Crap Towns / South Ayrshire / Ayr
Ayr
59/100Crap Score
401st crappest of 984 towns, and the crappest in South Ayrshire. Higher scores are crapper.
Have your say
Crap Town of the Year 2026/27
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Letters from the locals
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agree it's crap have defended it
The Auld Toun's looking auld.
A proper seaside town with a racecourse and a long beach, and a High Street that keeps catching fire.
Ayr's got a long sandy beach, a racecourse and the Scottish Grand National. The High Street's another story: the big shops shut and the empty ones keep catching fire, and the old Station Hotel by the railway, which went up in flames and left the town arguing for years over what to do with the shell.
For its size Ayr has nearly three times the typical town's bookies and three times its vape shops, so the punters have something to do between races. The police are kept busy, with anti-social behaviour at 1.6 times the typical Scottish town's. It's the crappest town in South Ayrshire, which Prestwick and Troon will enjoy. Kilmarnock already knew.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Ayr's 86 for rain means it's crapper than 86% of towns.
- Rain86/100163 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Anti-social behaviour85/10012.9 per 1,000 people a year, January 2023 to December 2025
- Broadband83/10013.6% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 18.6% across the South Ayrshire council area
- Serious road collisions76/1002.2 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Deliberate fires59/10024.9 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Criminal damage and arson57/1007.6 per 1,000 people a year, January 2023 to December 2025
- Fly-tipping50/100
- Sewage spills22/10049.8 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2025
- Food hygiene5/1001.6% told to improve, of the 383 food businesses inspected
- Air pollution3/1004.0 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 4.4 of fine particles, 2024 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ayr | 59 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.2 | Prestwick | 25 |
| 3 | Troon | 14 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Ayr by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 65.9 crimes per 1,000 people a year (January 2023 to December 2025) Worse: 21% higher than the typical Scottish town's 54.4
- 62 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 13.4 per 10,000 people, 2.4x the typical Scottish town's 5.6
- 1 of 3 bathing waters here or within 2 km rated Excellent in 2025
What's left on the high street
- 29 pubs, 47 hairdressers, 13 charity shops, 9 bookmakers, 4 vape shops, 6 banks, 3 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 1.8% of takeaways inspected told to improve (1 of 55) Better: 80% lower than the typical Scottish town's 9.1%
- 2 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 4.3 per 100,000 people, 26% higher than the typical town's 3.4
- 4 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Worse: 0.9 per 10,000 people, 44% lower than the typical town's 1.6
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.19am last bus out on a Wednesday About the same: About the same as the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.3% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 40% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 10.0% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 35% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,403 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Worse: 8% lower than the typical town's 1,532
South Ayrshire council
- £1,695 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £42 more than the Scottish average
- 38% of South Ayrshire council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Worse: 6% higher than Scotland's 36%
- 39 ombudsman complaints decided in 2025-26, none upheld About the same: 35.0 per 100,000 residents, about the same as Scotland's 34.7
- 90.8% of the streets checked passed as clean (2025-26) About the same: About the same as Scotland's 92.2%
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Ayr 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.