Crap Towns / Mid Glamorgan / Aberdare
Aberdare
68/100Crap Score
Known as Yabbadabbadare.
320th crappest of 984 towns, and 4th in Mid Glamorgan. 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 Aberdare? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
Who pays to park here? Mugs, that's who.
Queen of the Hills, they call it. The hills get the rain and Commercial Street gets the To Let signs.
Queen of the Hills. Queen of what, exactly? Commercial Street is empty windows and phone case shops, and the town charges you to park while the retail park down the road doesn't. Guess where everyone goes. Halifax, Lloyds and Santander have all shut their branches and gone with them.
Then there's the weather. It pisses down on 177 days a year, and the total comes to two and a half times what the typical town gets. The Cynon gets worse than rain, mind, with the overflows running for over eight times as long as the typical town's. The kids reckon there's sod all to do, and you can hear them not doing it on a Saturday night.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Aberdare's 96 for rain means it's crapper than 96% of towns.
- Rain96/100177 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Sewage spills95/1002,252 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Broadband77/10010.6% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 18.6% across the Rhondda Cynon Taf council area
- Fly-tipping71/10015.3 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Rhondda Cynon Taf council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Criminal damage and arson68/1008.4 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Anti-social behaviour61/10016.8 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Food hygiene57/1002.8% rated 0 to 2, of the 251 food businesses with a rating
- Deliberate fires50/100
- Air pollution8/1004.9 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 4.9 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Serious road collisions6/1001.1 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Porth | 76 |
| 2 | Rhondda | 71 |
| 3 | Merthyr Tydfil | 69 |
| 4 | Aberdare | 68 |
| 5 | Pontypridd | 57 |
| 6 | Maesteg | 53 |
| 7 | Tonypandy | 52 |
| 8 | Mountain Ash | 49 |
| 9 | Tonyrefail | 44 |
Aberdare by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 88.0 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 15% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 9 reports of fly-tipping on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 2.4 per 10,000 people, 2.2x the typical town's 1.1
What's left on the high street
- 29 pubs, 8 hairdressers, 6 charity shops, 1 bookmaker, 1 vape shop, 4 banks, 2 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 7.5% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (3 of 40) Worse: 1.9x the typical town's 4.0%
- 3 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 8.0 per 100,000 people, 2.4x the typical town's 3.4
- 3 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Worse: 0.8 per 10,000 people, 50% lower than the typical town's 1.6
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.22am last bus out on a Wednesday About the same: About the same as the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.6% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 20% higher than the typical town's 0.5%
- 8.3% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 46% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,386 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Worse: 10% lower than the typical town's 1,532
Rhondda Cynon Taf council
Have a crap-off
Aberdare 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.