Crap Towns / Lancashire / Accrington
Accrington
99/100Crap Score
15th crappest of 984 towns, and 7th in Lancashire. 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
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agree it's crap have defended it
Come for the bricks. Leave quickly.
Vandals, fly-tippers, dodgy kitchens and shit driving. Accy's got the lot.
Accy made the NORI brick, so hard they reckon it's under the Empire State Building, and the town built out of them is falling to bits anyway. The shops keep shutting, the regeneration takes its time and the market has been one council row after another. Locals call the place Smackrington.
Anti-social behaviour is running at more than three times the typical town's rate. Some knobhead's setting fire to something three times as often as in the typical town, and Hyndburn's back alleys get used as a free tip. It pisses down on 173 days a year and the sun shows its face for 1,307 hours. There are two hairdressers in the whole town. You can tell.
Mention Stanley and some knob does the milk advert. Every time.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Accrington's 99 for anti-social behaviour means it's crapper than 99% of towns.
- Anti-social behaviour99/10043.2 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Rain94/100173 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Serious road collisions94/1004.5 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Fly-tipping93/10033.2 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Hyndburn council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Criminal damage and arson89/10011.4 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Deliberate fires88/10018.9 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Food hygiene77/1004.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 272 food businesses with a rating
- Air pollution47/1008.2 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.4 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Sewage spills44/100218 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Broadband27/1004.7% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 6.2% across the Hyndburn council area
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | Colne | 99 |
| 4 | Bacup | 99 |
| 5 | Darwen | 99 |
| 6 | Lancaster | 99 |
| 7 | Accrington | 99 |
| 8 | Burnley | 98 |
| 9 | Preston | 98 |
| 10 | Nelson | 98 |
| 11 | Rawtenstall | 97 |
Accrington by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 121 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 1.6x the typical town's 76.2
- 20 reports of fly-tipping on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 5.7 per 10,000 people, 5.2x the typical town's 1.1
- 19 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2024
What's left on the high street
- 11 pubs, 2 hairdressers, 3 charity shops, 2 bookmakers, 1 vape shop, 4 banks, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 5.1% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (3 of 59) Worse: 28% higher than the typical town's 4.0%
- 2 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 5.7 per 100,000 people, 1.7x the typical town's 3.4
- 3 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Worse: 0.9 per 10,000 people, 44% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- 2 public swimming pools open Worse: 0.6 per 10,000 people, 14% lower than the typical English town's 0.7
- 3 places on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 11.52pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.2% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 60% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 17.2% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 11% higher than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,307 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Worse: 15% lower than the typical town's 1,532
Hyndburn council
- £2,466 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £74 more than the English average
- 26% of Lancashire County Council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Worse: 1.6x England's 16%
- None ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Accrington 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.