Crap Towns / Gwent / Abercarn
Abercarn
78/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 78. Higher scores are crapper.
Have your say
Crap Town of the Year 2026/27
See the raceThe public vote. It's separate from the Crap Score, and it closes on 31 December 2027.
Letters from the locals
Got something to say about Abercarn? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
Bog's shut. Tree's open.
Lovely valley. The loos are locked and the river's full of sewage.
Abercarn's in a lovely wooded bit of the Ebbw Valley, and it's a nice enough spot until you need a wee. The only public bog keeps library hours, so on a Sunday it's behind a tree.
Don't feel bad about it. Sewage comes out of the overflows round here for over 14 times as long as in the typical town, so you won't be the worst thing to go in that river. Not by a long way.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Abercarn's 99 for sewage spills means it's crapper than 99% of towns.
- Sewage spills99/1003,938 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Rain82/100159 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Anti-social behaviour79/10021.6 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Criminal damage and arson77/1009.3 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Broadband73/10013.1% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 10.3% across the Caerphilly council area
- Fly-tipping67/10014.3 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Caerphilly council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Deliberate fires50/100
- Serious road collisions35/1001.9 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Air pollution29/1007.5 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 5.5 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Food hygiene27/1000.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 36 food businesses with a rating
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | Blackwood | 92 |
| 7 | Caerphilly | 88 |
| 8 | Pontypool | 86 |
| 9 | Ystrad Mynach | 85 |
| – | Abercarn | 78 |
| 10 | Cwmbrân | 75 |
| 11 | Chepstow | 59 |
| 12 | Abergavenny | 57 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.13 | Monmouth | 31 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Abercarn by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 71.7 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 6% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 7 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 13.7 per 10,000 people, 4x the typical town's 3.4
What's left on the high street
- 3 pubs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 1 public toilet on the map (October 2026) Better: 2.0 per 10,000 people, 25% higher than the typical town's 1.6
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 11.22pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.8% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 1.6x the typical town's 0.5%
- 0.0% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: Against the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,508 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Caerphilly council
Have a crap-off
Abercarn against your mate's town, and a match ticket to rub it in.
- ?Fly-tippingper 1,000, council area?
- ?Anti-social behaviourper 1,000 people?
- ?Serious road crashesper 10,000 people?
- ?Sewage spillshours per 10,000 people?
- ?Food hygienerated poor?
- ?Criminal damageper 1,000 people?
- ?Dirty airµg/m³?
- ?No gigabitof premises can't get it?
- ?Deliberate firesper 10,000 people?
- ?Raindays a year?
Ten ingredients. One verdict. Who's crapper? The higher Crap Score takes it.