Crap Towns / County Durham / Annfield Plain
Annfield Plain
83/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 83. 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
Even the Co-op left.
They took the old Co-op to Beamish brick by brick. Lucky Co-op.
Annfield Plain's most famous building is the old Co-op, and it isn't here. Beamish took it apart and rebuilt it somewhere people actually pay to visit. Locals call the supermarket the Disco. It's the nearest thing to a night out.
What's left has off-road bikes, boy racers up West Road and somebody setting fire to things. The deliberate fires come in at nearly eleven times the typical town's rate, and the grass and woods go up at over twenty times. Pontop Pike looks down on the lot of it. That mast has seen some sights.
There's 1 play space in the whole place, no swimming pool, and the conservation area's officially at risk. County Durham still wants £2,622 for a Band D. The Co-op got out while it could.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Annfield Plain's 98 for deliberate fires means it's crapper than 98% of towns.
- Deliberate fires98/10062.1 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Criminal damage and arson96/10015.2 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Sewage spills83/1001,006 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Broadband82/10015.3% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 14.6% across the County Durham council area
- Anti-social behaviour71/10018.8 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Rain62/100135 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Fly-tipping56/10010.5 incidents per 1,000 people a year, County Durham council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Food hygiene55/1003.6% rated 0 to 2, of the 28 food businesses with a rating
- Serious road collisions46/1002.3 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Air pollution14/1005.4 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 5.4 of fine particles, 2024 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bishop Auckland | 95 |
| 2 | Stanley | 88 |
| – | Annfield Plain | 83 |
| 3 | Darlington | 80 |
| 4 | Hartlepool | 79 |
| 5 | Chester-le-Street | 77 |
| 6 | Spennymoor | 74 |
| 7 | Stockton-on-Tees | 73 |
| 8 | Peterlee | 71 |
Annfield Plain by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 100 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 31% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 3 problems reported on FixMyStreet in the year to October 2026 Better: 3.9 per 10,000 people, 81% lower than the typical town's 20.4
What's left on the high street
- 6 pubs, 2 hairdressers, 1 bookmaker on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 0.0% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (0 of 10) Better: Against the typical town's 4.0%
- 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
- 12.05am 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%
- 23.9% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 1.5x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,483 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
County Durham council
Have a crap-off
Annfield Plain 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.