Crap Towns / Hertfordshire / Baldock
Baldock
45/100Crap Score
Locals call it Bulldog.
541st crappest of 984 towns, and 6th in Hertfordshire. 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
Got something to say about Baldock? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
People come here to look at a Tesco
The best building in town is a supermarket. That's not a joke. That's Baldock.
What's in Baldock? A Tesco. No, seriously, people come and look at it, because it's in an old Art Deco film factory. That's the highlight. Locals call the town Bulldog, which sounds a lot harder than a day out admiring a supermarket.
There are plenty of pubs, getting on for twice the typical town's per head, and the last bus pulls out at 7.48pm, so pick one and settle in. Don't eat there, mind. 8.1% of the food places have a low hygiene rating, more than three times the typical town's share. The local yobs are setting fires outdoors at nearly twice the typical town's rate as well. Get a meal deal and go home.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Baldock's 88 for food hygiene means it's crapper than 88% of towns.
- Food hygiene88/1008.1% rated 0 to 2, of the 74 food businesses with a rating
- Deliberate fires75/10011.0 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Air pollution70/1008.5 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.4 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Anti-social behaviour68/10017.8 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Fly-tipping57/10010.9 incidents per 1,000 people a year, North Hertfordshire council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Broadband47/1004.7% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 14.2% across the North Hertfordshire council area
- Criminal damage and arson44/1006.6 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Serious road collisions15/1001.3 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Sewage spills9/1005.7 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Rain6/100111 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | Hatfield | 67 |
| 3 | Borehamwood | 50 |
| 4 | Hemel Hempstead | 50 |
| 5 | Stevenage | 50 |
| 6 | Baldock | 45 |
| 7 | Potters Bar | 43 |
| 8 | Bushey | 42 |
| 9 | Welwyn Garden City | 42 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.10 | Watford | 38 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Baldock by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 61.9 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 19% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 18 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 17.0 per 10,000 people, 5x the typical town's 3.4
- 2 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2023
What's left on the high street
- 9 pubs, 3 hairdressers, 1 bookmaker on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 1 public toilet on the map (October 2026) Worse: 0.9 per 10,000 people, 44% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- 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
- 7.48pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.2% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 60% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 9.5% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 39% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,570 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
North Hertfordshire council
- £2,449 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £57 more than the English average
- 18% of Hertfordshire County Council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Worse: 13% higher than England's 16%
- None ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Baldock 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.