curefans.com members visit Crawley

[Ulrich]

I know the exact location, but I won't name it.

The name escaped me, but in the meantime I remembered.
Good idea about not mentioning it though! 

[the thread of a dream]

Agh, that was a terrible joke. I do apologise. The way the author wrote that book was a bit biased anyway. I love it that he is a very private person, I mean, when I read articles on for example Kurt Cobain or other musicians etc. They go on about their personal life, which is annoying when you came to read about their work... where as with The Cure, it's all about The Cure. I also love how much the members are such normal people, it makes them 'realistic'...

[Ulrich]

Agh, that was a terrible joke. I do apologise.

Ha ha, it's okay! 

[Sacha8]

Hello Curefans! I'm going on a bleisure trip to Brighton-Hove at the end of August 2025, and was planning to go and see Crawley too. Yet, from what I've gathered by reading your posts up here. it may not be worthwhile...
I may decide to go anyway in the end, just to feel the depressing English small town atmosphere I guess, and see some spots even if there are no plaques, no clear references whatsover... who knows, I might be surprised and discover something interesting.
Should anyone fancy a chat in Brighton or a train ride to Crawley, just let me know. I'm still not sure how much free time I will have, but I might definitely find some time at least for a chat. I hope I'll get the chance to go to London too, but it might be trickier.
I find the whole camping-outside-Robert's-home idea quite creepy, in case some of you might wonder...

[dsanchez]

Hello Curefans! I'm going on a bleisure trip to Brighton-Hove at the end of August 2025, and was planning to go and see Crawley too. Yet, from what I've gathered by reading your posts up here. it may not be worthwhile...

please reach out fellow member @Jojo denovan who's from the area

[Sacha8]

Hello Curefans! I'm going on a bleisure trip to Brighton-Hove at the end of August 2025, and was planning to go and see Crawley too. Yet, from what I've gathered by reading your posts up here. it may not be worthwhile...

please reach out fellow member @Jojo denovan who's from the area

Yes, I've written to him, thank you.

[Sacha8]

So, I've managed to go to Crawley at last last week and thought I might write down my impressions on the whole experience to other fans for future reference:

I went by train from Brighton. Despite being a fairly short ride - half an hour trip - it is quite an expensive journey: 23,40 pounds for a return ticket! As I had already taken a train some days before to go on another "pilgrimage" tour (this time taking the walking route Virginia Woolf used to take, including a view on her country house and on the river Ouse where she committed suicide by drowning), which was equally an half an hour ride but a cheap one - 11,50 pounds for the return ticket - I thought the trip to Crawley might have a similar price. This was not the case, though, and I was a bit disappointed. Maybe the fact that you have to change trains and that different companies handle different routes might have something to do with the price difference. Anyway, in case you want to get the train in Brighton, you have to take a first train to Cambridge, then get off at Three Bridges then take a second train headed to Portsmouth Harbour. Crawley is the first stop.
Once you arrive at the station, go to the left and you'll find the infamous bridge which is now dedicated to Lol (though there are no official plaques mentioning him or the band): I think seeing and crossing the bridge gives a fairly accurate idea of how living surrounded by suburban squalor in the 1970s might have felt like for Robert, Lol and Michael, and what pushed them into forming the band in the first place.
Apart from that, not much of what Crawley might have looked like when they were young is still there: the centre has become an open air shopping mall, with the County Mall literally occupying much of the space available. The stand where the band performed in one of their early gigs in Memorial Gardens is still there, but many other buildings, including Notre Dame school,are not. Furnace Green and St Francis of Assisi primary school were both quite far to reach on foot (you see, I only had two hours, as I needed to get back to Brighton for 1:30 pm tops) and I wasn't sure they were worth the ride,so I didn't even try going. I saw Crawley College from the outside, but preferred going straight to The Railway, as time was running out.
The facade of the pub is interesting; it was renamed and completely renovated, though the railroad crossing you need to cross to get there looked authentic and worth seeing.
As I entered the pub, I ordered something to drink and asked about the Cure picture and its whereabouts: the guy at the counter looked at me with a puzzled expression, then went and asked to a girl - possibly the owner. Well, I was a bit shocked at discovering that the pictures celebrating the gig the band played there was located just opposite the men's toilets! You need to go beyond the counter, cross an aisle, then go past the door where the toilets sign is, and it is only once you reach the men's toilets you can finally see them. To be honest, I found it a bit offensive: it felt like the pub owners were ashamed of having the pictures hanging on the wall of their establishment, so kept them hidden well out of sight. And then, well... looking at The Cure before you literally have to take a leak (if you are a man, that is) does not sound like a compliment for the band. It didn't look like the new owners were proud of The Cure being part of the town's history, but I guess this comes as no surprise, given the negative opinion band members have often expressed about Crawley.
Overall, I don't regret visiting Crawley at all, but I wouldn't recommend it to other fans, unless you are in a group and have the whole day to spend as you see fit, including perhaps non Cure-related things like shopping, though in that case too, being a shopping mall area instead of a charity/second hand clothes shop one like Brighton, I don't think it would be worth it: far too expensive items, if you ask me, and no real chance of finding unusual, non-mass produced stuff to wear.
I hope this helps. 

[Ulrich]

Thank you for your report and recommendations!

it is quite an expensive journey: 23,40 pounds for a return ticket!

From what I've heard (and experienced years ago) it is better and cheaper to book train tickets in UK a few days or weeks before (online or at a station)!