Crap Towns / Surrey / Addlestone
Addlestone
67/100Crap Score
322nd crappest of 984 towns, and 7th in Surrey. 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 Addlestone? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
Come for the tree. Stay for nothing.
An old oak tree, and a level crossing that won't go up. Pick your favourite.
Addlestone's big attraction is the Crouch Oak. It's a tree. The town's had several hundred years to come up with a second attraction and hasn't managed it. The High Street went for bookies and vape shops instead, with five times the typical town's vape shops per head, and the level crossing barriers come down and get stuck there.
Serious crashes on its roads run at more than twice the typical town's rate, and you're breathing 1.6 times the typical town's nitrogen dioxide, so the oak's doing well to still be standing. There's no public pool. Not one storm overflow near it spilled from 2023 to 2025, so whatever shit Addlestone has, it keeps on the High Street.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Addlestone's 95 for serious road collisions means it's crapper than 95% of towns.
- Serious road collisions95/1005.1 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Air pollution92/10013.5 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.7 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Broadband84/10016.0% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 14.2% across the Runnymede council area
- Fly-tipping68/10014.4 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Runnymede council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Criminal damage and arson66/1008.2 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Anti-social behaviour55/10015.9 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Food hygiene50/1002.4% rated 0 to 2, of the 82 food businesses with a rating
- Deliberate fires35/100
- Rain7/100112 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Sewage spills2/1000.0 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | Horley | 80 |
| 4 | Leatherhead | 79 |
| 5 | Byfleet | 78 |
| 6 | Chertsey | 72 |
| 7 | Addlestone | 67 |
| 8 | Egham | 67 |
| 9 | Reigate | 67 |
| 10 | Woking | 60 |
| 11 | Walton-on-Thames | 59 |
Addlestone by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 85.1 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 12% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 478 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 348 per 10,000 people, 102.4x the typical town's 3.4
- 1 serious pollution incident within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2021
What's left on the high street
- 5 pubs, 10 hairdressers, 5 charity shops, 3 bookmakers, 2 vape shops, 1 bank, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 0.0% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (0 of 15) Better: Against the typical town's 4.0%
- 4 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 2.9 per 10,000 people, 1.8x the typical town's 1.6
- None public swimming pools open Worse: Against the typical English town's 0.7 per 10,000 people
- 1 place on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 11.49pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 5.0% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 10x the typical town's 0.5%
- 19.6% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 26% higher than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,659 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 8% higher than the typical town's 1,532
Runnymede council
Have a crap-off
Addlestone 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.