uk.
Local Attractions
As a thriving market town Horsham town centre offers an excellent range of attractions for the local resident and visitor including Horsham Museum and Art Gallery, housed in a medieval timber-framed merchants house with 26 exhibitions and gallery spaces; The Capitol cinema and theatre offering the latest films and West End shows; and The Pavilons In The Park, a superb leisure centre in Horsham Park including indoor and outdoor all-year-round heated swimming pools and health and fitness suites and adjacent to a large children's play area.
A "Riverside Walk" has been established around Horsham, which encircles the town by following the River Arun and some of its many tributary streams. The Walk is 9 miles long and passes through some of the town's most historic and attractive sites. Look out for the Grade One listed Parish Church of St Mary's which lies next to the River Arun. This is a church whose origins go back to the very foundations of Horsham and is connected to the centre of the town by "The Causeway", a beautiful tree lined street - one of the most photographed and painted streets in Sussex. Further details can be found in the special Riverside Walk leaflet.
Horsham Park has something for everyone: Formal gardens, a free summer programme of weekly live music and children's entertainment, a coffee shop, superb children's play area, a modern Family Entertainment Centre which includes Ten-pin Bowling and American Pool, and a wide variety of outdoor sports facilities such as tennis, putting and outdoor bowls greens. Horsham Park also boasts one of the finest leisure centres in the South East - The Pavilions in the Park - with health and fitness facilities and both indoor and outdoor swimming pools.
Public Art
Horsham can boast an excellent collection of public sculpture, including the spectacular and much talked about water feature "Rising Universe" which celebrates the life and works of the poet Shelley, and the charming St Leonard’s Forest dragon on the Park’s maze by Hannah Stewart. There are also a number of bronze sculptures by artist Lorne McKean around the town including the striking Horsham Heritage Sundial on the Forum.
Horsham Society is an independent organisation dedicated to protecting the interests of the town and its surroundings. The Society publishes leaflets and books on Horsham, and members receive a regular newsletter.
Across the Horsham District
Horsham is a grrat base to use to explore the rest of the District. For information on local attractions and places to visit across the Horsham District check out our Places to Visit page and browse the areas that interest you (eg gardens, historic houses, etc). Alternatively when you are in Horsham town centre why not pop in to the Visitor Information Centre where the staff can offer suggestions and advice on things to see and do, as well as travel advice, a visitor accommodation bookings service and more.