Crap Towns / Devon / Axminster
Axminster
24/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 24. 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
Your nan's carpet came from here
Your nan's got the carpet. The town's got empty shops and sewage.
Axminster. Like the carpet, yeah. Your nan's got one. The town it's named after has empty shops and a last bus at 7.20pm, so if you're coming to look at the empty shops, come early.
The storm overflows round town spill for eight times as long per head as the typical town's. It's a nice bit of Devon, to be fair, and there are over four times the typical town's swimming pools per head, so you can have a swim somewhere that isn't the Axe. Don't go paddling in the Axe.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Axminster's 95 for sewage spills means it's crapper than 95% of towns.
- Sewage spills95/1002,202 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Broadband93/10021.2% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 24.8% across the East Devon council area
- Criminal damage and arson67/1008.3 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Rain64/100137 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Anti-social behaviour38/10013.3 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Deliberate fires22/1003.2 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Serious road collisions18/1001.3 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Food hygiene17/1000.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 57 food businesses with a rating
- Air pollution7/1004.0 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 5.1 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Fly-tipping1/1002.5 incidents per 1,000 people a year, East Devon council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | Dawlish | 31 |
| 11 | Tavistock | 27 |
| 12 | Kingsteignton | 26 |
| 13 | Teignmouth | 24 |
| – | Axminster | 24 |
| 14 | Brixham | 23 |
| 15 | Ivybridge | 18 |
| 16 | Exmouth | 12 |
| 17 | Sidmouth | 5 |
Axminster by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 78.4 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 76.2
- 5 problems reported on FixMyStreet in the year to October 2026 Better: 8.2 per 10,000 people, 60% lower than the typical town's 20.4
What's left on the high street
- 4 pubs, 6 hairdressers, 1 charity shop on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 1 bank branch closure announced since 2022 Worse: 16.4 per 100,000 people, 4.8x the typical town's 3.4
- 2 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 3.3 per 10,000 people, 2.1x the typical town's 1.6
- 2 public swimming pools open Better: 3.3 per 10,000 people, 4.7x the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 7.20pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 1.6% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 3.2x the typical town's 0.5%
- 2.9% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space, and OS maps no public park here Better: 81% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,629 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 6% higher than the typical town's 1,532
East Devon council
Have a crap-off
Axminster 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.