Crap Towns / Lancashire / Appley Bridge
Appley Bridge
55/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 55. 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
A rock fell on it in 1914
There's a house with a skull in it. Move the skull and it all goes wrong, apparently.
A meteorite came down in a field here in 1914 and Appley Bridge has been talking about it ever since. That's the big news. The other big news is the old quarry, which the village has been rowing about for years. Up at Skull House there's a skull that brings disaster on whoever moves it, so nobody has, and it's about the only thing round here doing its job.
There's no public park. There's the canal for a walk, and the storm drains round it chuck out sewage for more than three and a half times as long as the typical town's, so maybe not.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Appley Bridge's 83 for sewage spills means it's crapper than 83% of towns.
- Sewage spills83/1001,018 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Rain81/100158 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Criminal damage and arson76/1009.2 per 1,000 people a year, July 2023 to June 2026
- Anti-social behaviour66/10017.5 per 1,000 people a year, July 2023 to June 2026
- Food hygiene64/1007.7% rated 0 to 2, of the 13 food businesses with a rating
- Air pollution49/1008.6 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.4 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Fly-tipping35/1008.4 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Wigan council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Broadband34/1007.3% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 3.5% across the Wigan council area
- Deliberate fires30/1003.8 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Serious road collisions16/1001.2 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 25 | Cleveleys | 64 |
| 26 | Heysham | 63 |
| 27 | Barnoldswick | 63 |
| 28 | Poulton-le-Fylde | 61 |
| – | Appley Bridge | 55 |
| 29 | Ormskirk | 51 |
| 30 | Thornton | 48 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.31 | Lytham St Anne's | 39 |
| 32 | Euxton | 35 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Appley Bridge by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 89.5 crimes per 1,000 people a year (July 2023 to June 2026) Worse: 17% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 3 problems reported on FixMyStreet in the year to October 2026 Better: 5.8 per 10,000 people, 72% lower than the typical town's 20.4
- 2 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2020
What's left on the high street
- 3 pubs, 1 hairdresser on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- None public swimming pools open Worse: Against the typical English town's 0.7 per 10,000 people
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.57am last bus out on a Wednesday, and none on a Sunday Better: Later than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.4% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 20% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 36.9% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space, and OS maps no public park here Worse: 2.4x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,443 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Worse: 6% lower than the typical town's 1,532
Wigan council
Have a crap-off
Appley Bridge 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.