Crap Towns / Greater Manchester / Ashton-under-Lyne
Ashton-under-Lyne
91/100Crap Score
90th crappest of 984 towns, and 16th in Greater Manchester. 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
Most people only come for IKEA.
There's a lovely old market hall. People still drive straight past it to get to IKEA.
Ashton's got a proper Victorian market hall and the canal junction at Portland Basin, and most of Tameside still only comes for IKEA. In the centre it's empty units and the usual gobshites round the market square, while the regeneration plan sits on a hoarding. Locals call it Trashton.
The air is filthy, with nitrogen dioxide at 1.7 times the typical town's level, and it chucks it down on 167 days a year, so you get it wet. The sun manages 1,310 hours. There are two and a half times as many deliberate fires as in the typical town, and the storm overflows spill for more than three times as long.
For a town this size there are three hairdressers and one charity shop. Even the charity shops have given up on Ashton.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Ashton-under-Lyne's 94 for air pollution means it's crapper than 94% of towns.
- Air pollution94/10014.4 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.9 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Rain90/100167 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Deliberate fires82/10014.4 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Sewage spills81/100933 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Serious road collisions77/1003.3 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Food hygiene71/1003.5% rated 0 to 2, of the 314 food businesses with a rating
- Fly-tipping70/10015.2 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Tameside council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Criminal damage and arson64/1008.1 per 1,000 people a year, July 2023 to June 2026
- Anti-social behaviour51/10015.5 per 1,000 people a year, July 2023 to June 2026
- Broadband17/1003.5% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 4.9% across the Tameside council area
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 12 | Little Hulton | 93 |
| 13 | Audenshaw | 93 |
| 14 | Horwich | 93 |
| 15 | Swinton | 93 |
| 16 | Ashton-under-Lyne | 91 |
| 17 | Middleton | 91 |
| 18 | Worsley | 90 |
| 19 | Denton | 89 |
| 20 | Stalybridge | 89 |
Ashton-under-Lyne by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 92.7 crimes per 1,000 people a year (July 2023 to June 2026) Worse: 22% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 77 reports of fly-tipping on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 15.8 per 10,000 people, 14.4x the typical town's 1.1
- 2 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2024
What's left on the high street
- 21 pubs, 3 hairdressers, 1 charity shop, 1 bookmaker, 9 banks, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 6.9% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (5 of 73) Worse: 1.7x the typical town's 4.0%
- 3 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 6.2 per 100,000 people, 1.8x the typical town's 3.4
- 1 library shut for good since 2010: Hurst (2012)
- 6 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Worse: 1.2 per 10,000 people, 25% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- 1 public swimming pool open; 2 closed for good since 2010 Worse: 0.2 per 10,000 people, 71% 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
- 1.10am last bus out on a Wednesday Better: Later than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.1% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 80% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 31.9% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 2.1x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,310 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Worse: 14% lower than the typical town's 1,532
Tameside council
Have a crap-off
Ashton-under-Lyne 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.